Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning

Cognitive Psychology is a branch of science primarily concerned with how humans think—the processes and patterns of the mind. Examples of these patterns include perception, attention, and most relevant to Make It Stick, learning and memory. Cognitive psychologists conduct experiments and synthesize information to form a better understanding of how the brain works and how its processes can be controlled, manipulated, or improved.

Consolidation is a mental process that converts short-term memory into long-term memory. During this process, the brain organizes and stabilizes information to render it consistent with preexisting knowledge (i.e., the brain makes connections between old and new information). Sleep is a crucial step. The authors liken consolidation to revising a messy first draft of an essay over the course of a few sittings (73). Retrieving old information kickstarts a process of reconsolidation that again connects information in the brain.

Crystallized intelligence refers to the brain’s store of information accrued from prior learning and lived experiences. It becomes a broad accumulation of factual and practical information that the brain can draw from when it needs to produce solutions (this drawn out information being fluid intelligence).