How to remember more accurately? This matter is also quite difficult for our brain, because the memory of the human brain is inherently "fuzzy".
What do you mean? Let's talk about the memory principle of the human brain first. In order to help you understand this problem more clearly, we put the human brain circuit and computer circuit together and compare them.
As we all know, for a computer, whatever you type can be preserved intact and extremely accurately. But the human brain is different, and the information we input is not always preserved completely and accurately by the brain. For example, if you open the book and see the word "Ma Dongmei", you may meet the book and ask others, "What is this plum?"
Why is this? The reason is that the circuit inside the computer is a closely connected whole, while the human neural circuit is not. Neurons in our brain form circuits through nerve fibers, but there are tiny gaps between each nerve fiber. Therefore, when external information is transmitted between nerve fibers, it must pass through a "transit station" called "synapse". Before entering this transfer station, external information existed in the form of electrical signals. At the transfer station, it must be converted into chemical signals by chemicals such as glutamic acid, and then changed back to electrical signals after leaving the station.
However, the information transmission between nerve fibers is not as simple as relay runners, but simply transmits the baton. Nerve synapses can freely adjust the amount of information transmitted. In other words, the appearance of the signal before entering the transfer station and after leaving the transfer station may not be exactly the same. So our memory will change a little in this process, or it will become "fuzzy".
This sounds a bit frustrating. So, why did animals create such an imperfect and fuzzy brain in the process of evolution?
Here, let's look at an experiment first. Imagine a dog and a robot in front of you. The behavior of the robot is controlled by the computer inside. There is a button in front of the dog and robot, and there is a TV in the distance. Your task is to make them press the button when a circle appears on TV. So for the robot, you only need to give an accurate instruction once to achieve your goal. However, in the face of this dog, you need to use food as an intermediary to establish an association in its mind, that is, "press the button to get food when the circle appears", so that it can know to press the button when the circle appears. In order to establish this connection, we may need to train it dozens or even hundreds of times, which includes countless trial and error processes. The fundamental reason for the difference between robots and dogs lies in the fuzziness of animal memory, as we said before.
However, when we finished the last experimental goal and added new experimental elements, the situation was different. For example, what if we replace the circle that appears on TV with a triangle?
? As a result, the robot will not make any response, because it only receives the instruction of "press the button when the screen appears round"; But the dog will not hesitate to press the button. In other words, there is no difference between a circle and a triangle for dogs. They just react to the phenomenon of "graphics appearing on the screen". The fundamental reason for the difference between robots and dogs is the fuzziness of animal memory.
On the basis of the above experiment, let's do another thinking experiment. Now, suppose we put dogs and robots into a closed ecosystem at the same time. There are hundreds of energy sources for them to sustain their lives, but before we put dogs and robots in, we only introduced them to three of them. So, what happens when dogs and robots are put into the system?
As you can imagine, at first, dogs and robots relied on the three kinds of energy they were familiar with to maintain their lives. But gradually, with the exhaustion of the three kinds of energy, they are facing the situation of energy emergency. At this time, what countermeasures will they take?
The dog's memory of energy is vague, so it will start to try other energy sources besides those three. The process of this attempt is also a process of trial and error and elimination. It will silently write in its heart: this one has diarrhea, so I won't eat it next time; That's terrible, so I won't eat the ................................................................................................................................................................. robot next time. Because its memory is extremely accurate, for it, except for the three kinds that people set for it in advance, nothing else is energy. So I can only look around until the oil is used up and the lamp is dry.
The above two experiments seem simple, but they can help us understand the question raised earlier: Why do animals create brains with vague memories during evolution?
This is because this "fuzziness" of memory is of great significance to the survival of animals. The living environment of animals has been undergoing complex changes. The exact same situation generally does not happen twice. In order to survive in the ever-changing environment, they must adapt to the situation.
Dogs can't tell a circle from a triangle. From another angle, it can also be interpreted as "not distinguishing because it is not necessary"; The robot's computer brain is indeed accurate, but from another angle, it can be said that it is scripted and does not understand flexibility. If it is in a changing environment, such accurate memory will become invalid and meaningless knowledge.
Therefore, compared with rigor, animal memory needs fuzziness more. This "fuzziness" is precisely the "flexibility" that is crucial to the survival of all animals, including human beings.
Jews have a famous saying: people's strengths are precisely their weaknesses. It's also suitable here. Our memories sometimes become blurred and sometimes even disappear, which is the characteristic of the brain and we can't change it. It is to make up for this that we invented the computer. From another point of view, the places where we are different from computers are actually the places where we are better than computers, which is the uniqueness of our becoming human beings.
However, this does not mean that our brains cannot accurately grasp the details of knowledge. However, from vagueness to accuracy, it needs a gradual process.
Let's invite our "old friends" and the puppies who participated in the previous experiment first. You should remember just now, no matter whether the TV is round or triangular, it will press the button without hesitation. So, can it always tell the difference between different patterns appearing on the TV screen?
Of course not. After special training, dogs can not only clearly distinguish between circles and triangles, but also distinguish slightly different circles and ellipses.
So, how to train? The answer is "step by step"
At first, let triangles and circles appear alternately on the TV screen, but if the dog presses the button after the triangle appears, it won't get food. After so many times, the dog will ignore the triangle and only react when a circle appears on the screen. In other words, it can distinguish between circles and triangles.
After gradual training, dogs can further distinguish between "circle and quadrangle" and "circle and pentagon", and even distinguish between circle and ellipse at the back.
It should be noted here that if we let the dog distinguish between a circle and an ellipse from the beginning, it may never find the difference between them. Because of the fuzzy nature of memory, animals need to remember big differences first, and then remember subtle differences. Learning in stages, step by step and step by step, just like just now, seems to be from far to near, but it can greatly improve the learning efficiency of dogs and gradually push the memory from fuzzy to accurate.
The inspiration of this experiment can also be used in our human learning and memory activities. The author points out that when we want to remember knowledge in a certain field, we should not dive into those specific details at once. The more effective method is gradual: first, we should start from the overall situation and know which partitions or subcategories are there, and then enter each subcategory and refine it bit by bit.
For example, people who have just started to learn western painting may feel the same when they see any oil painting. If a Renaissance oil painting and a Baroque oil painting are put in front of him, and both are religious stories, then he will probably think that they are the same genre. But in the process of learning to observe western painting, he can learn several schools with obvious differences and feel different themes, brushwork, composition and light, and then go to see those schools with similar times and overlapping themes. After further study, he can not only distinguish Renaissance oil painting from Baroque painting, but also distinguish the subtle differences between different painters.
Also, when studying history, it is very difficult to know the details of a specific era from the beginning. For example, if we don't know that the Qing Dynasty was the last feudal dynasty in the history of China, and we don't know which stage of China's semi-colonial and semi-feudal period, we will recite191,that is, the events of the Revolution of 1911, then even if we memorize them by rote, we can't really understand them and will soon forget them. Because one-sided information that is divorced from the whole is useless, and useless information will be deleted by our brains before long.
Therefore, in order to avoid this situation, we should first proceed from the overall situation, and then memorize and understand knowledge step by step. Or take history as an example. To truly understand what happened to 19 1 1, we need to grasp the overall context of China's history, know the evolution process of China's social nature, then understand the main stages of a certain social nature period, and finally be accurate to the specific year. In short, the more detailed the content, the more it should be left for later study. This kind of practice is by no means a far-reaching approach, but a scientific method that conforms to the nature of the human brain, so that we can understand it more thoroughly and remember it more firmly.
Summary: The first part mainly discusses how to "remember more". Because the hippocampus usually only allows information that is important for survival to be stored in our long-term memory. Therefore, in order to remember more exam knowledge, we need to input the same knowledge into the brain repeatedly, so that the hippocampus is mistaken for importance. This process is called "repeated training". The book provides us with four tools to improve training efficiency: θ wave, amygdala, "correlation" and "knowledge output".
In the second part, we discussed how to remember accurately. Because synapses in the human brain can freely adjust the amount of information transmitted, the memory of the human brain is inherently vague. However, we can improve the learning efficiency and push the memory from fuzzy to accurate through gradual and detailed methods.