Learning disabilities?

[amarinthal]

Wondering if I have a learning disability: Every time I repeat something, I have to study it as if it were new. For example, say I'm taking an advanced level biology course. The course usually starts with a very brief introduction of biology foundations previously studied in earlier courses. Nonetheless, I will still study with the same attention and detail as if I were learning the foundational material for the first time.

Or, say I am going to repeat a protocol for an experiment, I still follow the protocol from beginning to end regardless of the fact that I've repeated the protocol at least a dozen times within, say, a few months.

I also find that I'm very prone to introducing "new variables" into a repeated protocol if I don't rigidly follow a step-by-step.

Is this normal? Why does everything feel so "new" to me?

Edited June 11, 2018 by amarinthal

[CharonY]

Difficult to tell, but is sounds to me like a lack of focus and/or engagement. Actually, it is something that I observe quite frequently (not sure whether it is applicable to your case, but the general situations sounds familiar). Folks working according to protocols (especially Kit assays) just kind of execute the steps somewhat mindlessly and are often unable to clearly recall the steps and/or deduce the functions of the respective steps. Folks who first visualize the procedure and build a mental representation of the technique usually do not suffer from that problem.

In most cases I would say it is just simply not of interest to the students and they would rather distract themselves as much as possible (without physically messing up). Which include e.g. playing with the cell phone during wait times (rather than e.g. planning ahead, for example).

I think it is more that in the modern connected world it has become so common to become distracted by all sorts of inputs that focus and concentrating on an issue has become more and more difficult. By now, folks actually need a strategy to disconnect, rather than to connect.

Edited June 11, 2018 by CharonY

[StringJunky]

Once you've mastered the 'how', maybe it's worth considering the 'why' to reinforce what you are doing. Bare facts gain little traction in your memory if you aren't comfortable with the underlying principles. The principles are like the branches of a tree which you can hang your bare facts on in the correct place. If you don't have the principles down pat your facts are arranged in mess and hard to find or just get lost.

Edited June 11, 2018 by StringJunky