Understanding through Repetition

by Alan Pritt

How many times do you need to experience something in order to really know it? Repetition is obviously vitally important for developing skills and for memory, but what about understanding? How many of us, for example, read a book over and over again? How many of us really absorb all there is to know? How many of us take surface knowledge and make it truly useful?

I once watched the same 10 minutes from the beginning of the film Don't Look Now about 15 times in a row! I had to write about it for an exam. The mission was to take that 10 minute segment and dissect and analyse it.

When I first learnt which film we would be analysing I was very disappointed. I'd watched the entire film a week earlier and I hated it; I just didn't get it at all. So when I settled to the task of watching the first viewing I wasn't too excited. The only consolation, I thought, was that I wouldn't ruin a film I actually enjoyed by watching it too many times and becoming sick of it.

After the first viewing I disliked the film even more. I'd noted down lots of obvious observations, and I was bored with the pointlessness of the task. Still, I had to find something to write about, so I rallied myself for the next viewing.

To my surprise, my interest began to rise. I started to notice more. On each viewing, rather than running out of things to note down, I actually began to notice more. I ended up with several pages of observations, and I only stopped because I ran out of time. But the interesting thing was: it was on the last viewing that I made the most interesting discoveries. I noticed all kinds of subtle nuances which added to the story: little clues the characters said, hints at a paranormal connection, actions that lent more depth to the characters. And rather than being bored out of my mind, by the fifteenth viewing I was intrigued and entranced.

It's amazing what you can find when you look closely enough.

You may have noted children doing the same thing. Young children love to watch the same movies over and over again. And they always pick the same book for you to read to them. Why do they do this? It's because they get more from it every time they read it. Each time, they discover more.

We seem to lose that desire as we grow towards adulthood. Instead of exploring deeply, we want to consume as many different things as possible. Even when we find a subject we are passionate about, most of us don't re-read the best books or re-attend the best lectures.

Repetition is usually associated with memory, and of course it really does help to imbed memories into your brain. But it isn't only about memory; it's also about developing a deeper understanding of something. Take more swings with your golf club and you start to develop a better drive. Read a book more times, and you begin to realise how you can apply the principles. Repeatedly listen to your language tapes, and you will begin to understand more of what is being said. Listen to a piece of music over and over, and you will develop an appreciation of its little nuances.

Try exploring deeply, rather than widely. Have you ever read a good book? Read it again, and see what you can gain from it. Then read it again.

Even from quite bland material you can discover a lot. This from Win Wenger:

[...]how to realize Walt Whitman's dictum, that if you observe closely enough even an ordinary blade of grass (or as William Blake stated, even an ordinary grain of sand), you will discover the entire universe there. Anything you describe in close detail to listener or recorder while you are observing it closely, you discover more and more and more about.

Modern physics has found this universe to be (1) holographic, (2) comprised necessarily of fractiles, a la gorgeously infinite Mandelbrot Sets. As a result: when description, feedback and perception all intermodulate and so engage these dynamics, you can literally discover all that, and more, just by closely observing anything, even your own thumbnail! Whitman' s dictum about an ordinary blade of grass was more than metaphor: it is literal

In my opinion, Win Wenger takes this a bit too far -- at least with the capabilities of today's science -- but there certainly is a lot to be learnt by exploring any object or idea enough. However, looking at a piece of grass to discover the universe is surely not the most efficient method. While you can probably suck some juice from a stone, you'll find your efforts much more rewarding if you choose an orange. For best results pick a resource that looks like it has a lot to deliver. So instead of studying a blade of grass to discover the universe, read a A Brief History of Time several times.

Stages

If you've ever been forced to repeatedly read the same thing over and over again, you may have found it gets increasingly boring as you re-read what you already know. I've noticed the following common stages when I take this repetition approach:

1. Anticipation - This is before you actually read (or otherwise consume) the material. You may have questions you want answered, or you may just be curious as to what it contains. But unless you are being forced to read it, you will have some form of curiosity about its content.
2. The surprise is revealed - Then you consume the material and that anticipation dissipates. No longer are you trying to work out what the surprise is, because it has been revealed to you. It may have built up more anticipation for exploring further, but not for what you have already consumed. It's a bit like presents. You come down one morning (maybe it's Christmas, maybe your birthday) and you find a pile of presents for you. They're all wrapped up and you have no idea what is inside, but you are eager to find out. So you open the first present, and the surprise is revealed. The anticipation then disappears, since you know what it is.
3. Interest fades - Once the anticipation disappears, the interest also begins to fade. You're then likely to start looking for the next surprise (the next present) and so you become less interested in what you've already opened.
4. Keep doing it anyway - even though you've lost interest and are eager to move on, you apply a bit of self discipline because you understand that in the long term it will pay off.
5. Interest increases again - As you keep exploring, you begin to uncover more secrets that you never imagined were there. You become more skilled, you develop a better understanding, you memorise more deeply, and you draw more from it. You work out how to make it useful, and that makes it interesting again.

Intention

Mindless repetition is not enough. The repetition must be accompanied by a strong intention to find out more. If you don't look for more, you won't find it. Have a question you want answering; have a purpose.

As long as you have the intention to get better or learn more, you will gradually get better. On the other hand, without the intention to improve you will let mistakes crop and you won't rectify them. You'll let gaps appear in your understanding. In some cases, without a strong positive intention, you may actually get worse.

Without a strong intention you're setting yourself up for extreme boredom, and no reward. Make sure you have a purpose.

Play it again, Sam

Of course, there are other ways to engage in repetition than having to read and re-read the same material over and over again. It is also highly beneficial to explore the same subject from as many different angles as possible. Learning a language? Find several different courses. Learning a song? Play it on several different instruments. Trying to understand a classic novel? Read it, listen to the tape recording and discuss it with your friends.

However, don't dismiss the idea of consuming the same source over and over again. Doing so will tend to lead to you exploring the subject in greater depth, and help to integrate it in more useful ways. Rather than playing on the surface, it forces you to dive down to the depths of the subject.

Now go back and read this article again!

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