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Is there a 'learning limit' for some people? Can anyone learn anything?

Slothstronaut
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I've been recently pondering about the question of whether or not some people are just born with a certain learning, capacity, I guess for lack of a better term, or a certain learning 'cap' of which their brain was just born with - I guess you could pose this question in another way, and just simply ask, "Do an individuals genes play a key role in how much one can learn in his or her life?"

discusses this question in some sort, and states that "genes play about a 50% role in the difference of intelligence between individuals" but then goes on to state that, "these studies have not conclusively identified any genes that underlie differences in intelligence. It is likely that a large number of genes are involved, each of which makes only a small contribution to a person’s intelligence."

After stating these things, the article then goes on to explain that ones environment also contributes significantly to his or her learning abilities. Factors such as education resources, nutrition, (and not stated by this particular article, but stated by other sites; ; ; ) mold can play a role in learning disabilities too.

, "individuals do indeed have limits to their abilities", the article states that it is just difficult to determine what these limits are, and that when working towards certain learning goals it is important to not give up, because the individual does not know their learning capacity, or capability, as it may be higher or lower than expected - but giving up simply does not solve anything and will 100% get you nowhere.

So now the question stands, after all of these things are taken into consideration, is there at birth, or can there be a 'developed' limit to ones learning capacity or learning capabilities?
 
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I mean there are people who are a jack of all trades.

But I practically do know, One isn't limited to his learning capability, it is just that we people built the limit to ourselves, the moment we started wanting to be in a specific field. Which will put us to the point of not being able to invest enough time learning this other specialty that you want to be good at.

Right now, I'm working as an IT with a variety of other skills, but I also wanted to learn a different profession outside of it, which is Veterinary, sadly, It would take me to the point of investing money and I'm bombarded with so much work to do, that I can't anymore jump on and learn more about it.
 
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Only thing that confuses me about this thread is you are talking about learning limits but used evidence of intelligence limits which I think are two very different things. For example we can learn anything we want but this isn't to do with the level of intelligence, our intelligence may differ the time taken to learn the skill but in turn that doesn't limit what we can and cannot learn, if you get what I mean
 
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Only thing that confuses me about this thread is you are talking about learning limits but used evidence of intelligence limits which I think are two very different things. For example we can learn anything we want but this isn't to do with the level of intelligence, our intelligence may differ the time taken to learn the skill but in turn that doesn't limit what we can and cannot learn, if you get what I mean

No I don't get what you mean, just curious what do you define as intelligence?

How does it differ from ones learning capabilities?
 
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No I don't get what you mean, just curious what do you define as intelligence?

How does it differ from ones learning capabilities?
I think he's just presenting himself wrong. Surely he can't think that the speed of a hard disk and its maximum capacity are totally unrelated things, if you don't mind the analogy.

I don't think there's really a kind of hard limit on what can be learned, but there are limiting factors for sure. Some brains in the extreme end simply don't have quick enough cognition to take the steps toward a highly advanced subject to get there in their lifetime. Some topics may have road blocks which require a certain amount and efficiency of working memory to pass, for example if you were only capable or remembering one number at a time you wouldn't be able to learn to count 1,2,3.. if the limit were just two, you wouldn't be able to learn arithmetic and so on. Surely there are other kind of factors too if you want to label them. Some of them get better with practice, like I think I've read you could up your max working memory by around two items. So basically I don't think anything is strictly impossible for anyone, but depending on the brain and learning skill of an individual some topics may not be practically available - at least not before learning to learn more efficiently.

Oh, and sometimes there may be the limit of resolve. While I don't see it as strictly something that would limit your learning, in practice it's probably the single biggest challenge preventing us from pushing through with almost anything. Some just quit when they're 90% of the way there, some don't even get started because they don't believe in themselves able when they should, some progress more slowly when part of their working memory is constantly occupied by nagging thoughts of self doubt.
 
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Slothstronaut
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I think he's just presenting himself wrong. Surely he can't think that the speed of a hard disk and its maximum capacity are totally unrelated things, if you don't mind the analogy.

I don't think there's really a kind of hard limit on what can be learned, but there are limiting factors for sure. Some brains in the extreme end simply don't have quick enough cognition to take the steps toward a highly advanced subject to get there in their lifetime. Some topics may have road blocks which require a certain amount and efficiency of working memory to pass, for example if you were only capable or remembering one number at a time you wouldn't be able to learn to count 1,2,3.. if the limit were just two, you wouldn't be able to learn arithmetic and so on. Surely there are other kind of factors too if you want to label them. Some of them get better with practice, like I think I've read you could up your max working memory by around two items. So basically I don't think anything is strictly impossible for anyone, but depending on the brain and learning skill of an individual some topics may not be practically available - at least not before learning to learn more efficiently.

Couldn't have said it better myself. I was trying to explain something like this to my fiance and she disagrees with me and thinks pretty much that anyone can learn anything, (figure of speech, for the most part) no matter who the person is. But your analogies and examples help put it into perspective greatly.

Oh, and sometimes there may be the limit of resolve. While I don't see it as strictly something that would limit your learning, in practice it's probably the single biggest challenge preventing us from pushing through with almost anything. Some just quit when they're 90% of the way there, some don't even get started because they don't believe in themselves able when they should, some progress more slowly when part of their working memory is constantly occupied by nagging thoughts of self doubt.

That's how I am a lot of the time, I get like 3/4 of the way through something and it gets really difficult so I just give up most of the time. (When it comes to school related things, real-life issues are different) Also the same with always having nagging doubts in my head, that describes me to a T.
 
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Great questions all around in this thread, I really love this topic and the discussion going on. I've found some interesting books related to this topic, Mindset by Carol Dweck talks a lot about what one's learning capacity is. She says it's virtually unlimited and there are many different ways one can continually progress and improve.

Moreover, another great person to read over is Barbara Oakley. She has written MOOCs on Coursera covering the topic of Learning to Learn and Mindshift. She is also the author of A Mind For Numbers and Mindshift. She has written quite extensively on the topic of learning and more specifically capacity to learn.

My personal opinion is that learning is virtually unlimited. With the knowledge we have uncovered about the human brain and the way it records, stores, and recalls information, it is possible to become a master at anything. So long as you adopt the philosophy of active learning and recalling. Furthermore, a skill is not lost it capacity of its ability just diminishes without practice, though, can be restored if the material was actively learned. For example, picture working out. If you aren't working out a few times a week, you will eventually lose the muscle or vice-versa.

There is another fascinating idea of being able to "chunk" bits of information into large whole pieces of information through practice and context. That way whatever you're working on requires less of your working memory, which as far as we know is about 4 slots. I think the key here is to do a little bit every day ( 1 pomodoro between focusing really hard for 25 minutes and 5 minutes thinking more loosely, abstractly, away from the topic you were just focused on.) Your brain is only capable of producing so many new neural synapses per day, so it is very important to not cram. For example, if you were building a brick wall, you'd want to do it layer by layer, to allow the foundation to set and dry, before beginning to build on the second layer of bricks, otherwise, it would collapse.

Sleep is also very important, because this is when your brain is creating those new neural synapses.

To conclude, I believe almost any healthy human being is capable of learning anything, though, it depends on their environment and resources they have to be able to accomplish such goals.
 
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This is a very interesting thread indeed. Last semester, I was pushed by one of my professors to be a tutor and a supplementary instructor in our college, so I had to take a training class in which we studied a lot of theories of knowledge/skills acquisition, and teaching styles. Based on all the books that I've read, and the discussions we've had, I can tell you this. Theoretically there is no limit to ones learning ability, however, whatever that person is learning needs to be within the "zone of proximal development".

Justice For All - Is there a 'learning limit' for some people? Can anyone learn anything? - RaGEZONE Forums


If the skill or knowledge that one is acquiring is within the "What I can't do" stage, learning is halted completely and it does not matter how much help they receive. At this stage, the learner will become frustrated, start blaming them self, and eventually quit. At this point we can stay that the person cannot learn anymore.

The "What I can do" stage is as good as the previous stage. The learner is not gaining any knowledge, and will eventually quit because of boredom.

The "What I can do with help" stage is the ZPD. This is where learning happens and it differs from one person to the next. The factor that determines the ZPD, as you said, could be resources, education, learning disabilities, and many more. I can make the claim that ones ZPD is ever expanding which means that there is no learning limit what so ever, but there are external factors that creates a limit. If we can learn anything from the ZPD, it's that there is no limit but people do have walls and they need different kinds of help to get them across.

I hope I made sense.
 
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