TED | How to practice effectively - 如何有效地学习？

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练掌握任何一项技能都需要大量时间进行练习。你可能听过1000小时定理或者10000小时定理。单位时间内的练习质量同样至关重要。那么，如何提高学习质量，你需要学会有效的练习方法。

Mastering any physical skill takes practice. Practice is the repetition of an action with the goal of improvement, and it helps us perform with more ease, speed, and confidence. But what does practice actually do to make us better at things? Annie Bosler and Don Greene explain how practice affects the inner workings of our brains.

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Mastering any physical skill,be it performing a pirouette,playing an instrument,or throwing a baseball,takes practice. Practice is the repetition of an action with the goal ofimprovement,and it helps us perform with more ease, speed, and confidence.

So what does practice do in our brains to make usbetter at things?

Our brains have two kinds of neural tissue:grey matter and white matter.

The grey matter processes information in the brain,directing signals and sensory stimuli to nerve cells,while white matter is mostly made up of fatty tissueand nerve fibers. In order for our bodies to move,information needs to travel from the brain's greymatter,down the spinal cord,through a chain of nerve fibers called axons to our muscles.

So how does practice or repetition affect the innerworkings of our brains?

The axons that exist in the white matter are wrapped with a fatty substance called myelin. And it's this myelin covering, or sheath, that seems tochange with practice. Myelin is similar to insulation on electrical cables. It prevents energy loss from electrical signals that thebrain uses,moving them more efficiently along neural pathways.

Some recent studies in mice suggest that therepetition of a physical motion increases the layers of myelin sheath that insulatesthe axons. And the more layers, the greater the insulationaround the axon chains,forming a sort of superhighway for information connecting your brain to your muscles.

So while many athletes and performers attribute their successes to muscle memory,muscles themselves don't really have memory. Rather, it may be the myelination of neural pathways that gives these athletes and performers their edge with faster and more efficient neural pathways. 

There are many theories that attempt to quantify the number of hours, days, and evenyears of practice that it takes to master a skill. While we don't yet have a magic number,we do know that mastery isn't simply about theamount of hours of practice.

It's also the quality and effectiveness of that practice. Effective practice is consistent,intensely focused,and targets content or weaknesses that lie at the edge of one's current abilities. So if effective practice is the key,how can we get the most out of our practice time?

Try these tips.

Focus on the task at hand.

Minimize potential distractions by turning off thecomputer or TV and putting your cell phone on airplane mode. In one study, researchers observed 260 studentsstudying. On average,those students were able to stay on task for only sixminutes at a time. Laptops, smartphones, and particularly Facebook were the root of most distractions.

Start out slowly or in slow-motion.

Coordination is built with repetitions, whether corrector incorrect.

If you gradually increase the speed of the qualityrepetitons, you have a better chance of doing them correctly. Next, frequent repetitions with allotted breaks arecommon practice habits of elite performers. Studies have shown that many top athletes,musicians, and dancers spend 50-60 hours per week on activities related totheir craft. Many divide their time used for effective practice into multiple daily practice sessions of limitedduration.

And finally, practice in your brain in vivid detail.

It's a bit surprising, but a number of studies suggest that once a physical motion has been established,it can be reinforced just by imagining it.In one study, 144 basketball players were dividedinto two groups. Group A physically practiced one-handed free throws while Group B only mentally practiced them. When they were tested at the end of the two weekexperiment,the intermediate and experienced players in bothgroups

had improved by nearly the same amount.

As scientists get closer to unraveling the secrets ofour brains,our understanding of effective practice will onlyimprove. In the meantime, effective practice is the best way wehave of pushing our individual limits,achieving new heights,and maximizing our potential.

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