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How does your brain react to mistakes, and what strategies can improve your learning and decision-making? Your mindset, and how you respond to your errors in the moment, can make a big difference in how quickly you learn and improve.
All of our brains react to mistakes. However, the mindset we have determines all of our outcomes.
Certain people respond to their mistakes and errors in a much healthier and more constructive way than others.
One of the most powerful shifts in your mindset is thinking of your errors, mistakes, and failures as learning opportunities.
Mistakes are just facts that we need to adapt to, without ignoring them or constantly beating ourselves up over them.
According to one new study published in Psychological Science, when you change how you think about your mistakes, you change the way your brain responds to them.
Researchers first hooked up participants to an EEG to record electrical activity in the brain. Then they had participants perform a simple task where they had to identify the middle letter in a 5-letter series. For example, “MMMMM” or “NNMNN.” The correct answer is M in both cases. Sometimes the middle letter was the same as the other four, and sometimes it was different.
Although it was a super easy test, it became tedious enough that many participants would zone out and make silly mistakes from time to time. You can probably relate to this in similar situations where you get tired, bored, or run low on willpower.
Whenever someone makes a mistake, the brain sends out two signals.
The first signal was when participants realized they messed up. Researchers jokingly called this the “Oh crap!” response. The second signal was when participants were trying to correct themselves so that the mistake wouldn’t happen again.
Researchers compared responses in the brain between people who had a growth mindset (“I see mistakes as an opportunity to grow and improve”) vs. fixed mindset (“I see mistakes as a lack of ability”).
Individuals with a growth mindset were faster to bounce back after making a mistake. Their brains also sent out a much stronger signal telling itself, “I’ve made a mistake. I need to pay more attention.”
Overall, they were better at self-monitoring and self-correcting in the moment.
One of the most important findings in this study is how our mindset can influence how our brains operate. That finding is more evidence that we can create neuroplasticity (the brain’s ability to change with experience) by changing our thoughts and attitude.
How does your brain react when you make a mistake?
The Power of Making Mistakes on Purpose
Now we all understand that mistakes are a necessary part of the learning process, but what about making them on purpose?
Another fascinating study published in the Journal of Educational Psychology discovered that even making deliberate errors can facilitate meaningful learning.
For example, you might write “whales are fish,” then cross it out and write “whales are mammals.” Consciously making errors and correcting them like this was shown to improve long-term memory and retention.
Psychologists call this counterintuitive approach the derring effect.
One less contrived way to practice this is to teach what you are learning to someone else who is learning it. They may make errors that you wouldn’t make (and vice versa), so you both have the opportunity to correct each other and learn from each other’s mistakes.
This fits perfectly with the student-mentor-peer model of success. In that model, you interact with people at all stages of the learning curve. That gives you plenty of opportunities to correct others and be corrected.
Another funny iteration of this idea is Cunningham’s Law, which states, “The best way to get the right answer on the internet is not to ask a question; it’s to post the wrong answer.”
People love correcting others when given a chance. Sometimes, the fastest path to learning is to simply share your thoughts and be willing to be wrong.
You’re probably going to make more mistakes in the future, so start making the most of them.
