No two brains are alike, but the principles of operations are becoming well known. When I get a new computer or an unfamiliar applications, I usually try to operate it a few days without looking at the manual. Then I sit down with the manual and really dig in. I learn about functions I never knew existed. Is there some function of your brain that isn't being used?

Farnam Street: 12 Things We Know About How the Brain Works, 2013-Mar-20 by Shane Parrish

Babies are the model of how we learn—not by passive reaction to the environment but by active testing through observation, hypothesis, experiment, and conclusion. Babies methodically do experiments on objects, for example, to see what they will do.