During their training, medical residents learn countless techniques, surgeries, and procedures which they’ll later use to save lives. Being able to remember these skills can quite literally be a matter of life and death. With this in mind, a 2006 research study took a class of surgical residents learning to suture arteries and split them into two groups. Each received the same study materials, but one group implemented a small change in how they studied them. And when tested one month later, this group performed the surgeries significantly better than the other residents.
住院医生在培训期间 学习了无数技术、手术和流程, 以后将用这些来挽救生命。 能记住这些技能 实际上是生死攸关的问题。 有鉴于此,2006 年开展了一项研究, 对象是些学习动脉缝合的外科住院医生, 并将他们分为两组。 两组收到的学习材料相同, 但其中一组稍微改变了学习方法。 在一个月后进行测试时, 该组的手术表现 明显好于另一组的医生。
We’ll discuss the secret to that group’s success, along with two other highly effective study techniques which can be applied both in and out of the classroom. But to understand why these methods work, let's first unpack how the brain learns and stores information.
我们将讨论该小组成功的秘诀, 以及另外两种 课堂内外适用的高效学习技巧。 但是,要了解这些方法为何有效, 让我们首先来解开 大脑如何学习和存储信息。
Say you're trying to memorize the anatomy of the heart. When you’re introduced to a new concept, the memory is temporarily encoded in groups of neurons in a brain area called the hippocampus.
假设你想记住心脏的解剖结构。 当接触新概念时, 大脑的海马体 将记忆暂时编码成神经元群。
As you continue to learn about workings of the heart in class or study its chambers for an exam, you reactivate these same neurons. This repeated firing strengthens the connections between the cells, stabilizing the memory. Gradually, the knowledge of heart anatomy is stored long-term, which involves another brain area known as the neocortex. How information is transferred from short-term to long-term storage is still not completely understood, but it’s thought to happen in between study sessions and perhaps most crucially during sleep. Here the new knowledge is integrated with other related concepts you already know, such as how to measure heart rate, or the anatomy of other organs.
当上课继续学习心脏的工作原理 或研究心脏腔室备考时, 你会重新激活相同的神经元。 重复的神经信号增强了细胞间的联系, 从而稳定了记忆。 心脏解剖学知识逐渐被长期储存, 这涉及另一个大脑区域——新皮质。 信息如何从短期存储转移到长期存储 尚不完全清楚, 但被认为发生在学习期间, 也许最关键的是在睡眠期间。 此时新知识与已知的其他相关概念结合, 像如何测量心率或其他器官的解剖结构。
And the process doesn’t end there. Each time you recall heart anatomy, you reactivate the long-term memory, which makes it susceptible to change. The knowledge can be updated, strengthened, and reintegrated with other pieces of information. This is where our first study technique comes in.
而且这个过程并没有就此结束, 每当回想起心脏解剖结构时, 都会重新激活长期记忆, 使它容易改变。 知识可以更新、强化, 也可以与其他信息重新整合。 此时就用到第一种学习技巧。
Testing yourself with flashcards and quizzes forces you to actively retrieve knowledge, which updates and strengthens the memory. Students often prefer other study methods, like rereading textbooks and highlighting notes. But these practices can generate a false sense of competence, since the information is right in front of you. Testing yourself, however, allows you to more accurately gauge what you actually know.
用闪卡和测验来测试自己, 会迫使你主动检索知识, 从而更新和增强记忆力。 学生通常更喜欢其他学习方法, 如重读课本并标注笔记。 但这些做法可能会产生已掌握的错觉, 因为信息就在眼前。 但自我测试 可以更准确地衡量你的实际掌握情况。
But what if, while doing this, you can’t remember the answers? Not to worry— making mistakes can actually improve learning in the long term. It’s theorized that as you rack your brain for the answer, you activate relevant pieces of knowledge. Then, when the correct answer is later revealed, the brain can better integrate this information with what you already know.
但如果这样做时想不起答案怎么办? 不用担心—— 长远来看,犯错误实际上可以改善学习。 从理论上讲,当绞尽脑汁寻找答案时, 就会激活相关的知识片段。 而当发现正确答案时, 大脑可将这些信息与已知信息优化整合。
Our second technique builds on the first. When using flashcards to study, it's best to mix the deck with multiple subjects. Interleaving, or mixing the concepts you focus on in a single session, can lead to better retention than practicing a single skill or topic at a time. One hypothesis of why this works is that, similar to testing, cycling through different subjects forces your brain to temporarily forget, then retrieve information, further strengthening the memory. You may also find connections across the topics, and better understand their differences.
而第二个技巧则建立在第一个技巧之上: 使用闪卡学习时, 最好将多科目的闪卡混在一起。 与练习单一技能或主题相比, 在学习中穿插或混合所关注的概念, 可以提高记忆力。 该方法有效的假设是,与测试类似, 循环浏览不同科目迫使大脑暂时忘记它, 然后再检索信息,从而增强记忆力; 还可找到跨主题的联系, 并更好地了解其中差异。
Now that you know how and what to study, our final technique concerns when. Spacing your review across multiple days allows for rest and sleep between sessions. While “offline,” the brain is actively at work, storing and integrating knowledge in the neocortex. So while cramming the night before the exam may seem logical— after all, won’t the material be fresh in your mind?— the information won’t stick around for the long term. This brings us back to our medical residents. Both groups studied the surgery for the same amount of time. Yet one group’s training was crammed in a single day, while the other more successful group’s training was spread over four weeks.
既然知道了如何学习和学习什么, 最后的技巧就是何时学习。 间隔几天再复习, 以便在两次复习之间能休息和睡觉。 当 “离线” 时,大脑正积极工作, 在新皮质中存储和整合知识, 那么在考试前一晚死记硬背 似乎就合理许多—— 毕竟你对这些材料又记忆犹新了吧? 这些信息又不是长期存在。 说到这里,我们再回到住院医生的案例。 两组医生学习手术的总时间相同, 但一组是集中培训一天, 而更成功的另一组则分散在四星期内。
The reason all three of these study techniques work is because they’re designed with the brain in mind. They complement and reinforce the incredible way the brain works, sorting through and storing the abundance of information it’s fed day after day.
这三种学习技巧之所以奏效, 是因为设计时考虑了大脑的特点。 这些技巧补充、强化了 大脑神奇的工作方式, 整理并存储 大脑日复一日收集的大量信息。