What is one idea from the readings or videos that you disagree with, and why?

In the video by Destin Sandlin at Smarter Every Day he claims that his experiment to prove that he could “free his brain from a cognitive bias” only proved that he “can only redesignate that bias” as he had seemingly forgotten to ride a regular bike after training his brain to ride the backward bicycle. I disagree with this statement as during the video he attempts to ride a normal bicycle again and instead of the 8 months, it took him to learn the backwards bike he only needed 20 minutes to be able to ride the regular bike again. This makes it seem as though instead of changing his biases completely he instead was building a new pathway alongside it. It may have been possible that if he had continued to practice both bicycles simultaneously he may have been able to accomplish his initial task to try and remove his cognitive bias. His inability to ride the regular bike may have also been due more to him being out of practice rather than having learned a different way of riding a bike. Destin also compares his experiment to learning a new language when comparing his sons and his experience with the bicycle and how it relates to neuroplasticity. Although he makes a good point here, when you compare his experiment to learning a new language in terms of cognitive bias you also bring up an example in which does not redesignate their bias as a person can learn multiple languages without losing the previous languages they knew provided they continue to practice those languages. This shows further that his statement about proving that he “can only redesignate that bias” may not be entirely accurate.

References

destinws2. (2015, April 24). The backwards brain bicycle – smarter every day 133. YouTube. Retrieved November 27, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFzDaBzBlL0.