Imagine yourself learning how to ride a bike. You could buy a 200-page long book on cycling and memorize everything perfectly. If you were to sit a written test, you would ace it.
假設(shè)要學(xué)習(xí)如何騎車,你可以買一本花兩百頁(yè)講述如何騎車的書,滾瓜爛熟地記住所有事項(xiàng)。如果你要參加一場(chǎng)筆試,那可能會(huì)取得好成績(jī)。
Now imagine that you were to actually ride your bike. What do you think would happen? The chances are that you would crash as soon as you got on your bike.
現(xiàn)在假設(shè)真的要騎自行車,你覺得會(huì)發(fā)生什么?很有可能你一上車就會(huì)摔倒。
Although you knew everything you could about cycling, a key element was missing. The reason for the crash is that the cognitive processes used during during encoding did not match (=transfer appropriately to) the processes needed during retrieval. To remember effectively, the processes used during practice need to correspond with the processes during use.
盡管你知道關(guān)于騎車的一切知識(shí),但是少了一個(gè)關(guān)鍵要素。你之所以會(huì)摔倒,是因?yàn)榫幋a時(shí)所用到的認(rèn)知過(guò)程與檢索記憶時(shí)所需要的認(rèn)知過(guò)程不匹配(即無(wú)法正確地遷移)。為了有效地記住,練習(xí)時(shí)所用的信息加工過(guò)程需要和使用時(shí)的信息加工過(guò)程相匹配。
As an illustration, consider the following study:
為了說(shuō)明,考慮下面這個(gè)研究的例子:
Researchers asked students to either read aloud a list of words (superficial processing), or to generate these words from their antonyms (deep processing). The students were later asked which words they could remember (free-recall) or to fill in missing letters in words (fragment completion).
研究人員要求學(xué)生大聲讀出一組詞(淺層加工),或者從它們的反義詞想到這些詞(深度加工)。之后問(wèn)學(xué)生他們能記起哪些詞(自由回憶),或要求他們填上單詞中缺失的字母(殘?jiān)~補(bǔ)全)。
One would expect that the superficially-processing students would underperform in both tests (because deep processing is generally better than superficial processing – see previous section). However, this was the case only for the free-recall test. Surprisingly, in fragment completion, the superficial-processing group was better than the deep-processing group.
人們可能預(yù)期,淺層加工的學(xué)生在兩項(xiàng)測(cè)試中都表現(xiàn)較差(因?yàn)樯疃燃庸さ挠洃浶Чǔ:糜跍\層加工——詳見上文)。然而這僅對(duì)自由回憶測(cè)試成立。令人吃驚的是,在殘?jiān)~補(bǔ)全測(cè)試中,淺層加工組的表現(xiàn)要好于深度加工組。
What could explain this surprising result?
如何解釋這個(gè)令人驚訝的結(jié)果?
The reading group processed the words perceptually, while the generating group processed them semantically – they had to retrieve from memory words with a particular meaning. Whereas perceptual processing matched the processing needed by the perceptual task, semantic processing matched the processing needed during recall (note that words are stored in semantic memory based on their meaning).
朗讀組是在視覺感知的層面上加工這些單詞,而反義詞組則是在語(yǔ)義上進(jìn)行加工——他們?cè)谟洃浿袡z索有特定含義的單詞。感知層面的信息加工符合知覺任務(wù)所需的加工過(guò)程,而語(yǔ)義加工符合自由回想時(shí)所需要的加工過(guò)程(注意單詞是根據(jù)它們的含義存儲(chǔ)在語(yǔ)義記憶中的)。
The main implication of this study is that although deep processing is extremely beneficial for memory, it may not be enough to fully optimize your test performance. To further improve your results, it is important that you practice with similar processing that will be required during the test.
這個(gè)研究的主要意義在于,盡管深度加工對(duì)記憶極有好處,但它還不足以讓你在考試中表現(xiàn)最好。要進(jìn)一步提高考試成績(jī),重要的是練習(xí)與考試類似的信息加工過(guò)程。
Think hard about how you will be tested on the information you need to remember. Will it be multiple choice tests? Essay questions? Applied in real life problems? Then make your practice match the situation where you use it. Mismatched practice is a major cause of poor memories–they simply aren't encoded in a way that is useful.
仔細(xì)想想要記住的那些信息會(huì)怎么考查?是多項(xiàng)選擇題?簡(jiǎn)答題?還是實(shí)際應(yīng)用題?然后使你的練習(xí)與應(yīng)用的情形相配。不相配的練習(xí)是記憶不佳的主要原因——他們只是沒(méi)有按照有用的方式編碼。
If your exam will consist of writing an essay, an excellent strategy is to do your reading with pre-reading questions. Pre-reading questions force you look for arguments and evidence in order to answer the questions, which are precisely the processes that you will need during your essay-type exam.
如果你的考試包括寫作題,一個(gè)很棒的策略是帶著預(yù)讀問(wèn)題來(lái)閱讀。預(yù)讀問(wèn)題迫使你在閱讀過(guò)程中尋找觀點(diǎn)和證據(jù)來(lái)回答問(wèn)題,而這正是你在寫作類考試中所需要的信息加工過(guò)程。
However, it turns out that transfer-appropriate processing is only one consideration that matters for memory. This is because some encoding strategies are generally better than others, regardless of whether they match the test format or not. In fact, one specific encoding strategy dominates almost all other strategies. This strategy is called “recall” and is discussed later.
然而,適合遷移的信息加工只是影響記憶的一個(gè)考慮,因?yàn)橛行┚幋a方法普遍強(qiáng)于其他方法,而不論是否與考試形式相匹配。事實(shí)上,有一種編碼策略強(qiáng)過(guò)幾乎所有其他策略,那就是“回想”,我們會(huì)在下文討論它。
In summary, if you are going to take a test of a particular format (such as an essay format), the best approach is to reap the benefits of multiple strategies. Whereas practicing with the final test format will teach you to processes the material in the way required by the test, recall will lead to most effective encoding. Therefore, ideally you should:
總結(jié)起來(lái),如果你要參加某種特定形式的考試(例如寫文章),最好的方法就是集采各種策略之長(zhǎng)。根據(jù)最終考試的形式進(jìn)行練習(xí),能夠教你按照考試所需的方式加工材料,而回想能夠?qū)崿F(xiàn)最有效的信息編碼。因此,理想情況下你應(yīng)該:
·Spend about 1/4 of your time practicing with the final test format (e.g. multiple choice)
·用大約1/4的時(shí)間按最終考試的形式(例如多項(xiàng)選擇)進(jìn)行練習(xí)
·Spend the remaining 3/4 practicing with recall combined with deep-processing techniques
·余下的3/4時(shí)間使用回想和其他深度加工方法。
——節(jié)選自《記憶的科學(xué)》