Repetition Wires the Brain

In the second half of the 20th century repetition, rote learning and drilling became swear words in education. Today, many consider this form of learning to be "out of style," "ghastly boring" and even "mindless." "Having to spend long periods of time on repetitive tasks is a sign that learning is not taking place — that this is not a productive learning situation," stated Bartoli in the Journal of Learning Disabilities.

Statements such as these, however, contradict the latest discoveries by neuroscientists, who have found that repetition is important in the "wiring" of a person's brain, i.e. the forming of connections or synapses between the brain cells. Without these connections, the brain cells are as useless as batteries standing in a row next to a torch. Only when the batteries and torch are connected, can they produce a shining light.

The thing that wires a child's brain, say neuroscientists — or rewires it after physical trauma — is "repeated experience." Without such repeated experience, key synapses don't form. And if such connections, once formed, are used too seldom to be strengthened and reinforced, the brain, figuring they're dead weight, eventually "prunes" them away.