The most important factor for learning is attention.

In order to learn efficiently, attention plays a great role. We cannot learn what we do not perceive, and what we don’t attend we won’t perceive, for this reason, we have to learn to pay attention, to attend. The first step in paying attention is taking care not to lose it. This article describes in detail the loss of attention the daydreaming process and how to control it.

And the second step in paying attention is to stimulate it. Learning can not take place without attention because we don’t memorize:

“When we mentally attend to whatever we are learning, the brain can map the information on which we are focusing … When we don’t pay complete attention to what we are doing in the present moment, our brain activates a host of other synaptic networks that can distract it from its original intention. Without focused concentration, brain connections are not made, and memory is not stored.” (Joe Dispenza, D.C – The Science of Changing Your Mind: Evolve your Brain)

Can we stimulate attention while learning or teaching? Is questioning important in the learning process?

What are the questions to ask yourself before learning or reading a topic that is new for you?

It is known that the questions are very powerful tools for problem-solving but did you know that they are also very powerful and efficient in the learning process?

The neurologist George Clunios observes that the brain finds ways to reduce our workload and one way is to accept without question or even to just ignore much of what is going around us. We operate on autopilot, which can help to save mental energy.

In order to understand how questions influence learning, this video explains what is attention and what are the subsystems of attention.  And how we can steer attention to support efficient learning.

If you wanna test your attention, here is the link to the Business Monkey Illusion: