Description
Book Synopsis'Absorbing, mind-enlarging, studded with insights ... This could have significant real-world results' Sunday Times
Humanity's greatest feat is our incredible ability to learn. Even in their first year, infants acquire language, visual and social knowledge at a rate that surpasses the best supercomputers. But how, exactly, do our brains learn?
In How We Learn, leading neuroscientist Stanislas Dehaene delves into the psychological, neuronal, synaptic and molecular mechanisms of learning. Drawing on case studies of children who learned despite huge difficulty and trauma, he explains why youth is such a sensitive period, during which brain plasticity is maximal, but also assures us that our abilities continue into adulthood. We can all enhance our learning and memory at any age and 'learn to learn' by taking maximal advantage of the four pillars of the brain's learning algorithm: attention, active engagement, error feedback and consolidation.
The human brai
Trade Review
This is an absorbing, mind-enlarging book, studded with insights ... Could have significant real-world results. -- James McConnachie * Sunday Times *
An entertaining survey of how science from brain scans to psychological tests is helping inspire pedagogy. Dehaene challenges many tropes [and] describes much of his own pioneering work ... Well translated from the French with some touching references to his upbringing, from the cult film La Jetée to the writing of Daniel Pennac. -- Andrew Jack * Financial Times *
An expert overview of learning ... Dehaene's fourth insightful exploration of neuroscience will pay dividends for attentive readers. * Kirkus *
