Do more with less memory

Chapter 9 Important Material to Remember at the Beginning and End

There is a proverb that says: "Once bitten by a snake, you will be afraid of well ropes for ten years."Although this sentence has nothing to do with memory, it tells us the fact that the first impression of things plays a big role in people's understanding of things.Similarly, the first memory has a great influence on the length and depth of the memory in the future.As the psychologist Bisas pointed out in his work: "Retention and reproduction depend to a large extent on the intensity of attention and interest when the relevant mental activity first appears."It seems that the efficiency of memorization can be improved by using the strength, precision, depth, and breadth of things perceived for the first time.

Each of us has deep feelings in this regard. When we meet someone for the first time, the impression we give to others often determines our relationship with him in the future.For example, when we have memorized a large number of English words, the ones we can recall are probably the first and last few.The middle part has almost been forgotten, why?

Psychological research also tells us that the content of memorization before and after will interfere with each other, thus affecting the memory effect.In the process of memory, the things remembered first have an inhibitory effect on the things remembered later, which is called proactive inhibition, and the things remembered later also have an inhibitory effect on the things remembered first, called retroactive inhibition.

It can be seen that the beginning A and the ending F are only subject to one-way inhibition, while the middle parts B, C, D, and E are subject to two-way inhibition, and the more the middle part, the stronger the inhibition.

【Experimental support】

Dr. He Puland, an American psychologist, once did such an experiment. He arranged 12 words in a row and asked others to remember them.The test results show that almost no one will misremember the first word and the second word. Starting from the third word, the errors gradually increase, and the seventh and eighth words have the highest errors. Afterwards, the errors gradually decrease. The correct rate of No.12 words is as high as the second word.Similar phenomena are common.

After understanding the laws of how memory materials are affected by proactive inhibition and retroactive inhibition, we should minimize the impact of proactive inhibition and retroactive inhibition on memory in memory learning.How to use this characteristic of memory?
(1) Put important things in the beginning and end to remember.

If you are speaking, you should tell everyone what is important in advance, and then emphasize it at the end.In this way, everyone will have a deeper impression of what you want to say, so as to achieve their own goals.

(2) To memorize large-scale materials, you can use the segmented memory method, so that each segment has a beginning and an end, artificially creating conditions for improving memory.

(3) You can change the order of memorizing several nouns or major questions at a time, and change the beginning and end every time you memorize them, so as to distribute the review force evenly.Breaking things down and adding heads and tails is also a good way to avoid proactive and retroactive inhibition.

A large amount of knowledge is memorized continuously at one time, so that the knowledge "fights" and interferes with each other.If a large amount of memory material is divided into small pieces of memory, one part is remembered and the other part is consolidated, each section has a beginning and an end.In long-term learning, there must be a break in the middle, or memory and non-memory are interleaved, which also increases the number of beginnings and endings of memory activities.In the head or tail of the memory, there is no proactive inhibition or retroactive inhibition, and the memory effect is better.

(4) Reasonably organize memorization materials, try to make the adjacent learning content completely different, and prevent the occurrence of inhibition.

For example, if you have just finished studying history, do not study Chinese to reduce the interaction between materials.Putting difficult materials at the beginning and end of learning is also a good way to avoid retroactive inhibition or proactive inhibition and improve memory.

(5) Arrange time reasonably.

Take the time to study after waking up in the morning, and the memory effect is good.Because the brain after a night’s rest is empty, there is no effect of proactive inhibition; sleep after studying at night is not affected by retroactive inhibition, so read the notes before going to bed or close your eyes and recall what you learned that day. good.

We have to make full use of the "golden time" of morning and evening.It will be better to review the materials memorized before going to bed the night before and review them when you wake up the next morning.They can be used to memorize difficult materials.

Furthermore, in the long-term study, you should take a break in the middle, the best time is 10-15 minutes, so that the number of beginnings and endings is increased.

In short, making full use of the beginning and the end will enable people to achieve significant memory effects in the same time and with the same energy.

(1) It is also applicable in the memory process that requires a long time.

If the memory is a fairly long period of time, be careful not to ignore the role of the "tail".What does that mean?That is to say, no matter how proficient we have memorized the content to be memorized before, we must review it when we need to use it at the end.Before taking an exam or assessment, proper review plays a very important role in the re-strengthening of memory, and it is forbidden to "anticlimate".

(2) Emphasis on head and tail memory is used to remind readers not to forget the important role played by head and tail in strengthening memory.Use it to impress yourself.Paying attention to the head and tail memory does not mean that the middle part can be discarded.On the contrary, because the middle part is easy to forget, we adopt the method of breaking the whole into parts, simplifying the complexity, and increasing the head and tail.For those memory materials that cannot be shortened and are difficult to segment, the application of the strategy of "taking care of both sides and strengthening the middle" at this time is extremely important.

By rationally allocating time, allocating memorization materials of different natures according to time, and memorizing them alternately in turn, this is the cross-memory method.

If you memorize the same kind of knowledge for a long time, the brain is prone to fatigue.Chernyshevsky said: "A change of work is equal to a rest."

Experiments have shown that simply memorizing knowledge of a subject for a long time is not effective, because materials with the same nature stimulate the brain nerves too monotonously. Over time, the corresponding areas of the brain are easily overburdened and fatigued.At this time, there will be dizziness, inattention and other phenomena.In order to avoid this phenomenon, generally study for about an hour, it is best to relax for a few minutes: stand up and walk around, go outside, and then change to another type of learning material.This helps to "switch the exciting center of the brain", eliminate inhibition, and improve the work efficiency of the brain.

Many successful people use this method.When Marx was writing "Das Kapital", he interspersed with advanced mathematics calculations, and sometimes went for a walk outside.Physicist and chemist Marie Curie said when talking about her learning method: "I read several books at the same time, because studying one thing will make my precious mind tired. It is already too hard!"

It seems that everyone knows the truth, but in reality, many students do not leave the room after class because they do not understand the benefits of alternate memory method. After one class, the energy is not so abundant.Or study hard before the exam, swear at a subject, make you exhausted, and don't want to stand up and move around from time to time. As a result, the time is used, but the effect is not ideal.

Memorizing a kind of knowledge for a long time, in addition to the fatigue of the brain will lead to a decrease in efficiency, psychological research also tells us that the content of memorizing before and after will also interfere with each other, thus affecting the memory effect.That is, there is the phenomenon of proactive inhibition and retroactive inhibition mentioned above.

In order to reduce this inhibition, you can interleave the memorization of different memorization materials, shorten the time for continuous memorization of the same material, and make the materials memorized before and after have less similarity.Studies have shown that the greater the similarity of content, the greater the mutual interference.Even if the materials are different, there is mutual interference.A psychologist once did an experiment: Stimulate the brain with electrical pulses of the same frequency. The nerve cells respond very quickly at the beginning of stimulation, but the response becomes weaker and weaker after repeated stimulation for a long time.After resting for a period of time, or changing the frequency of electrical pulses and then stimulating, the response will return to normal.This tells us: studying or reviewing a subject for a long time will not work well.Different subjects, such as liberal arts and science, should be alternated, so that the effect of memory will be better.

Lenin said in a letter to his sister:

I advise you to allocate time correctly according to the existing books and diversify the learning content.I clearly remember that changing the content of reading or work, reading after translation, gymnastics after writing, reading novels after reading important books, is very beneficial... But the most important thing is not to forget that you must do it every day. Gymnastics, it is very important to make yourself do dozens of (literally) different movements every day.

What Lenin talked about here is the method of cross-memory.This alternation, on the one hand, is the alternation of different learning contents and different subjects; on the other hand, it is the alternation of study and rest, study and physical exercise.Use your brain scientifically to achieve the best learning results.

Therefore, we should pay attention to the following points in our study:
(1) The study load should be appropriate, and the materials should be interspersed.

We learn a lot now, but the percentage of forgetting is relatively high, which makes it difficult to remember.Therefore, don't be too greedy to chew more than you can chew, and haste makes waste.In addition, since the brain cells have a division of labor, according to this rule, the learning materials should be alternated frequently to shift the brain's excitement center, reduce the mutual interference of subjects with similar content, eliminate inhibition, and improve the work efficiency of the brain.

(2) There must be intervals in time.

People of different ages have different attention spans.Generally speaking, the time for middle school students to concentrate on a homework is 30-45 minutes, and college students can keep it for 60-70 minutes.After joining the work, it will be longer, about 2 hours.Grasping the laws of individual differences can easily improve the efficiency of memory.When you can't concentrate, you can arrange a break and go outdoors to do some exercise.It can relieve brain fatigue and consolidate the acquired knowledge.Exercise between classes is to interrupt a memory sequence in the morning and turn it into two memory sequences.Taking a nap can minimize the inhibition between the morning and afternoon, so as to restore the energy for studying in the afternoon and evening.

(3) Pay close attention to physical exercise.

Due to long-term thinking and memory, the blood in the brain will decrease, and the memory effect will decrease accordingly.Carry out physical activities in good time to promote blood circulation throughout the body, eliminate fatigue, refresh your mind, and then carry out reading and memory, thereby improving the memory effect.

(4) Material selection.

When switching between different memory materials, try to avoid too much difference in the properties of the materials, otherwise, it will easily cause difficulties in knowledge connection and inactive thinking.

(5) Avoid distractions.

When studying and resting, try not to do things that distract or overwork you, such as playing video games, playing football, etc., so that your mind cannot quickly enter the learning state and waste a lot of energy.

Some friends always say that English words are hard to remember. In fact, they have not found a good way to memorize them. Using the cross-memory method will get unexpected results.

You can recite five words every morning when you wake up, and you can deepen your memory when you eat. You can recite five words in the morning after school or before getting off work. You can recall them on the road, and the same in the afternoon and evening.In this way, 20-30 words a day can be easily memorized.If you need to improve your English quickly, you can also watch English movies or play English songs while memorizing English words. In short, the purpose is not to let the content of learning be single.

(1) The different learning methods of reading, thinking, and practicing should be used alternately, and the mouth, eyes, hands, and brain should be used together—multi-channel memory method.Sometimes reciting memories, sometimes recalling memories, sometimes calculating memories, sometimes correcting wrong memories, sometimes arguing about memories, and sometimes copying memories. Of course, the best way to memorize with eyes, ears, mouth, hands, and brain.

(2) Alternate internal storage memory and external storage memory.

Internal storage mainly refers to using the brain as a warehouse, and external storage mainly refers to using materials and reference books to make cards, cut and paste, and extract for memory.Such as card memory method, chart memory method, inductive memory method, etc.

(3) Recall often - try to recall the memory method.

Experiments have proved that the review method of alternating memory and recall is an effective way to improve the review effect.A careful person found that when the Chinese mathematician Chen Jingrun was studying, the lights in his dormitory were on and off.

He first opened the book, then turned off the light and lay down on the bed to recall and think. When he understood and remembered, he turned on the light and checked it again. read down.So he reads exceptionally well.

(End of this chapter)