Chapter 9 — Learning

Memory and learning are closely related, but they are not the same.

Memory exists when formed Tags and Hard-Links remain after an experience.

A person may remember several parts of an experience without learning how those parts are related.

In STLR, learning is the process of forming Tags and Hard-Linking the related Tags so that their content can be activated and processed together.

Learning Connects the Pieces

Suppose someone shows you a drawing while explaining what its different parts mean.

The experience may produce Tags for:

• the complete drawing
• different images in the drawing
• the sound of the spoken explanation
• the words used in the explanation
• the meaning of those words

Remembering some of these pieces does not necessarily mean that you learned the explanation.

Learning requires the relevant Tags to become connected.

If the image Tags and explanation Tags become Hard-Linked, seeing the drawing later may help activate the explanation. Hearing the explanation may also help activate the related parts of the drawing.

The contents of the Tags can then be processed together.

Two People in the Same Situation

Two people may watch the same presentation and receive many of the same Signals.

The first person looks carefully at the drawing while listening to the explanation.

When the speaker explains one part of the drawing, the person’s attention is directed toward that part. The image Tags, sound Tags, word Tags, and meaning Tags become active together.

Because they are active together, Hard-Links may form among the relevant Tags.

Later, the person may look at the drawing and remember the explanation. The person has learned how the explanation relates to the drawing.

The second person may also see the drawing and hear the speaker.

However, the person may look away while an important part is being explained. The person may hear the sounds while thinking about something else. The person may remember seeing the drawing and may even remember some of the speaker’s words.

But the relevant image Tags and explanation Tags were not active together strongly enough to form the necessary Hard-Links.

This person may have separate memories of the drawing and the sounds but may not have learned how they are related.

Hard-Links Do Not Contain the Meaning

The Hard-Links themselves do not mean that one part of the drawing represents a house, a road, or anything else.

The meaning remains in the content of the Tags.

Hard-Links help the relevant Tags become active together. The brain can then process their content and understand the relationship.

A new Tag may also form to store the learned relationship. For example:

This line in the drawing represents the road behind the house.

That new Tag may become Hard-Linked to the drawing, the line, the road, the house, and the spoken explanation.

Learning can therefore produce both new Tags and new Hard-Links among existing Tags.

Attention Must Be Directed Toward the Relationship

Attention does more than determine how much of an experience is remembered.

Attention also helps determine which Tags become Hard-Linked.

A person may pay close attention to the speaker’s voice but not to the drawing. Another person may study the drawing but ignore the explanation.

Both people may remember something, but neither may learn the intended relationship between the images and the explanation.

For learning to occur, attention must help activate the relevant content together.

Repetition Strengthens Learning

One explanation may be enough when attention is strong and the meaning is clear.

In other situations, repetition may be necessary.

Each time the drawing and its explanation are processed together, the related Tags may become easier to activate together. The Hard-Links become more established, and the learned relationship becomes easier to use.

Eventually, seeing the drawing may bring the explanation to mind quickly without consciously rebuilding the connection.

Learning Can Continue

Learning does not necessarily end when a related group of Tags first forms.

Continued learning can add more Tags to the group, form additional Hard-Links, and strengthen existing Hard-Links.

New examples, explanations, corrections, and ways of using something can become connected with what was learned earlier.

In this way, learning can continue to expand an existing group of related Tags.

From Memory to Learning

Memory preserves the Tags and Hard-Links that have formed.

Learning is the process of forming and Hard-Linking relevant Tags so their content can be processed together.

A person can therefore remember separate pieces without learning their relationship.

When the appropriate Tags become Hard-Linked and their content can be understood and used together, learning has occurred.

The resulting group of related, Hard-Linked Tags becomes knowledge. As continued learning adds related Tags and Hard-Links to the group, that knowledge grows.

The next chapter explains how these learned groups of Tags become knowledge in STLR.