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Implicit learning and Explicit learning!
When a person deliberately uses outside resources, and hypothesis testing to gain specific knowledge in motor learning, that type of knowledge is known as Explicit. Explicit knowledge is also known as S-Mode learning. Another term that is often involved with Explicit learning is Consciousness. It is said that Explicit learning is gained on purpose and the individual gaining the knowledge is doing so consciously. Whereas Implicit learning is known as unconscious learning, because an individual comes about it passively and is not necessarily looking to gain knowledge in that particular area. Implicit knowledge is also known as U-mode learning.
There are many pros and cons to these two different types of learning, but which one has the most pros? Implicit learning is known as more vigorous and longer lasting than explicit because it is said that implicit learning is able to withstand neurological insults. A study done by (Allen and Reber) showed that implicit knowledge about learning artificial grammar remained when asked about it two years later. The same study showed that explicit knowledge was much harder to recover when asked about it two years later. It is also said that implicit knowledge is more specific when a quick response is required, only because it is less likely to change due to knowledge context. A study has proven, that implicit knowledge is less related to an individuals IQ than that of Explicit knowledge. A study by (Hardy) showed that skills that were acquired due to implicit training was much more resilient when it came to pressure.
With all of these advantages of Implicit knowledge, one would wander why isn’t implicit learning incorporated more into motor and skill learning. The answer is that it is to some extent, but it is much harder than it may appear. Basically there are two ways to gain knowledge about a specific skill. The first type is implicit and the second is explicit, in no particular order. There is almost no situation, in which these two types don’t overlap each other when a skill is acquired, making it almost impossible for a skill to be acquired by a single type of learning. There are two types of learning where both of these types are incorporated. There is Top-down learning which means explicit knowledge is learned first followed by implicit knowledge. There is also bottom-up learning, which means you first learn implicit knowledge and later explicit knowledge. Despite past years when this knowledge was ignored and wasn’t put into action, it has recently been gaining recognition. This however now presents a different debate. No longer is it over whether implicit knowledge is better than explicit or vice versa, but whether top-down learning or bottom-up learning is better.
Statistics and studies prove that bottom-up learning is more efficient and has better results. One of several test that were conducted is known as Serial Reaction Test (SRT). The SRT test was conducted to prove the an individuals ability to learn a repeated sequence. The test consisted of four light on a screen, one of the four lights would be lit and the individual would have to press the corresponding button of the illuminated light. The test proved that the response was delayed when it came patients who were trying to memorize the repeated sequence. This observation proves the previously stated, that when a fast response is needed implicit learning is more efficient. Another test, known as Dynamic Control (DC) showed similar information. DC is a test where individuals were asked to control an output variable, by controlling the input variable. Subjects very rapidly had an increase of performance, but never did understand the relation between the two variables. This also proves that implicit knowledge develops far sooner than that of Explicit knowledge. Both of these tasks proved that there was first implicit recognition which continued to improve until explicit information was recognized and articulated. One theory of why explicit knowledge develops later than implicit knowledge is because implicit knowledge may be too sophisticated to express explicitly. For example, there are tons of athletes in the world today, who are just naturally blessed. They have incredible skills, and come discover them just by playing around, but would never be able to explain the reasons behind their abilities. These tests not only show that Implicit recognition comes first, but maybe more importantly is that with implicit recognition comes improvement of explicit knowledge.
As it was proven, bottom-up learning is the preferred type when it comes to maximizing an individuals knowledge of motor learning. This type of learning has probably never been better exemplified than it was when (Karmiloff-Smith) did a study on young children. Children first recognized stimuli that were dominantly implicit, and acted on those over and over until explicit knowledge was gained. This process is known as re-description, this process consists of repeating the available implicit information until a more complex set of information was available to take it to another level. The more implicit knowledge an individual has, the more explicit knowledge a person gains. With more explicit knowledge, a person can become better by understanding the reasons by which he/she can do the things they can do.
I mentioned earlier all the advantages of implicit learning over explicit when it came to skill performance and motor learning. I also stated that it was harder than it seemed to teach skills and motor learning implicitly alone. The best way to teach skill would obviously be by bottom-up learning in which implicit learning would be stressed first and explicit would naturally follow. With this information, the next question you would want answered would be, what is the best/quickest way to come about implicit knowledge? Obviously the quicker one can come about implicit knowledge the quicker that same person can gain explicit knowledge that can be articulated. There were numerous attempts to teach skills by using implicit knowledge alone, and as expected they all failed. After a while there was an idea to teach implicit skills by using analogies. The study was not applying that analogy learning was a type of implicit learning, but it could merely exemplify the process of implicit learning, and possibly explicit learning.

Scarlet Letter!!

I can't lie, I really don't enjoy school right now. I have been so swamped with tests, and other various assignments that have caused me to be extremely busy. I am a person, who gets extremely stressed out about stuff like school. I like to have every thing under control, but lately I have had nothing under control. I felt like I was in a bottomless pit of tests, school, work, and rehab. I thought I would never be able to overcome my stress and be able to crawl out of the hole.

There are so many people who feal this same pain and stress in their walk with Christ. We do something small and displeasing to God, that over time turns into something much bigger. You know exactly what I'm talking about! There is someone reading this blog right now who has over time, fallen deeper and deeper into a hole. A hole that ultimately causes you to fall further and further from God until you finally reach rock bottom. This is the point where we seem to get the idea, that we are useless to God. We begin to carry around our sin as though we don't deserve any better.

"The Scarlet Letter", A Romance Novel by author Nathaniel Hawthorne, is about a woman who is forced to literally carry around her sin. The story begins in seventeenth-century Boston, then a Puritan settlement. Hester’s husband, a scholar much older than she is, sent her ahead to America, but he never arrived in Boston. The consensus is that he has been lost at sea. While waiting for her husband, Hester has apparently had an affair, as she has given birth to a child. She will not reveal her lover’s identity, however, and the scarlet letter "A", along with her public shaming, is her punishment for her sin and her secrecy.

There are so many people, who can relate so well with this story. We get into a hole and feel as though there is no way out. We wear our letter on our chest daily, whatever it is. Could be and "A" for alcohol addiction/ adultery, a "S" for sexual immorality, "D" for drugs, "L" for lust/language. We feel as though we don't deserve any better, that we are no better than the life we live. Take a look at the passage in Luke 22 starting from v. 48 and going to 51. We see a perfect situation, of how to get into a Jam and how to get out. Judas had just betrayed Jesus, and the roman soldiers are about to take him in. Peter a disciple of Jesus, saw what was about to go down,got the bright idea that he would draw his sword. Peter asked in v. 49, Should we strike with our swords? But before an answer was given, Peter drew his sword and quickly cut off Malchus (Servant of high priest) ear. This is our first mistake when getting into a bad situation. We ask God what we should do, but before we get an answer we jump in and do it anyway. We disregard what he has to say, and do what we feel like. Now, what we have to know is that what happened next was not supposed to happen. Peter as well as all the people of that day were highly trained with there swords.

Peter did not intend to cut off Malchus ear, he was trying to cut his head in half. They were trained to strike the top of the head and cut it off. Put yourself in Peter's shoes for a second, he was in a pretty deep hole. He just cut off the servant of the high Priest's ear. Today, that would be like cutting off a secret service agents ear. If you can imagine, I'm sure all the people standing around started to point fingers at Peter. Then Jesus stepped in and settled it right there. What happened in verse 51 never seizes to amaze me, Jesus says "No More of this." In other words, stop pointing fingers, stop blaming everyone else. No longer should people be judged for their sin, no longer do they have to carry it around, Because I (Jesus) am about to put them on my back and carry them to the cross. See once Jesus said "No More of this" he then picked up Malchus ear and fixed. There was no longer any evidence that a crime had been committed, because Jesus had fixed it and said "NO MORE." As a christian when I commit sin, I ask forgiveness and no longer can anyone hold that against me. NO ONE, because if the Son of Man (Jesus) forgives me. Who has the right to hold it against me? If you are a Christian and you are holding a Grudge against some one, STOP IT. Because all you are doing is saying, "Jesus sacrifice was good enough for me, but not you!" If you are a Christian and you think you are worthless because of your past, STOP IT! Stop wearing your SIN, we don't have to wear our sins any more because Jesus wore them to the cross. This is Satan's way of keeping us from doing awesome stuff for GOD. Every time we begin to get closer to God, Satan will whisper in you eat. "You can't do anything for God, you are worthless. Look at what you have done in your past, no one with that reputation can bring any honour to GOD." Jesus says, "No More of This" stop wearing around that sin, forget about it. Live a Life that would be pleasing and honorable to God.

Why are we so Stupid!!

Today I read this post dealing with Alcohol and the church. The whole thing started when Al Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said this "I can assure you of this: if you are associated with the use of beverage alcohol, I think I dare exaggerate not to say that 99% of all doors of ministry in the Southern Baptist Convention will be closed to you." (Basically saying if you drank, the southern baptist convention would not allow you to preach for them) The title of the post was, "Would Jesus be allowed to be a Southern Baptist Pastor?" Obviously you can see where this is headed!
The Author of this blog Dan Kimball, Pastor of Vintage Faith Church Ca., wrote the whole post revolved around the question.....Since Jesus drank wine and even made wine, would he be allowed to preach in the Southern Baptist Denomination? The post actually was a pretty good one, but the comments that followed is what really fired me up. People/Pastors began writing in, explaining how there were different meanings of wine. One commentor said, "There were various types of wine, when you look at the original Greek and Hebrew words used. You had the Hebrew word "tirosh" which was wine that had not been fermented. In fact, when you look at what was used in the last supper, it was kin to "tirosh." The Bible never speaks negatively of "tirosh." On the other hand "yayin," fermented wine, was spoken negatively against regularly."

Then there were people saying that there was only one type of wine. "In response to the second statement referring to the different meanings of the same word we all know God by His nature is not the author of confusion, so in saying this why would he use the word "wine" to mean two different things? If He did such a thing it would be in contradiction to His very nature."
Then there was one, that said "I get the feeling Mr. Mohler and his Southern Baptists counterparts might have a hard time with my being a worship pastor by day and bartender by night!" another who was in youth ministry said, "I love getting together with friends over a nice brew every now and then." It's pretty easy to tell, that the topic of alcohol in the Church is very unclear (to some).
By this point I was pretty ticked, but I have to admit that it wasn't until after these next two replies that I became steamed. One guy (and he wasn't the only one to say this) said, "When I'm sitting in my neighbor's driveway, around the grill, refusing a beer that he offers to me is a bit of a social slap in the face. I have one with him, I don't with my believer friends that might be offended." First of all let me just say that if this is you, then you are nothing more than a spineless coward! I mean, how much more of a coward can you be. The man says it's a "SOCIAL SLAP" in the face. Keep in mind, that these people are not just regular Joe's. These are leaders in the church saying this, the people who stand up in the pulpit every Sunday and preach to you about temptation, and the man basically says he drank a beer because he didn't want to offend someone. It truly is amazing to me, that we look past the church for the problems of this world. I mean goodnight, If the man offers you his urine are you going to drink that too? They both taste the same! (GAAAAHHHHH People are so spineless these days!!) I mean never mind what 1Timothy 3 says about leaders of the church.
Believe it or not, this really isn't what fired me up the most!! Again, there was more than one who said this, "It makes me wonder if people are so unsettled on "easy" issues (drinking) where do they really stand on more serious issues." I really can't believe he said this, and it's sad because there are soooo many more church leaders who think the same way. Most the time when people say something like this, is because they are jumping of the bandwagon of people who struggle with the "easy" issue. For those of you who agree with the drinking topic being an "easy" and irrelevant issue, here are some stats:
-More than 100,000 U.S. deaths are caused by excessive alcohol consumption each year. Direct and indirect causes of death include drunk driving, cirrhosis of the liver, falls, cancer, and stroke.1
-At least once a year, the guidelines for low risk drinking are exceeded by an estimated 74% of male drinkers and 72% of female drinkers aged 21 and older.2
-65% of youth surveyed said that they got the alcohol they drink from family and friends.7 (way to be a good example parents/PASTORS)
-Traffic crashes are the greatest single cause of death for persons aged 6–33. About 45% of these fatalities are in alcohol-related crashes.4
-Underage drinking costs the United States more than $58 billion every year — enough to buy every public school student a state-of-the-art computer.2 (yeh, that's pretty irrelevant)
-Alcohol is the most commonly used drug among young people.1 (The young people who seek there pastors for help)
-Alcohol kills 6½ times more youth than all other illicit drugs combined.2 (Who cares about young people, I KNOW. Not the pastors , because it's an easy and irrelevant issue)
WHY ARE WE SO STUPID? Instead, we talk about sexual immorality, a relevant and "hard" issue! Which don't get me wrong, should definitely be addressed in all churches across the world. But let me throw one more statistic out there. Since 1981, the most who have ever died in a single year from AIDS (the leading cause of any sex related death) was 51,414 which doesn't come close to the "MORE THAN 100,OOO" who are killed every year by something in relation to alcohol. You might say, well what does that have to do with the church? It has everything to do with the church. The sole purpose of the church, is to reach the lost and better ground the saved. How many of those "MORE THAN 100,000" people stepped into HELL because of Alcohol!
Maybe Jesus did drink fermented wine, maybe he didn't. What we have to understand, is that he WAS/IS PERFECT! Jesus laughed in the face of temptation, WE FALL. GOD gives every pastor a specific calling, and it is the highest calling in all of the world! It is to be his ambassador(2Cor. 5:20), his messenger, his representative! Each Pastor is the leader of a Church God has blesses him with. Inside of that church is the representation of God, and the way those who follow him should live. The fall of the Church comes after the fall of the leader. It's not like you don't go through enough temptation as it is, why put yourselves in a situation that could possibly result in your ultimate downfall and most importantly the downfall of the Church!
All through scripture God says the Love a man has for his wife, should be as the love God has for the Church(Eph. 5:25)! Men, you all know that you are very protective of your spouse.....So is God. You don't want someone messing around with your bride, so don't mess with His!! All those statistics that you read earlier, all started with "Just ONE." My best advice, is something my Mom always told me. "If you play with FIRE, you're gonna get BURNED! The only difference, is the fire that so many of you are PLAYING(key word) with, is the GOD'S BRIDE!!!

Get a Life, It's to Die for!!

I was asked by a friend today what I thought it meant to be a Christian and what it took to be one. I was sitting in the offices at NewSpring when I received the text, and the first thing that came to mind was dieing and 1Cor 15:31. This verse amazes me every time I read it, which is quite often. This verse should be memorized by all who profess the name of Jesus Christ. I am one who struggles with Temptation a great deal and often find comfort in this verse. I’m not sure, but I think that would be considered an oxy-moron (finding comfort in death).
What does “dieing daily” mean to you? To me dieing daily is a very specific command. To die daily is to die to this world. Be immune of the worldly and sinful human nature that we so often struggle with. God is our rock and strong tower, we are to stand for HIM and only HIM!! I wake every morning awaiting satan to tempt me in almost any and every way, because with the help of God I will DIE to it. Phil. 1:21 says, “To live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Our one and only purpose is to glorify God, no matter what we do. Whether it is by living or dieing! (Phili. 1:20)
“But why would you want to die, that’s dumb!” I totally agree, IF THERES STILL A BODY LEFT IN THE TOMB, but guess what, THERE ISN’T!! (1Cor. 15:20) We have a completely worthless faith and life if Jesus was not raised from the dead. It is insane for us (Christians) to put ourselves in danger every day for someone who is no better than us!(A Sinful GOD)
If Jesus had not raised from the dead, that would have made him and God a sinful liar and no better than us! The great thing, is that Jesus has already died our death raised our souls and set us free, all we have to do is believe. The only way is to receive your reward for having faith in God is to die. (1Cor. 15:36)
Every time we die to temptation, we uplift the name of Jesus. If we are not willing to die spiritually and physically, we are in the wrong profession. Everyday, I am reminded that nothing is mine. It all belongs to God, and to be a sucessful Christ follower I have to be willing to give it all back including my Life and worldly desires. As Christians we should quit focusing on how to live right, and start focusing on how to die right!!

THR3E!!

What a movie! This past Friday night at our bible study we watched this Ted Dekker best seller. THR3E, is an action-packed movie that has mind boggling twist to go along.
"Passion of The Christ" a Mel Gibson movie, has sparked a revolution in the christian movie industry. THR3E is a faith based movie, appealing to all people. Believe It or not, this is what the world needs. There are too many people that think the word of God has limitations, and that technology can only be used in worldly ways. If people want come to church, we'll take the Church to the people. About.com said, "As a Christian movie enthusiast, there's no doubt the options in Christian entertainment are getting better in quality, quantity and diversity. Yes, all thr3e."
I have said it before and I'll will say it again. If there is something out there that can be used in a way to bring God glory and praise (music, movies, games, etc...) it's no longer a worldly thing but a God thing. I think it's a shame, that we as Christians think it's ok for Satan to use technology for his gain but NOT GOD!!
If Christians as a whole ever begin to accept churches on fire for Christ like NewSpring, Willow Creek, Seacoast Church, Mars Hill Church, the whole world could be turned upside down. We need to learn to accept the truth and orders of God. The truth = GOD(John 14:6) The order = GO(Acts 1:8). As a follower of Christ, we are to know God is King and the only way to eternal life, we are then to take that truth into all the WORLD!! (Not just the Five pews in our church) God puts it in bold letters, he is the TRUTH.
I think we should all watch the movie THR3E and see how being deprived from the TRUTH and isolated in a tiny world can cause much pain and agony! But remember when watching this movie, it was made to do what God called it to do. WITNESS TO ALL!!