Children's brains are not tabulae rasae. Humans are particularly dependent upon and good at learning, but we all start out with certain preconceptions. One very important way that learning in children differs from learning in adults is that children learn in part by sculpting their brains. And I do mean sculpting like a sculptor. Children lose neurons at a very high rate, retaining the most used neurons. Every adult's brain has been structured and specialized by this process, as well as other learning. Even adult brains have a certain plasticity, but cannot be structured like a child's brain can. Losing neurons is not such a good thing for adults.
John Fairbairn wrote:
The OP does refer to adults. Most, and maybe all, of the items listed could also apply to children.
If we look for factors which apply mainly to adults, I think an important two factors are missing.
FACTOR 1 - the Einstellung effect.
By the nature of things adults have learnt to succeed in some things, and the E effect tells us that we are then likely to apply a method we know is successful for one thing to other, new things, even when the method is not really appropriate. Children, relatively, have a tabula rasa and so can more easily learn the most appropriate method for the new problem.
The E effect is especially pernicious in cases where the old, inappropriate method can achieve results, that is it can be effective even though may not be efficient or appropriate. I think this is manifested in chess and go in two main ways.
One is to try to apply numbers, lists, proverbs, theories to the game. These can achieve improvement and so are effective to some degree, but they are neither efficient or appropriate as regards becoming truly strong.
OC, unless an adult has already sculpted efficient structures for go, it is too late to do so. We have to make do with what we have. A good example of this kind of thing is learning a foreign language as an adult. Even those who become fluent store vocabulary in that language all over the place in the brain, making retrieval relatively inefficient. It is entirely appropriate for adults to apply abstract thinking when they learn a new intellectual game. It makes efficient and effective use of what they already have, of the structures they have already sculpted in their brains, and of other previous learnings. (BTW, famed hypnotherapist Milton Erickson did amazing things with helping people to apply previous learnings effectively in new ways. I imagine that ways could be developed that would help most adults to do that in learning go. But we would first have to get rid of the notion that adults ought to learn like children do.)
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FACTOR 2 - the myth of understanding.
Adults too often seem satisfied with understanding how something works, but they rarely put effort into ingraining that into their sub-conscious so that it becomes intuitive.
Well, I found out about overlearning when I was in high school, and to judge by what people have written here and on Sensei's Library, I think that a lot of serious players do focus on effective repetition, drill, and practice.
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But there is a paradox here, because if you skip the understanding bit and just do the grunt, repetitive work, your sub-conscious will end up 'understanding' the subject better than you ever could consciously.
Well, your subconscious always understands better than your conscious mind.
That is so even if you develop your conscious understanding. You are developing your unconscious understanding at the same time.
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