The mere existence of synaptic plasticity does not suffice to explain the extraordinary success of our species. Indeed, such plasticity is omnipresent in the animal world: even house flies, nematode worms, and sea slugs have modifiable synapses. If Homo sapiens became Homo docens, if learning became our ecological niche and the main reason behind our global success, it is because the human brain contains a whole bag of additional tricks.

During evolution, four major functions appeared that maximized the speed with which we extracted information from our environment. I call them the four pillars of learning, because each of them plays an essential role in the stability of our mental constructions: if even one of these pillars is missing or weak, the whole structure quakes and quivers. Conversely, whenever we need to learn, and learn fast, we can rely on them to optimize our efforts. These pillars are:

• Attention, which amplifies the information we focus on.

• Active engagement, an algorithm also called “curiosity,” which encourages our brain to ceaselessly test new hypotheses.

• Error feedback, which compares our predictions with reality and corrects our models of the world.

• Consolidation, which renders what we have learned fully automated and involves sleep as a key component.

Far from being unique to humans, these functions are shared with many other species. However, due to our social brain and language skills, we exploit them more effectively than any other animal—especially in our families, schools, and universities.

Attention, active engagement, error feedback, and consolidation are the secret ingredients of successful learning. And these fundamental components of our brain architecture are deployed both at home and at school. Teachers who manage to mobilize all four functions in their students will undoubtedly maximize the speed and efficiency with which their classes can learn. Each of us should therefore learn to master them.