How to Optimize Learning: Focused vs. Diffuse Thinking

Introduction:

Are you a student who is working under the looming shadow of exams, but constantly failing to master the material? Are you a professional looking to upskill but can’t seem to access those parts of the brain that make you learn things? Are your learning techniques failing you?

Learning is central to our lives, both as students and as professionals. We yearn to learn things that astonish us, that make us feel greater than we are. But, do we really know how learning works? Have we ever learned how to learn?

In this blog, you will be introduced to new ways of learning that sit well with our modern understanding of the brain. You will also learn about the two modes of thinking that underlie learning: Focused thinking and Diffuse thinking. By the end of the blog, you will know how to use these modes for learning efficiently.                                    

Illusions of Competence:

In her book ‘Learning How to Learn’, Barbara Oakley talks about the various ways we fool ourselves in the matters of competence. These are some of the things we all do at one time or another. We think that we have learned something or have become competent at a certain skill, but when the time comes to test our learning, we fall flat on our faces.

1. Seeing information in front of you, either on a screen or a book, does not mean that you know it. We all know that feeling when what we are reading makes complete sense, but as soon as the book is closed, our mind goes blank again.
2. Hearing someone explain an argument doesn’t mean you know the argument. You think that since you’ve understood the argument, you will now be able to argue it yourself. But, you soon realize how wrong you were.    
3. Spending a lot of time with the material does not mean you know it. We have all seen those people who spend 10 hours studying the same material that takes us 2 hours, but still look unprepared.

Two modes of Thinking for Learning:

• Focused Thinking:

Focused thinking occurs when you put all your attention on a given problem. It is a highly directed cognitive approach which is generally aimed at solving well-defined problems. When you are thinking in this manner, you are more likely to go deeper into the topic you are studying, and thus gain a better understanding of the given material. When we are engaged in focused mode thinking, our minds actively seek patterns and connections relevant to the problem at hand. Some of its benefits include:

• Precision: 

Focused mode thinking allows people to analyze problems systematically, leading to precise solutions.

• Efficiency: 

The ability to focus on one task at a time without interruptions leads to increased productivity. Focused thinking thus helps people to complete tasks faster and with greater accuracy.

• Stress Reduction: 

Focused thinking can provide a sense of control and accomplishment, reducing stress and anxiety that comes with unfinished and open-ended tasks.              

It can be a real boost to people wanting to grasp complex concepts, understanding formulas and acing academic exams. Focused thinking is also invaluable for troubleshooting technical issues and making data-driven decisions.  

• Diffuse Thinking:

Diffuse thinking occurs when you let your mind expand its focus, allowing it to wander and explore tangential or unrelated concepts. Unlike focused thinking, this mode has a more relaxed and free-flowing approach to problem solving and learning.

Have you seen the movie ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa’? In the movie, Akshay Kumar plays the role of a maverick psychiatrist Aditya, who is tasked to treat Avni (Vidya Balan), as she is suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder. In a conversation that takes place between him and Avni’s husband, he claims that he can take the easy way and recreate a new Avni, as other psychiatrists would do. But he wants to bring the authentic Avni back from the grips of her illness, and for that, he must opt for a risky and out-of-the-box treatment.

This is diffuse thinking in action. Other psychiatrists might have used focused thinking to figure out a treatment for her, but that would have been insufficient. Aditya, on the other hand, lets the solution come to him over time, and executes the treatment to perfection. 

As is clear from the above example, this ‘big-picture’ thinking encourages creativity and insight, resulting in unorthodox solutions. Some of its benefits include:

• Creativity:

Diffuse mode fosters a creative mindset, out of which spring innovative ideas. Artists who thrive on creativity have a habit of daydreaming, which enables them to stumble upon original ideas. Leading thinkers of every generation boast their habits of mind-wandering, highlighting its importance.

• Flexible Thinking:

It encourages adaptability and open-mindedness, enabling us to approach challenges with fresh perspectives. There are no hard-and-fast rules when it comes to diffuse thinking.

• Access to Insights:

Diffuse mode thinking allows the mind to subconsciously process information, leading to the generation of insights and sudden realizations. If you engage in diffuse thinking, the ‘aha’ moments are never far away. 

Also Read: Common difficulties of Online Learning and Solutions to them

Using Focused and Diffuse Modes of Learning: 

Instead of viewing focused thinking and diffuse thinking as opposing forces, we should recognize their synergy and try to integrate them. The key to optimal learning lies in knowing when to use each of these modes and how to switch efficiently between them.

• Immersion and Incubation: 

Start by immersing yourself completely in focused thinking to grasp the subtleties of the problem and to gather the relevant information. Then, allow your mind to incubate the ideas in the background while engaging in activities that encourage diffuse mode thinking. These activities include taking walks, exercising your hobbies or just trying to relax. The things which you learn in the focused mode, will grow deeper in the diffuse mode, and vice-versa.

• Breaks and Distractions:

Use breaks effectively in order to let your mind wander in the diffuse mode, after it has painstakingly worked in the focused mode. You can also give in to a distraction, but only if you have been sincerely learning in the focused mode. 

• Mindfulness and Awareness: 

Develop your capacity for self-awareness through the practices of mindfulness. This would enable you to recognize when your mind slips into focused or diffuse modes, enabling you to consciously direct your learning.   

Tips to Optimize Learning:

Bearing in mind the focused mode and the diffuse mode of thinking and learning, and the ways in which they complement each other, we can now move on to some tips that aid learning the best:

• Recall:

Rather than wasting time reading the material over and over again, it is better to learn a part of it and see if you are able to recall what you’ve read. This is a much better way to commit things to memory. 

• Feynman Technique:

Named after the physicist and teacher, Richard Feynman, this technique is one of the best ways to learn new material. According to this technique, you should first go through the material and understand it. After that, take a piece of paper and try to explain the concept that you have just learned in your own words. Wherever a difficulty arises, go back to the source material and make sure that you understand it. Continue this process and you will have mastered whatever you are learning.

• Spaced Repetition:

Our memory is not great. We tend to forget things really quickly. In order to ensure that our learning is robust enough, we should set up a schedule where we revisit the things we have learned. For example, if we have just learned a topic, we must revisit it tomorrow, then after a week, then after a month and so on. This spaced repetition solidifies the material in our long term memory.

Also Read: How Heuristic thinking helps in Reasoning logically and Correctly?

Learn With DT Evolve:

Do you know that critical thinking can be an excellent aid to learning? If you are able to engage with the material employing critical thinking, your understanding of it would be much deeper and thorough. If you are looking to acquaint yourself with the powers of critical thinking, DT Evolve as a course for you. Using the critical thinking process, you can improve your problem-solving abilities and improve business outcomes. Here’s the link to the course, Power of Critical Thinking.

Conclusion:

In this blog, we learned about the ways in which we fool ourselves with regards to learning. We tried to understand the two modes of thinking: focused thinking and diffuse thinking. We also learned how to integrate them in a manner which increases our learning capabilities. Lastly, we gathered some tips from the scientific literature on learning and memory, while trying to briefly explain what they are.