This is the most effective way to learn

Chapter 37 Understanding memory is twice the result with half the effort

In fact, the skill of memory is ultimately based on understanding.

American educator Bruner conducted an experiment with three groups of 12-year-old children memorizing 3 paired words.This experiment only requires group A to memorize, and group B and C requires the use of intermediary words to connect and memorize the paired words. The intermediary words in group B are explained by the teacher, and the intermediary words in group C are completely up to the students. Research, try to find out.The results of the experiment were very surprising. When the teacher gave the first word and asked the students to think of the second word, Group A answered 30% on average, and Group B and C were as high as 50%. Group C was even worse than Group B. better.This example profoundly shows that relying on the connection and understanding of knowledge, especially through one's own efforts to gain understanding and cognition of knowledge, is much better than mechanical rote memorization.

The so-called understanding is to grasp the most essential things of things and gain regular knowledge.Memorize the seven numbers 78, 71, 64, 57, 50, 43, and 36. It is difficult to memorize them one by one. If you study carefully, you will notice that these 7 numbers are arranged in descending order. A number is more than 7, and 7 numbers are all like this, which is the so-called arithmetic sequence, so as long as you remember the first number or the last number, other numbers can be easily calculated.

The former Soviet educator Suhomlinski said: "The deeper you think about the problem, the stronger your memory will be. When you don't understand, don't try to remember, it will waste time." Understanding is to grasp the inner meaning of things , essential, necessary connection.To recite poems, one must first understand the content, words and structural characteristics of poems; for mathematical formulas, rules, theorems, inferences and laws, one must first understand their meaning, figure out their origin and derivation process, and their nature and meaning; To memorize historical times, geographic locations, names of people, places, house numbers and telephone numbers, etc., also requires a certain understanding and association to connect memorized objects with other related things, and to grasp the characteristics and regularities.In short, first seek understanding, and then seek memory, in order to obtain a good memory effect.

Understanding is the premise and foundation of memory
It is often said that understanding is the first step to remembering.To further understand the importance of comprehension to memory, let's look at some examples below.

Was Mrs. Stowe's world famous novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin" published before or after the Civil War?As long as you know that this novel exposes the evils of the black slave system, arouses the discussion of the black slave issue, and affects the outbreak of the Civil War, Lincoln has a high evaluation of this book, so the publication time will be solved easily.

In daily life and work, there are often many things that should be remembered but not remembered. The reason is often due to only paying attention to the details and ignoring the understanding of the essence.

Lincoln, the former president of the United States, was born in poverty. He couldn't afford books when he was a child, so he had to borrow them.As long as someone is willing to lend it to him, he will go no matter how far it is.Read it over and over again until you fully understand and remember it.Relying on this method of reading comprehension and memory, Lincoln accumulated a lot of knowledge.In the end, he finally became one of the best presidents in American history.

The famous German psychologist Ebbinghaus found in the memory experiment: in order to remember [-] meaningless syllables, it needs to repeat [-] times on average; in order to remember [-] meaningless syllables, it needs to repeat [-] times; The [-] syllables in the six poems only need to be repeated [-] times on average!Psychological experiments have shown that the effect of understanding memory is about [-] times higher than that of mechanical memory.

A slogan advocated by the Japanese education circle is: "Think, don't memorize by rote!" The thinking mentioned here first of all refers to understanding.

The so-called understanding, in the old saying, is not only to know what it is, but also to know why it is.From a physiological point of view, understanding is to establish new conditioned reflexes on the basis of existing conditioned reflexes, and to compose the old and new conditioned reflexes into a system.Pavlov said that using acquired conditioned reflexes is called understanding.Understanding is to understand the meaning of objective things. In fact, it is to use old knowledge to obtain new knowledge and incorporate new knowledge into the existing knowledge system.The paraphrase memory method we will talk about in this section is a method to memorize words on the basis of understanding.In short, it is to understand the memory method.

Understanding the memory method is a method of memory activity based on active thinking activities, understanding the meaning of things, grasping the structural levels of things, and understanding the essential characteristics and internal connections of things.The basic condition of the paraphrase memory method is the understanding of memory materials and active thinking processing, which shows that it is a memory based on a higher level of intelligence.

Understand the basic characteristics of mnemonics

(1) Combined with active thinking activities, through thinking activities such as analysis, synthesis, comparison, classification and systematization, grasp the meaning, scope and structural level of memory materials, grasp their essential and non-essential features and the connections between things , Strengthen the understanding of the meaning of things and the grasp of the overall structure.

When memorizing various materials, you can also understand the meaning of the materials from different angles and levels through thinking activities, so as to increase multiple connections and multi-dimensional thinking, make the meaning of the memory materials more profound and comprehensive, and then incorporate them into the cognitive structure system. Form long-term memory.

(2) Apply existing knowledge and experience.

Use existing knowledge to connect and compare old and new knowledge, find similarities and differences, and integrate new materials into existing knowledge systems, or enrich and expand existing knowledge systems.When learning new knowledge, it is an important part of understanding the memory method to connect with the existing knowledge well. The richer the individual's existing knowledge and experience, the more correct the structure, the more conducive to the improvement of understanding and memory.

(3) Flexible use of various memory strategies and methods.

According to the different nature, quantity and scope of memorized materials, as well as different learning situations and personal situations, adopting appropriate strategies and methods can deepen understanding and enhance memory.

(4) The degree of retelling can also indicate the level of understanding. Using one's own words to explain or retell new knowledge can enhance understanding and help memory.

We measure the application level of comprehension memory from the four characteristics of comprehension memory.If these aspects are done well, the memory effect can be improved comprehensively, accurately, firmly and quickly.

How to implement the understanding process
To achieve comprehension and memory, we must first understand how to realize the process of comprehension.We need to know that analysis and synthesis are the essence of understanding.

How to analyze and synthesize it?The specific method can be divided into [-] steps.

Step [-]: Get the gist.

When we remember something, we must first figure out its general content.Take reading as an example, you must first read through or browse through it.If it is memory music, you must first listen to the whole song in its entirety.Only by understanding the whole picture can we have a deep understanding of the part.This is "combination".

The second step: local analysis.

After having a general understanding of things, it is necessary to gradually analyze in depth.For example, for a paper, it is necessary to clarify its argument and evidence, divide it into several paragraphs according to the structure, and find out the main meaning one by one, that is, to find "information points", analyze and think carefully, so as to achieve the goal of compiling the outline of the article. degree.

The third step: find the focus and key.

Find the main points, key points and difficulties of the article, figure it out, and remember it firmly.Only on this basis can we understand and remember other relatively minor or subordinate content.

The fourth step: mastery.

It is to connect the various partial contents that have been understood and remembered, to think over and over again, and to understand comprehensively, which is more conducive to deepening memory.

Step [-]: Apply it in practice.

Whether you really understand what you have learned depends on whether it can be applied in practice.If you get "stuck" when applied to actual work, it means that you don't really understand it.There are specific standards for true understanding, one is to be able to explain in words and words, and the other is to be able to use it in practice.In the process of practical application, we will continue to deepen our understanding.

how to understand memory
First of all, since we know the regular characteristics of memory, we must often consciously use and understand memory when memorizing, and develop positive thinking when memorizing, so as to achieve good results.If you don't use comprehension memory when you can use it, but use mechanical memory for meaningless repetition, then it will not only get twice the result with half the effort, but the difference of ten times or twenty times.

When we memorize the material, as long as it is meaningful, we should put forward the requirement of "understanding first, then memorizing" to ourselves, divide the material into large and small paragraphs and levels, and find out the logical connection between them, instead of starting from one Start by memorizing word for word.For example, memorizing ancient Chinese, if you don't understand the meaning of the ancient Chinese, it will be as difficult as memorizing the scriptures.If you understand all the content words and function words in ancient Chinese prose, and grasp the central meaning of the whole text, and then memorize it at this time, you will memorize it on the basis of understanding. Memorizing it will be much more interesting, much faster, and will leave a deep impression on you. much.For those learning materials that have no obvious meaning connection, such as historical age, numbers, foreign words, etc., we can use some methods of mnemonics to establish a certain meaning connection and help memory , Change rote memorization into living memorization, thereby improving the efficiency of memory.

Dos and Don'ts for Understanding Memory

Understanding memory is based on understanding the content of the material.This kind of understanding is not only to understand the material, but also to understand the logical relationship between the various parts of the material, as well as the relationship between the material and previous knowledge and experience.To truly understand the object of memory, you must:

(1) Analyzing and synthesizing the memorizing materials to truly understand the meaning of things, the meaning of concepts, and the spiritual essence of the content learned;
(2) Put the knowledge you have learned into practice, and repeat the materials you have memorized in the application, so that your understanding will continue to deepen.

When using the method of comprehension and memory to memorize materials, you should pay attention to putting forward the requirement of "understand first, then memorize" to yourself, divide the materials into large and small paragraphs and levels, and find out the logical connection between them, instead of memorizing them word by word from the beginning. .

Another thing to note is that we say that understanding and memory are efficient and effective. Does it mean that as long as you understand it, you will be able to remember it?Not necessarily.For things that are understood, it often takes multiple repetitions to remember.Some people think that the learning process is over after they understand a certain learning content, and they don't consciously ask themselves to remember them, and don't deepen their impression through repetition. Then, it is impossible to remember the learning content completely and accurately.Understanding also requires repetition and memory.

(End of this chapter)