你喜欢学习吗？虽然有些人爱学习，但也有不少人觉得学习枯燥无味。研究表明，如果你觉得一个概念太难或太无聊，学起来也就会更困难。但是，我们生来就会学习，所以好好利用这个天生的能力吧！

 

Are you the kind of person who hated school? Or are you more like Michael Nicholson, who can't stop learning? He currently has 30 degrees including 22 master's and a doctorate¹! If you're also passionate² about studying, you might be a philomath – a person who loves to learn and study. The word comes from Greek with 'phil' meaning 'a lover of' and 'math' meaning 'learning'.

 

Humans are all philomaths to an extent – our brain is hardwired to be curious. We want to learn and understand, partly to make sense of the world but also because of something called neoteny. This is a term that refers to the juvenile³ characteristics of some animals, including humans, being retained into adulthood⁴. One of these traits is neuroplasticity, which helps our brains stay flexible – this gives us the ability to learn throughout our lives. Many creatures which are genetically⁵ close to us, like primates⁶, can't do this and only learn during their adolescence⁷.

 

But for every person who loves learning, there are plenty who can't stand it. Lots of people remember their school days as being boring or even pointless.Why is this? Educational anthropologists have suggested that if a concept or idea is too complex or dull, it becomes harder to link old and new ideas together. If that's the case, we lose motivation and absorb less information. This negative experience of education at school may lead to people avoiding learning opportunities in later life.

 

So, don't let a bad educational experience prevent you learning something new as an adult. Evolution has made us lifelong learners, so take advantage of your biology and discover your inner philomath. Who knows what you could achieve?

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