A Simple Way to Learn Complex Skills

Sometimes we have to learn very complex skills that can't be broken apart into more basic skills. What do we do then?

0:00 An intro to the experiment
0:21 Skills with many interdependent parts
1:00 The study that explored learning complex skills
2:33 The results
3:48 Try it out

*There was a wrinkle to this study that I didn't mention, which is that groups 2, 3, and 4 all had a different kind of display on the game for the first six sessions, which gave them slightly different information than the standard game. The idea was to support learner's focus on part of the game, but it also meant that there's more than one difference between the control and the other groups. The enhanced display could explain some of the difference between the control group and the other groups, but doesn't explain the differences between groups 2 and 3 and group 4. And the variable-priority approach (what I call rotating focus) that the study helped establish is well-supported by other studies as well - see the meta-analysis in the reference section for more support.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

REFERENCES

[darby]

Cuts to the chase, no annoying intro, no weird picture of the content creator wearing a weird facial expression, no overly enthusiastic style of delivery trying to get you to feel excited and amped up but only serve to exhaust you, simple presentation that works, no annoying music. Seriously, so many have become slaves to the algorithm trends. This is a breath of fresh air.

[amichayr]

This is such a simple and almost obvious method. I am surprised everyone goes through high school and sometimes colleges and universities without even being exposed to content like this. You are a life saver for anyone who enjoys learning!

[frezzingaces]

The key thing in the study was they were telling the groups what were the most impactful parts of the game up front, instead of the control who had to figure out themselves over time. This is why coaching is so good to learn skills - being told what's important to focus on is key.

I wonder if this same approach could be replicated in learning new skills where it's unknown what are the important factors.

[kallenijs]

This makes sense for most physical sports: you need to use you whole body and pay attention to a million different things, but by focusing on a single small aspect each session, you can improve steadily, even if you are still terrible in most aspects.

[Ojalalluevapronto]

It's incredible how this apply for every subject, I use to play chess online just for fun without seen any improvement for years, then i started paying attention to not go into suspicious forcing tactics, then paying attention to play standard moves until the opponent make some weak move and profit, then to play the most confortable moves for me when i'm winning and not necessary the absolute best, and i started getting a little bit better.

[JasonMitchellofcompsci]

This works for language too. Nearly all learning software doesn't work because it wants to reward you with forming sentences right away. But if you were to just hard memorize nouns for a month, and then hard memorize verbs for a month, you are going to be understanding enough in the sentences you hear to start noticing grammar patterns on your own. Add a little book learning to aid and it isn't too bad.

[Phani]

If you wrote a book on learning i would buy it. Keep making these videos.Thank you!

[slstudio]

Key takeaways for video:

Complex Skills Require Attention to Interdependent Parts:
- Some skills, like brewing tea, can be broken down into discrete steps.
- However, many skills, such as playing Starcraft, involve interdependent parts that can't be practiced separately.

Changing What You Pay Attention to Matters:
- The video highlights a study involving the video game Space Fortress to illustrate this point.
- Learners were divided into four groups, each focusing on different aspects of the game.

Attention Creates Building Blocks:
- The study revealed that those who focused on one aspect of the game initially performed better.
- Paying attention to one aspect helps the brain create meaningful building blocks for the skill.

Sequential Attention Yields Better Learning:
- The recommended method is to pay attention to one aspect of the skill for a period, then switch to another aspect, and repeat.
- This sequential approach is more effective than trying to pay equal attention to everything at once.

Continued Learning Gains:
- The group that sequentially paid attention to two aspects continued to outperform the others even after switching to normal gameplay.

Generalization to Other Contexts:
- The finding has been replicated in various other contexts, suggesting its broad applicability.

Benefits of Focused Attention:
- Focusing on one aspect at a time allows learners to build the necessary pieces and integrate them effectively over time.

[batlin]

I really like this idea. I think you've touched on this in another video, but one thing to be wary of is to not get too bogged down at the mechanistic level. The Perception and Action podcast discussed an interesting study that wanted to determine whether you should start with a very easy task and gradually make it more difficult, or start with a very difficult task and gradually make it easier. I think they were learning to throw darts or something. It turned out that the first method was much better, where subjects stood very close to the target so that the shot would succeed like 90% of the time, then increase the distance as long as accuracy didn't start to drop too far.
Their theory was that starting with a really difficult task caused people to spend a lot of their time hypothesising about what was going wrong, which hampered or prevented implicit learning processes. In the scenario starting with unmissable shots, they didn't bother consciously reasoning so much and implicit learning was able to take place unhindered.

I suspect this is one reason why children learn complex skills depending heavily on procedural and motor memory -- like music or languages -- more easily than adults. Of course they have an advantage in having much better access to neuroplasticity (even if they don't care about the topic), but they're also more likely to just enjoy _doing_ the skill and paying curious but relaxed attention to the output, rather than focusing so much on internal mechanistic factors. I remember as an adult trying to improve at snooker, constantly asking "is my elbow sticking out too much? Am I twisting my wrist during the shot? Is my leg in the wrong place or not bent enough, or too much? Stance too wide?". Of course, another benefit kids get is that they tend to play around with the parameters more, automatically allowing them to explore more of the action space, where adults tend to want to rigorously perform "correctly".

[earthspeed]

Basic Steps:

Focus on Specific Aspects: When learning complex skills, break them down into specific aspects that can be practiced individually.

Sequential Attention: Instead of trying to master everything at once, focus on one aspect at a time and practice it thoroughly.

Switch Attention: After dedicating time to one aspect, switch your focus to another. Continue this process, alternating between different aspects.

Integration: After practicing each aspect individually, return to the original aspect and integrate all the learned components.

Key Points:

Complex Skills: Some skills can be broken down into discrete steps for practice, while others involve interdependent parts that can't be practiced separately.

Attention Matters: Changing what you focus on is a powerful way to learn complex skills effectively. It's crucial to pay attention to the right aspects at the right time.

Creating Building Blocks: Focusing on one aspect helps the brain create meaningful building blocks for more complex skills.

Sequential Attention Yields Better Learning: Alternating attention between different aspects of a skill over time is more effective than trying to focus on everything at once.

Continued Learning Gains: Even after switching to normal practice, the group that sequentially paid attention to two aspects continued to outperform others.

Generalization to Other Contexts: This approach has been replicated in various contexts, indicating its broad applicability.

Focused Attention: Focusing on specific aspects allows learners to build the necessary pieces and integrate them effectively over time.

Overall, the key takeaway is that by dividing complex skills into manageable components and systematically focusing on each aspect, you can improve your learning and performance in a more efficient and effective way.

[ericm]

I love how you mentioned starcraft at the beginning because I remember learning this exact concept from jakatak, who is a starcraft content creator that emphasizes exactly this. Break up a task into simpler bits, practice those, then put them all together.

[pockster]

StarCraft mentioned?!?!?
I discovered your channel about two weeks ago and I cannot express how helpful it has already been, especially in the self-confidence department. I am going to university in my late 20s for the first time and I never really "learned how to learn". I always felt that I was not capable enough. Which was true but not for the reasons I thought I was!

Thank you for providing so many people with these great tools and new perspectives on learning and more. I truly am grateful!

[thatskums]

You give the best advice ever. No other channel is as scientific and as detailed as yours is! Thank you for all your efforts

[lapatria]

Great video. I notice this with calculus, personally. I generally practice solving a multitude of problems without stressing too much about understanding. Eventually, i dive deeper into trying to understand the significance of these problems while at the same time practicing some problems make the connection.
So: 1. Doing then 2. Understanding Then 1+2

[Rinzlov]

Did you look into proffesional starcraft training forums? 😄The literally have separate training maps and mods to train separately the resources, building, expansions, scouting etc, and then they have training resources that start combining these things.

[DarrenMcStravick]

This is just like iterative systems development methodologies. Build a little bit of each part of a system in sequence connecting each part together, then go back through another iteration to build on and/or revise the parts you initially worked on. Repeat this process until the complete system has been developed, test it and once tests are successful and confirmation is received, implement it.
Really wicked stuff! -- You're helping me connect my learning material with both my learning method and my background knowledge!

[briankim]

Its exactly like in starcraft and chess. Most of the times they recomment you to choose and practise openings only for x amount of times. They set you for a solid base to then practise mid-game tactics, which eventually set you up for end-games.1 step at a time, repeated for thousands of times!

Really glad this video appeared on my recommended feed! And really glad that I clicked it! Hopefully this news is encouraging. Definitely you deserve many more subs as many have already said. Remember me when you blow up!

[AEGIS-RED-MEGA-VIEWS]

divide and conquer u say?
I don't know how many of us remember how we learned to use pc or phone, but we didn't went "oh, let's go learn use this device", but we rather just went exploring, doing meaningless things. That's a great way to learn and master things. By just exploring without expecting anything in return (or not much). Good vid

[centrumsaiyan]

I have learnt a similar technique in 'Learn to learn' from coursera. It works wonderful. In just 3 months I was able to learn boxing, drumming, complex coding, and pass german language. The idea is to use active and passive learning technique. Apparently your brain by default does the passive learning. All you gotta do is switch between each skills after a session(active) and let the brain learn the pattern over the skills you are trying to master(passive). Correct me if I'm wrong, I am always willing to learn.

[baconrocksable]

this is true
this is how i learned to drive

staying in my line, making sure my turns weren't too wide, lane changes, maintaining speed, looking out for people around you
all of this was overwhelming at once
but when I focused on one skill or aspect at a time
it became much easier to just drive :)