No.1 The Production Effect

Have you ever locked your car only to forget five minutes later whether you locked it or not? Why do we have so much trouble remembering such obvious things? Well, your memories are separated into two different categories: implicit and explicit. Implicit memories are things you remember unconsciously. You don’t recall brushing your teeth or eating breakfast most mornings, because you do these activities without thinking. Explicit memories on the other hand, are things we consciously remember. When you study for a test, this information is a lot easier to recall, because you’re making a conscious effort to learn. Habitual activities like locking your car fall into your implicit memory. We do them so often that it doesn’t make sense to store each one as a conscious thought. Since your essentially doing it without thinking, it’s hard to be 100% sure that it actually happened. This is where the production effect comes into play. It converts an implicit memory into an explicit memory by bringing your attention to your behavior. All you have to do is say what you’re doing out loud. It’s incredibly simple and it takes no extra effort. But it transforms your habitual recall. A 2010 study tested this exact phenomenon. They split participants up into two groups: one read words silently while the other said every word out loud. Sure enough, the second group recalled content better than their counterparts, showing the huge impact that vocal production has on recall. By incorporating this simple but powerful technique, you can start to instantly sharpen your memory.

comes into play 开始活动
out loud 大声地
recall n.记忆力，记性；召回；v.记起，回想起
sure enough 果然，不出所料
counterparts n.（职位或作用）相当的人；相对应的事物
vocal adj.嗓音的，发声的，歌唱的；直言不讳的，大声表达的
incorporating v.合并（incorporate 的现在分词）
sharpen v.（使）变锋利（尖锐，清晰）；（使）改善，提高；（使）加剧

No.2 The Power of Paper

Over the years, pencil and paper have fallen out of favor. In most colleges and even some high schools, students are taking notes exclusively on computers. Typing lets you copy down more information at a faster rate. But what if typing your notes is making it harder for you to learn? A 2014 study compared the test scores of students who typed and wrote out their notes. The researchers guessed that the pencil in paper students would perform better. Hmm, turns out, they were right. Pencil and paper students outperform typing students because of how writing things out interacts with your brain. This older method forces you to spend less time copying and more time processing. Many students can type as fast as their teachers talk. Without realizing it, they do more transcribing than actual learning. Because pencil and paper is slower, you have to constantly condense and restructure new information. In other words, you get a deeper understanding by writing less. Pencil and paper also gets rid of the most detrimental key on the keyboard: delete. You need to be able to make mistakes while you learn. When you type, it’s too easy to mindlessly erase errors without understanding what was wrong. On paper, you’re forced to make physical corrections. That way, you’re learning from your mistakes instead of pretending that they never happen.

over the years 多年来
fall out of favor 失宠
exclusively adv.仅仅，单独地，专门地
turns out 结果是，证明是
outperform v.胜过，做得比……好
transcribing n.采谱；v.抄写（transcribe 的 ing 形式）；译
condense v.冷凝，凝结；压缩，简缩；浓缩，变浓
gets rid of 摆脱
detrimental adj.有害的，不利的；n.有害的人（或物）
pretending v.假装；伪装（pretend的现在分词）

No.3 Context Cues

Context sharpens your memory. Because it’s encoded alongside the information that you’re trying to remember. Well, let’s say you want to memorize a presentation for work. While, you’re practicing a really difficult section, you start eating an apple. Your brain will naturally pair the apple and that part of the presentation in your memory. The apple becomes a sort of cue that you can use to retrieve more complicated information. These contextual cues can take pretty much any shape, but the most common is visual. Another study from 2010 examine the exact role of visual context in memorization. The researchers gave each participant a set of words to remember. Each word was paired with a certain type of picture. Group 1 saw pictures of normal faces. While group 2 saw pictures of scrambled faces. As the researchers predicted, visual context significantly boosted recall. The first group who saw pictures of normal faces at a much easier time remembering their list of words. In each of these examples, there’s been a noticeable stimulus. But context cues will work either way. The uniqueness of cues like the apple or the picture didn’t actually matter. So, you don’t have to do a bunch of weird stuff while you study just to improve your memory. Your brain encodes all types of context in the same way. So, all you have to do is be aware of your environment.

pair 配对
examine 考察
scrambled v.（迅速而吃力地）爬，攀登；不规则地生长；匆忙地移动（scramble 的过去式和过去分词）
noticeable adj.显而易见的，明显的；值得注意的
stimulus n.刺激（物）, 促进因素；
weird adj.奇怪的，不寻常的；怪异的，超自然的

No.4 Spacing Effect

Every student has been told at some point not to cram right before a test. Yet, we’ve all done it anyway. You’ve known about the test for weeks, but try to relearn an entire semester‘s worth of information in 24 hours. How does this strategy usually play out? Well, you end up only remembering a fraction of what you studied and your brain gets so overwhelmed and exhausted that it can’t perform. According to the director of the cognition and education lab at Dartmouth College, our brain can only retain so much information at one time. We need extended periods of practice to make durable memories. Scientists call this the spacing effect, because the space in between practice sessions is what gives our brain that chance to encode and recover.To test this, researchers looked at two different learning techniques: massed practice and distributed practice. Think of massed practice like cramming, after being exposed to a stimulus, you try to retain all of that information by studying it immediately afterwards. And just like cramming, it typically doesn’t work. Distributed practice is when you spread the learning process out over several shorter sessions. By studying the same thing each time, you actually absorb the information. So, you can recall it whenever necessary. But why does spacing makes such a big difference? The best explanation is called study phase retrieval theory. Each time you enter a piece of information that you’ve learned before, your brain tries to retrieve any encoded memories. When it successfully finds a memory, the information becomes harder for you to forget. Distributed practice forces you to do this repeatedly while creating necessary space in between. That way, you have time to remember something, forget it, and then remember it again. Each time the information becomes more pronounced, it becomes easier and faster to recall, because it’s sitting closer to the surface of your memory.

cram v.临时死记硬背，填鸭式学习；匆忙戴上；贪婪地吃
semester n.学期，半学年
a fraction of 一小部分；一部分
durable adj.持久的，耐用的；<非正式>（人）有耐力的，坚韧不拔的；n.耐用品
recover v.恢复
cramming v.把…塞满，填满，填充；挤进，拥进；（为应考等）强化学习（cram 的现在分词）；把……塞满，填满，填充
stimulus n.刺激（物）, 促进因素
pronounced adj.明显的，显著的；讲出来的

No.5 Mental Stretches

Why do athletes always stretch your jog before practice? Well, a good warm-up gives your muscles the flexibility and strength to perform at their best. Now, for most people, this is second nature. Obviously, you can’t just start sprinting right off the bat. So, why do you expect your brain to do the same thing? Like any muscle, your brain needs the right warm-up to maximize its potential. It can’t go from zero to 100 instantly. You can’t transition from watching Netflix to learning some complex concept. If you do, you’re going to feel hazy and slow. You’re going to have a hard time absorbing information, because your brain just isn’t ready. You can use mental stretches to prepare your brain to work, think, and encode memories efficiently. Mental stretches are low intensity games that gradually gets your brain up and running. Concentration is a great example. Not only is it quick and relatively fun, but it also focuses on boosting your ability to retain information. Just make sure you aren’t going too hard to fast, mental stretches shouldn’t make you feel cloudy ro cluttered. If you’re warm-up is too intense, your brain will start feeling fatigued way faster than normal. Always keep things fun and simple to see improvements in your cognitive performance.

mental adj.存在于大脑中的，思考的；精神的，思想的，智力的；精神病治疗的，精神健康的；<非正式>疯癫的，不正常的
stretches n.伸展，舒展
right off the bat 立刻，马上
hazy adj.雾蒙蒙的，朦胧的；记不清的，模糊的
intensity n.强烈，剧烈
gradually adv.逐渐地，逐步地
cloudy adj.多云的，阴天的；浑浊的，不清澈的
cluttered v.使凌乱；胡乱地填满
fatigued adj.精疲力竭的

No.6 Interleaving

You can actually stimulate your memory by regularly alternating between different topics. Interleaving is the process of mixing multiple subjects to enhance your ability to learn. You might for example, start with math, transition to English, and then finish with history, all in the same study session. On the surface, interleaving sounds pretty inefficient. It’s exactly the opposite of blocking which is probably the most common learning technique out there. Blocking is when you dedicate an extended period of time to only one subject. You might spend Monday on math, Tuesday on English, and Wednesday on history. Blocking makes more sense to most people, but interleaving is actually more effective. Rotating between topics forces your mind to stay active and adaptable. When you only learn one thing at once, your brain slacks off. It pays less attention because things are getting easier and more repetitive. By jumping from subject to subject, you force your brain to completely shift gears each time. These smaller hyper-efficient chunks are easier to learn from because they offer more of a unique challenge. But that isn’t even the best part of interleaving. This learning technique compels you to draw broader connections in a way that blocking never will. You’re giving your brain the opportunity to see the bigger picture to not only understand what something is, but also where it fits into the field as a whole.

Interleaving v.插入；[计]交叉存取（interleave 的 ing 形式）
stimulate v.促进，激发（某事物）；激发，鼓励；使（身体，生物系统）兴奋，刺激；起刺激作用
slacks off 懈怠
shift gears 换挡
hyper-efficient adj．超高效的
draw broader connections 建立更广泛的联系

NO.7 Self-Testing

Self-testing is another effective way to boost your memory. Once you think you have something memorized, you shouldn’t wait until your exam or presentation to test whether or not you study enough. Put yourself to the test beforehand to get an idea of how well you actually know the content. 9 times out of 10, you’ll discover you’re not as prepared as you thought. Luckily, self-testing shows you exactly where your weakest. It tells you what you need to relearn. But only if you do it right, your tests won’t do anything for you if you let yourself cheat. For example, when you’re using flashcards, don’t flip over the card before you answer. It’s tempting to make excuses like, oh yeah, that’s what I meant. But you’re only hurting yourself. Look, if you can’t get the right answer in this low stress situation, there’s no way you will when the pressures on. To make sure this doesn’t happen, try to write down or say your answers out loud. It’s easier to let an incorrect answer slip by when the test is in your head.

flashcards 抽认卡
flip v.（使）快速翻转，迅速翻动
tempting adj.诱人的，吸引人的
excuse n.借口，理由
meant v.意味；打算（mean 的过去式和过去分词）；表示……的意思
hurting v.伤害；伤心；弄痛
slip byslip by 悄悄通过，不被注意或拦截