applying psychology to create
outstanding learning experiences

At Mindboost we focus on crafting learning that connects with people emotionally and drives a feeling. This isn’t just a nice idea; it’s based on solid neuroscience and cognitive psychology principles. By making an emotional connection with people, it prompts a response, which in turn stimulates curiosity and creates a lasting memory. Understanding how the brain works is crucial in the process of creating effective learning. Let’s take a look in a bit more detail about the cognitive psychology that’s at play here. 

make it memorable 

It seems obvious to say how important memory is to learning, but it’s true! We can make the most beautiful courses in the world, but if learners aren’t able to retain and apply what they’ve been taught, they won’t have any real impact. There are three key stages to memory formation: 

Encoding – this is when you’re learning something for the first time and so need to be focused and not overwhelmed by too much information.
Storage – we now have the information in our memory, but we want to keep it there, which is when repetition and reinforcement comes in.
Retrieval – when needed we will be able to draw out the necessary information from our memory and put it into practice successfully. 

So, what are the techniques that we can use in our digital learning design to assist this formation of memory for our learners? 

Active learning – if there is active participation in learning, rather than passively reading for example, this activates more regions of the brain, which in turn strengthens our ability to memorise and apply what we’ve learnt. 

Spaced repetition – repeating learning allows the information to pass from short to long term memory. If we have breaks between periods of learning, our brain is better able to consolidate information. 

Effective feedback – feedback is crucial and needs to be constructive, timely and precise to be well received and aid our retention. Even if we get a question wrong, if the feedback is presented in an engaging way it can enhance our memory of the right thing to do. 

what about cognitive load

We’ve all experienced being overwhelmed with too much information or been unable to take in the specifics because of superfluous noise. Cognitive load theory explains how the brain stores and processes information, which is split into three core categories: 

Intrinsic load – based on the complexity and difficulty of the content.
Extraneous load – related to the presentation and design of digital content.
Germane load – processes that help us to absorb information more easily, for example infographics or flow diagrams. 

So, for learning designers the goal is to minimise intrinsic and extraneous load and maximise germane load. There are plenty of techniques you can use to achieve this, such as: 

Chunking content – using an intuitive structure and breaking learning down into smaller, manageable chunks, taking a micro-learning approach to content, to make it easier to digest for learners.
Building knowledge step by step – increasing the complexity of the learning in a gradual way as you move through a course means that we build on what we know, so we aren’t stuck at the intrinsic stage.
Visual stimuli – using graphics, animation and multi-media to make concepts simpler and explain them in a way that is easy to understand and sticky to remember. 

evoke strong emotions 

The reason we talk about how we aim to ‘drive a feeling’ at Mindboost is because of the powerful impact emotions have on our bodies. Research has shown that learning that evokes strong emotions is much more likely to be remembered and that positive emotions, such as enjoyment, excitement and interest will add to retention and knowledge transfer. Emotions such as boredom and fatigue will have the opposite effect. 

To create these experiences for our learners we can: 

Use storytelling techniques – to create interest and excitement as we all respond more deeply to being told stories rather than facts. 

Provide contextual relevance – so learners can relate it to their own lives and experience, especially when putting into practice behavioural skills. 

Variety and novelty – if learners keep seeing the same thing, their brain will switch off as it intuits that there’s nothing new to learn, they’ve seen it all before. 

keep it social 

Social learning theory recognises that we don’t just experience life as an individual and that we are influenced by others in our learning journey. Our goal as designers is to harness this social interaction and ensure it has a positive influence and provokes the strong emotions we are looking to elicit. We can do this by: 

Integrating discussion forums – to hear perspectives from your peers and create a deeper talking point around a piece of learning.
Creating real-world simulations – that reflect how you interact with your colleagues on a day-to-day basis and recognising the individual roles and responsibilities that make the whole team successful.
Modelling desired behaviours and skills – has a subtle influence on other learners, helping them to understand the correct course of action, as well as creating a powerful group of advocates for the learning. 

All of these insights into psychological principles, such as neuroscience, cognitive load theory, social learning theory etc, are tools in the designers toolbox that can be used to enhance learning. For example, by knowing what learners need for their memory to work at its best, we can design experiences that employ techniques such as spaced repetition to ensure that over time the core information is still retained. 

But it’s not just about taking each of these principles individually and working towards creating a learning experience that addresses each one in turn. It’s truly the combination of all these elements in a cohesive experience that will make our learning the most impactful. If your design is memorable, engaging, active, evokes positive emotions, uses storytelling to full effect and adds a social dimension, it will have no choice but to have an impact on your learners and stick in their minds! Get in touch with the mindboost team today to learn how we can elevate your content.