Have you ever wondered if working memory is important for language learning? I didn’t think so. But it’s crucial. If you don’t want to waste time in language learning sessions, you need to cover the basics, like how working memory is involved in Language Learning and how to optimize it.
Working is the foundation for language learning sessions. Perhaps you are already starting to worry, “geez I have a hard time remembering names or numbers after I just heard them”. Well, so do I. And most people for that matter.
But don’t worry. There are certain science-based protocols you can do before and during your learning sessions to IMPROVE your working memory and boost your language learning.
Who better to turn to for the best science on this? – The Huberman Lab, of course.
This week, Andrew Huberman has provided a brief science literature review to help us better understand and leverage the brain science to improve our working memory.
First, what is language learning?
Learning is essentially a process of moving information from Short-Term Memory to Long-Term Memory. Short-Term Memory holds information for a few minutes to a few hours, but only a fraction of it passes into long-term memory. The hippocampus plays a crucial role in transferring short-term memories into long-term memories.
Long-Term Memory involves two components–declarative (facts and information) and procedural (action steps for tasks like riding a bike). When we learn something new, we try consciously understand and remember it, and if we do, it becomes procedural memory. But when this knowledge gets often repeated and practiced, it can become Procedural memory. That is when it becomes automatic and you no longer have to struggle to search for words when writing or talking in a foreign language.
So, how does Working Memory fit in? It’s different from short-term and long-term memory and is closely tied to attention. It helps you to navigate your daily life and switch from one task to another. Working memory and attention collaborate at a neural circuit and neurochemical level.
You can say that Working Memory is like the gate into Short-term memory: the wider the gate, then more information enters Short-term memory. Taking the simple example of studying vocabulary, a good working memory will make your learning more efficient and enable you to remember more words per minute.
What does this mean in terms of language learning practice?
Simply reading and reviewing information is a waste of time.
Learning science research has shown that to help start the memory formation process—even at the working memory stage—testing yourself leads to much better retention. In other words, you need effort. You need to challenge and test yourself by practicing what educators call “effortful retrieval practice”. And this is where Working Memory comes in.
So, if you want to engage in a learning session like memorizing vocabulary items, you need an effective start to propel the movement from Short-term to Long-term Memory.
For this, we will go into a bit of neuroscience.
Where’s the dopamine?
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that turns out to be critical to the formation of memories, among other things. Now, while learning involves several parts and circuits in the brain, a revealing study by Cools and colleagues found an “inverted U-shaped” relationship between dopamine levels and working memory: if your dopamine levels are either too low or too high, your working memory will be impaired. In other words, there is a sweet spot or amount of dopamine to help you achieve optimal working memory.
If you have a poor working memory (me, again!), you might be getting worried. Are you doomed to be a poor learner? No. There are ways you can boost your dopamine. 😊
Good news: There are medical ways to raise your dopamine levels.
Much better news: There are also natural ways to raise your dopamine levels.
Huberman goes into detail about two natural ways that can have a significant effect on raising your dopamine levels to best prepare for a learning session.
Protocol 1: Cold à memory
The first is cold exposure. Taking a cold shower or cold plunge before a study session can increase catecholamines (which include dopamine) in the body. This can potentially enhance working memory and attention, as many people report an increased capacity to focus after such activities.
Ok, if you are like most people, you probably don’t want to take a long cold shower or cold bath plunge for 3+ minutes. Another option involves a form of meditation.
Protocol 2: Deep relaxation à memory
Huberman discusses the impact of Non-Sleep Deep Rest (NSDR) and Yoga Nidra on dopamine production and its potential to improve short-term memory.
NSDR and Yoga Nidra are practices that involve lying down and following a guided relaxation or meditation script. You can find these on Youtube and Spotify and are designed to induce a state of deep rest without falling asleep. One Scandinavian study found that after performing a Yoga Nidra protocol, there was a significant increase in baseline dopamine levels in the brain. This increase was observed to be as much as 60% compared to individuals who did not perform Yoga Nidra.
Now this study involved subjects undergoing longer Yoga Nidra sessions of around an hour, but Huberman suggests that even shorter durations of NSDR or Yoga Nidra might be beneficial. Many online Yoga Nidra sessions tend to be between 10 to 20 minutes.
The take aways?
1. Be aware of your working memory in learning: In your language learning sessions, challenge yourself with effortful practice, like testing yourself.
2. Improve your working memory by raising your dopamine levels: cold exposure and yoga nidra practices before a study session will help you optimize your dopamine levels and create a wider gate to short-term memory. This will make your learning more efficient.
So, stay cool and get relaxed for better language learning.
