如何训练自己的大脑更好学习?
I'm excited to be starting my “new school year” as a blogger here on Healthland — and what better way to begin than with news about boosting your ability to learn, using neuroscience! One of the hottest articles flying around the Web today is Benedict Carey's great New York Times science story headlined "Forget What You Know About Good Study Habits."
很高兴可以在Healthland作为一个博客使用者开始我的“新学期”——比提高学习能力的说法更有效的学习方法是使用神经系统科学。如今网络上流传的最热门文章是Benedict Carey在《纽约时报》上发表的题为《忘记你所知道的好的学习习惯》。
In it, Carey shows, among other things, why the conventional wisdom about learning — getting into the habit of studying in the same place each time — is wrong. How come? Essentially, making studying monotonous contradicts key aspects of what we know about learning. Novelty is a key part of the connections that ease learning. Studies find that simply switching study rooms helps make new associations and keep them fresh. Carey writes:
除了其他方面，Carey还在文章里表明，为什么关于学习的传统观点——养成每次都在同一地方学习的习惯——是错的。为什么？单调枯燥的学习跟我们所了解的学习主要观点相违背。新奇是使学习变得简单的主要部分。研究发现仅仅需要转换书房帮助建立新的联系，使他们保持新鲜感。Carey写道：
The brain makes subtle associations between what it is studying and the background sensations it has at the time, the authors say, regardless of whether those perceptions are conscious. It colors the terms of the Versailles Treaty with the wasted fluorescent glow of the dorm study room, say; or the elements of the Marshall Plan with the jade-curtain shade of the willow tree in the backyard. Forcing the brain to make multiple associations with the same material may, in effect, give that information more neural scaffolding.
大脑在学到什么和在那时产生的背景感觉形成了微妙的联系，作者说，不管那些感知是否有意识的。例如，它用旧的日光灯照亮宿舍自修室来渲染《凡尔赛和约》的氛围；或用后院中柳树绿玉色窗帘般影子渲染《马沙条约》的内容。强迫大脑对同一种物质做出多种联系，实际上，会提供那个信息更多神经支架。
“What we think is happening here is that, when the outside context is varied, the information is enriched, and this slows down forgetting,” said Dr. Bjork, the senior author of the two-room experiment.
“我们所认为的是，当外部条件改变了，信息就更加丰富，这就放慢忘记的速度。”两个房间实验的高级作者Bjork博士说。
(恒星英语学习网原创编译,转载请注明出处!)Throughout the NYT piece, Carey illustrates that, in education as in medicine, we have a big problem moving from research evidence into practice.
《美国纽约时报》的整篇报道中，Carey说明，教育跟医学一样，从研究到实践我们还面临着大问题。
Incidentally, here's another study tip based on research evidence about how the brain learns by association. Learning is, to a large extent, "state dependent." What that means is that if you study something while anxious, happy or while experiencing some form of altered consciousness, you will remember it better if you are in that same state again when you are tested for what you've learned.
顺便，这是另一个有研究证据的关于大脑如何通过联系进行学习的提示。学习很大程度上是“情境依靠”的。那意味着当你焦虑，开心或经历一些意识改变形式的时候进行学习，当你再处于那种状态对你所学的进行测试时，你会更好地记住。
While I definitely recommend against studying while intoxicated and certainly don't condone test-taking while under the influence, oddly enough, this research does suggest that recall may be improved by trying to match your studying and test-taking emotional states. This may account for part of why last-minute cramming sometimes helps — you are anxious both while studying and while taking the test.
我明确反对喝醉的时候学习，当然也不原谅在酒醉的情况下参加考试，说来也奇怪，研究表明，可以通过将学习和考试情绪状态相一致提高记忆。这可以部分解释为什么紧急关头的死记硬背有时有用——你在学习和考试时都很紧张。
Research also finds that while mild to moderate stress increases learning, severe stress can impair memory. Extreme stress can actually cause the higher regions of the brain to shut down, shunting mental energy into areas devoted to aiding the fight-or-flight instinct. So, absolute panic will worsen performance even if you are panicked both while studying and during the test.
研究也发现即使细微到中度的压力能提高学习，但过重的压力就损害记忆了。 极端的压力实际上会导致大脑高级区域停止运作，使精神能量分流到专注于帮助逃跑或战斗的本能的区域。所以，完全恐慌会使表现更差，即使你学习和考试时很恐慌。
Stimulants as mild as caffeine can produce state-dependent learning boosts — so if you drink coffee or soda while studying, drink them before the test, too.
像咖啡因这类温和的兴奋剂可以产生情境依靠提高学习——所以如果你学习时喝咖啡或碳酸水，那么考试时也要喝。
For people who use medication for ADHD, testing and studying should either both be done medicated or unmedicated to maximize state-dependence effects.
对于那些服用治疗ADHD药物的人，考试和学习的时候要不就都服用药，要不就都不要服用，使情境依靠发挥最大效果。
(恒星英语学习网原创编译,转载请注明出处!)
