Why does maths stick in the brain?

Thanks to Catherine Loveday for the answer!

James - This one's sparked a really interesting conversation on our forum. Evan's written in to say, I always found maths easier than history because maths has a regular logical structure. While I saw history as a bunch of random dates with no structure, my wife was the opposite. Maths was random facts that seemed to have no structure, but she enjoyed history and art. Thanks Evan. When it comes to exam success, we're relying mainly on our semantic memory as it's what allows us to recall facts and concepts. But what's the difference between remembering a historical date versus how to do trigonometry? Well, I've asked Catherine Loveday, a neuropsychologist at the University of Westminster to help us with the answer. Hello Catherine.

Catherine - Hi there.

James - What is it about maths that might make it easier to remember?

Catherine - Well, maths is very much a doing subject. So we tend to do tasks and there's a lot of repetition in those tasks. And there will be a deeper level of processing quite often. So for example, if you use a formula, I can still remember lots of mine as well. If you use that same formula lots of times it becomes almost an automatic piece of knowledge for you. And also you are often coming at different problems from different angles and having to use that same formula in different contexts and that allows you to process more deeply. And we know that both of those things, repetition and the depth of processing, both of those will make memories stronger.

James - People who are good at maths, there's this sort of rhythm they get into when you watch them and it feels like the hardest part of that is starting it, isn't it? But they can really get into a flow, can't they?

Catherine - Yeah, that's a really good point. And we know that creative flow is a measurable concept that happens. And I think there's another aspect to it, which is the sense of reward. So we know that memories become strengthened when there is a reward at the end of it. And you feel good about something. And I think there's something about maths that if you can do it, there's a real sense that you have achieved something, that you've got it right at the end of it. It's not like history or English where you write an essay and it's kind of right or it it may be good or it may not be good. With maths, you get that very quick distinct answer and that is a real reward and, and the brain will learn things better when it has that.

James - Although what you've said may be true for people like Andrew and those on our forum who I have to say it seemed largely agree, others might find that they slip back into other subjects more easily.

Catherine - Yeah, I think that's true. I think for some people maybe a piece of poetry might really stick. Again, there's lots of repetition there and sometimes even things like history dates, because people often do very active revision around those, so they repeat them lots of times. And again, it comes back to this reward pathway. If we are interested and motivated and driven by these particular subjects, then we are more likely to remember those things better.