健忘症患者如何自救？ | Simple ways to be better at remembering

China DailyRead English news every day!关注

When the sum total of human knowledge rests an arm's length away in each person's pocket, why do we have to remember anything anymore?

既然一翻口袋拿出手机就可以查到全人类的任何知识，那我们为什么要费力去记住它们呢？

（CD君同问！）

On an average day most of us check our smartphones 47 times, and nearly double that if we're between the ages of 18 and 24, which might explain why some of us have such a hard time processing the information we take in to form memories. Smartphones alter the way we walk, talk and think, and we're barely keeping up.

平时，我们大多数人每天会翻看47次手机，如果你正处于18岁至24岁之间，那你翻看手机的次数几乎会多出一倍。可能正因如此，大家会像CD君一样有“消化记忆困难症”。智能手机改变了我们行走、交谈和思考的方式，而我们却难以跟上它的步伐。

"Everything is available through a search almost instantaneously, so what motive do you have to store useless info?" said Joseph LeDoux, who directs New York University's Emotional Brain Institute.

纽约大学情绪脑研究所所长约瑟夫·勒杜表示：“上网几乎可以立即搜到一切，干嘛还要储存没用的信息呢？”

LeDoux, whose work focuses on how the brain forms memories, said this instant-fact setup clouds our judgment on what information to filter and store. Since we're no longer weighed down by having to retain trivial data, we are left with greater cognitive space. But how do we select what we remember?

勒杜致力于研究大脑如何形成记忆。他认为，正是因为任何问题都可以立马查到答案，所以我们很难正确判断该过滤和储存哪些信息。由于不必再烦恼记忆琐碎的数据，我们有了更大的认知空间。但是如何选择应该记住的东西呢？

敲黑板

There are two main kinds of memories: explicit, which are created through conscious experience, and implicit, which form when past experiences affect us, sometimes without our knowledge, as in reacting with fear in dangerous situations or getting sweaty palms when you see a dog if you were once bitten.

记忆主要分为两种：一种是外显记忆，它通过意识体验形成；另一种是内隐记忆，当过去的经历再次影响我们时，它便会形成。有时候我们会下意识产生内隐记忆——比如危险发生时，你会特别害怕；或者如果你被狗咬过，一看到狗就会手心出汗。

Memory is a fallible thing, changing over time. Recalling a long-term memory brings it back into our short-term memory, which essentially gives it new context. Memory is therefore a reconstruction, not a photographic recording, and for economic purposes, our brains — unlike computers — are forever rerecording those memories, making them far more error prone.

记忆可不像照片一样精准，它会随着时间的推移而改变。回忆的时候，长期记忆会与短期记忆重叠，整件事情的来龙去脉就被更新了。因此记忆是再构造的过程，而且为了方便，与电脑不同，我们的大脑会更新记忆，从而让记忆错得更加离谱。

（怎么觉得自己的大脑是个特别任性的小傻子……）

On top of that, we now live inside dual screens and endless browser tabs, headphones streaming music, smartphones buzzing, co-workers chatting with us — all while we should be performing the actual jobs we're paid to be doing.

此外，我们现在的生活已经离不开手机、电脑和上网了，耳机里听着歌，手机来信就没断过，同事们在聊天软件上七嘴八舌——这一切都发生在我们应该对得起自己的薪水、好好工作的时候。

"Many people seem unaware that they might accomplish more with sustained, uninterrupted attention to one task," said Nelson Cowan, a specialist in working memory at the University of Missouri. "It can be exhilarating to flit from one conversation to another, but people don't realize what's missing in the process. Often the people who think they're the best at sharing attention between tasks are actually missing the most."

纳尔逊·考恩是密苏里大学的一位工作记忆专家，他说：“许多人似乎都没有意识到，如果不受干扰地持续专注于一项任务，他们可能会取得更好的成果。聊完这个聊那个当然开心，但是人们没有意识到在这个过程中失去了什么。往往自以为可以一心多用的人漏掉的东西最多。”

LeDoux added: "The brain does have limitations to what it can process or handle."

勒杜补充说：“大脑在处理或应对信息方面的确有局限性。”

They're both right, but there are still things we can do to improve our memories.

他俩都是对的，但我们还是可以采取一些行为来改善记忆。

跟着CD君看看都有什么方法～

Repeat after me

重复温习

As simple as it sounds, the repetition of tasks — reading, or saying words over and over — continues to be the best method for transforming short-term memories into long-term ones. To do that, we have to retrain our minds to focus on one task at a time. Sadly, most bypass this formula because we're already convinced we're productive.

和听起来一样简单，重复做一件事，比如一遍又一遍地阅读或读单词，仍然是将短期记忆转化为长期记忆的最佳途径。要达到目的，我们必须保证集中注意力，一心一意地做事。可惜大多数人都自认为可以一心多用，而忽略了这一准则。

New connections are made in your brain when you learn. To remember what you learn, do what you probably did in your youth: repeat words, thoughts and ideas over and over until you get them right. It's the easiest brain game there is.

学习的时候，你的大脑中会形成新的知识链。要记住你学的东西，想想自己小时候是怎么学习的吧：反复记单词，反复琢磨一些想法和观点，直到完全记牢记准。这是最简单的大脑游戏了。

Take your time

慢慢来

Forget cramming. It didn't work in college, it doesn't work now. Spaced repetition might be the best way.

别指望临时抱佛脚了。它在大学里没管用过，现在也不会管用。要想记得牢固，间隔式重复记忆可能是最好的办法。

When you rehearse knowledge and practice it often, it sticks. So if you can incorporate what you're trying to remember into daily life, ideally over time, your chances of retaining it drastically improve.

如果你经常复习并练习一些知识，它们就会在大脑中根深蒂固。因此，从理论上来说，如果你能把想要记住的东西融入日常生活，那么假以时日，你记住它们的概率会大幅提升。

But once you stop rehearsing that knowledge, the retention drops profoundly. Researchers call this the "forgetting curve".

但你一旦停止温习那些知识，记住的概率就会大幅下降。研究人员称之为“遗忘曲线”。

To get past it, space out your repetition over a few days and test the effect yourself. But be careful: spacing out sessions or scheduling them too concurrently seem to slow gains, so find a healthy medium that works. This is a good way to effectively start tackling a new language.

要解决这个问题，应该每隔几天就进行一次重复记忆，并自测其效果。不过要注意：间隔期太长或太短似乎都见效缓慢，因此得找出一个适中间隔期。这是有效地开始学习新语言的好方法。

Sit down and stay put

坐稳，别乱动

Memory and focus go hand-in-hand, so rearranging your office setup. Sadly, the collaborative start-up design and open offices touted by Silicon Valley's hoodied CEOs actually make us far less productive because they create added distractions. How do you stay on task if your co-worker is piloting a drone or endlessly, and loudly, snacking just inches away?

记忆和专注度密切相关。所以现在就去改造办公室吧。注意：初创企业联合办公空间或开放式办公场所虽然受到硅谷那些不修边幅的首席执行官的大肆吹捧，然而并没什么用，它们其实会额外制造出许多让人分心的因素，从而大大降低我们的工作效率。如果同事在旁边玩无人机，或不停地嘎吱嘎吱吃零食，你怎么专注工作？

（反正CD君是做不到......）

Multiple studies have found that procrastination leads to stress and downright kills focus. Stop engaging in useless tasks like surfing the web and just tackle whatever it is you need to work on. Then watch your focus soar and your memory improve. 

多项研究表明，拖延症带来的压力会彻底消灭专注度。别再浪费时间刷微博了，赶紧工作吧。然后你就会发现自己的专注度大幅上升，记忆力也有所改善。

Incentivize moments and read cues

激励时刻+阅读提示

Minds wander constantly. For students, adding frequent tests incentivizes focus because they know they'll be quizzed. Harvard researchers report this approach decreases daydreaming by 50 percent, improving the result.

人们常常走神。对学生来说，考试越多，学习越专注，因为他们知道自己要参加考试（都是泪水啊……）。哈佛的研究人员称，这种方法能让走神的情况减少50%。

（真相了，原来当初频繁的模拟考试不是为了打击高考信心？）

Daniel Schacter, a psychologist and a co-author of the Harvard study who also wrote The Seven Sins Of Memory, said the trick is focus. For some tasks, like online surfing, divided attention sounds harmless, but when we're facing the deadlines, it's anything but harmless. That forgetfulness can change the course of entire lives, the most serious vulnerability of memory, he added.

心理学家丹尼尔·沙克特是哈佛这篇研究论文的联合作者，同时著有《记忆七罪》。他认为，专注是高质记忆的秘诀。对一些任务而言，比如浏览网页，分心似乎没有什么害处，但当我们面临截止期限的时候，分心绝对有害无益。他还说，健忘是记忆最严重的漏洞，可以改变整个人生。

Employ cues — visual or verbal for items like keys — to associate places and things. And our electronic devices can help remind us, everything from mobile vaccination and immunization alerts to apps that can remind you that you left your baby in the car. It can sound silly, but it's also tragic when we fail.

比如带钥匙这种事，可以利用视觉或口头上的提示，把地点和物品联系起来。此外，电子设备可以提醒我们任何事情，手机会提醒你疫苗接种和免疫相关事宜，也有专门的app会提醒你婴儿落在车里了。这听上去或许很荒唐，但如果真的忘了，可就悲剧了。

Memory is very cue dependent. Most say it could never happen to me, but it's a very long list of responsible people that it has happened to. When you don't have that cue, you can forget almost anything."

记忆非常依赖于提示。大多数人都会说，这事绝不会发生在我身上，但这样的事曾发生在太多靠谱的人身上。如果得不到提示，你几乎可能忘掉所有的一切。”

（健忘症表示：你太看不起我了。）

A simple way around that is to set reminders. Even better, combine a few of these techniques: write your reminder on a Post-it and put it on your desk so you're forced to repeatedly look at it over a prolonged period, incorporating the practice of spaced repetition. Build on your memory by combining these approaches. Modern life offers few guarantees, but using even one of these tips is surely an improvement.

一个简单的解决办法是设置提示物。最好是将这几种记忆方法结合起来：把提示信息写在便利贴上，放在案头，这样你就会不停看到它（融入了间隔式重复记忆法）。通过结合着使用这些方法，来夯实你的记忆。现代生活中基本没有什么可以打保票，但哪怕是使用其中一种方法，记忆力也肯定会有所提高。

提高记忆力，你有什么绝招？

What's your unique skill to improve memory?

Source: The New York Times

Editor: Zhang Xi

Translator: Jin Chuanzhi (intern)

You may also like