來源：網(wǎng)絡(luò)
“生活向我們奔涌而來，我們要經(jīng)歷各種事物，從中提取意義?！痹谶@段幽默且令人深省的演講中，教育心理學(xué)家Peter Doolittle詳細(xì)講述了“工作記憶”的重要性和限制。工作記憶是大腦的一部分，讓我們理解當(dāng)前身邊發(fā)生的事有什么意義。
How your 'working memory' makes sense of the world
'Life comes at us very quickly, and what we need to do is take that amorphous flow of experience and somehow extract meaning from it.' In this funny, enlightening talk, educational psychologist Peter Doolittle details the importance — and limitations — of your 'working memory,' that part of the brain that allows us to make sense of what's happening right now.
Peter Doolittle is striving to understand the processes of human learning.
Why you should listen：
Peter Doolittle is a professor of educational psychology in the School of Education at Virginia Tech, where he is also the executive director of the Center for Instructional Development and Educational Research. He teaches classes such as Cognition and Instruction, Constructivism and Education, Multimedia Cognition and College Teaching, but his research mainly focuses on learning in multimedia environments and the role of 'working memory.'
Doolittle has taught educational psychology around the world. He is the executive editor of the International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education and the co-executive editor of the International Journal of ePortfolio.
第一頁 英文第二頁 中文0:11 So yesterday, I was out in the street in front of this building, and I was walking down the sidewalk, and I had company, several of us, and we were all abiding by the rules of walking down sidewalks. We're not talking each other. We're facing forward. We're moving. When the person in front of me slows down. And so I'm watching him, and he slows down, and finally he stops. Well, that wasn't fast enough for me, so I put on my turn signal, and I walked around him, and as I walked, I looked to see what he was doing, and he was doing this. He was texting, and he couldn't text and walk at the same time. Now we could approach this from a working memory perspective or from a multitasking perspective. We're going to do working memory today.
0:59 Now, working memory is that part of our consciousness that we are aware of at any given time of day. You're going it right now. It's not something we can turn off. If you turn it off, that's called a coma, okay? So right now, you're doing just fine.
1:16 Now working memory has four basic components. It allows us to store some immediate experiences and a little bit of knowledge. It allows us to reach back into our long-term memory and pull some of that in as we need it, mixes it, processes it in light of whatever our current goal is. Now the current goal isn't something like, I want to be president or the best surfer in the world. It's more mundane. I'd like that cookie, or I need to figure out how to get into my hotel room. Now working memory capacity is our ability to leverage that, our ability to take what we know and what we can hang onto and leverage it in ways that allow us to satisfy our current goal.
1:56 Now working memory capacity has a fairly long history, and it's associated with a lot of positive effects. People with high working memory capacity tend to be good storytellers. They tend to solve and do well on standardized tests, however important that is. They're able to have high levels of writing ability. They're also able to reason at high levels.
2:19 So what we're going to do here is play a little bit with some of that. So I'm going to ask you to perform a couple tasks, and we're going to take your working memory out for a ride. You up for that? Okay.
2:31 I'm going to give you five words, and I just want you to hang on to them. Don't write them down. Just hang on to them. Five words. While you're hanging on to them, I'm going to ask you to answer three questions. I want to see what happens with those words. So here's the words: tree, highway, mirror, Saturn and electrode. So far so good? Okay. What I want you to do is I want you to tell me what the answer is to 23 times eight. Just shout it out. (Mumbling) (Laughter) In fact it's -- (Mumbling) -- exactly. (Laughter) All right. I want you to take out your left hand and I want you to go, 'One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10.' It's a neurological test, just in case you were wondering. All right, now what I want you to do is to recite the last five letters of the English alphabet backwards. You should have started with Z. (Laughter)
3:42 All right. How many people here are still pretty sure you've got all five words? Okay. Typically we end up with about less than half, right, which is normal. There will be a range. Some people can hang on to five. Some people can hang on to 10. Some will be down to two or three.
3:57 What we know is this is really important to the way we function, right? And it's going to be really important here at TED because you're going to be exposed to so many different ideas.
4:06 Now the problem that we have is that life comes at us, and it comes at us very quickly, and what we need to do is to take that amorphous flow of experience and somehow extract meaning from it with a working memory that's about the size of a pea. Now don't get me wrong, working memory is awesome. Working memory allows us to investigate our current experience as we move forward. It allows us to make sense of the world around us. But it does have certain limits.
4:36 Now working memory is great for allowing us to communicate. We can have a conversation, and I can build a narrative around that so I know where we've been and where we're going and how to contribute to this conversation. It allows us to problem-solve, critical think. We can be in the middle of a meeting, listen to somebody's presentation, evaluate it, decide whether or not we like it, ask follow-up questions. All of that occurs within working memory. It also allows us to go to the store and allows us to get milk and eggs and cheese when what we're really looking for is Red Bull and bacon. (Laughter) Gotta make sure we're getting what we're looking for. Now, a central issue with working memory is that it's limited. It's limited in capacity, limited in duration, limited in focus. We tend to remember about four things. Okay? It used to be seven, but with functional MRIs, apparently it's four, and we were overachieving. Now we can remember those four things for about 10 to 20 seconds unless we do something with it, unless we process it, unless we apply it to something, unless we talk to somebody about it.
5:43 When we think about working memory, we have to realize that this limited capacity has lots of different impacts on us. Have you ever walked from one room to another and then forgotten why you're there? You do know the solution to that, right? You go back to that original room. (Laughter) Have you ever forgotten your keys? You ever forgotten your car? You ever forgotten your kids? Have you ever been involved in a conversation, and you realize that the conversation to your left is actually more interesting? (Laughter) So you're nodding and you're smiling, but you're really paying attention to this one over here, until you hear that last word go up, and you realize, you've been asked a question. (Laughter) And you're really hoping the answer is no, because that's what you're about to say. All of that talks about working memory, what we can do and what we can't do. We need to realize that working memory has a limited capacity, and that working memory capacity itself is how we negotiate that. We negotiate that through strategies.
6:48 So what I want to do is talk a little bit about a couple of strategies here, and these will be really important because you are now in an information target-rich environment for the next several days. Now the first part of this that we need to think about and we need to process our existence, our life, immediately and repeatedly. We need to process what's going on the moment it happens, not 10 minutes later, not a week later, at the moment. So we need to think about, well, do I agree with him? What's missing? What would I like to know? Do I agree with the assumptions? How can I apply this in my life? It's a way of processing what's going on so that we can use it later. Now we also need to repeat it. We need to practice. So we need to think about it here. In between, we want to talk to people about it. We're going to write it down, and when you get home, pull out those notes and think about them and end up practicing over time. Practice for some reason became a very negative thing. It's very positive.
7:46 The next thing is, we need to think elaboratively and we need to think illustratively. Oftentimes, we think that we have to relate new knowledge to prior knowledge. What we want to do is spin that around. We want to take all of our existence and wrap it around that new knowledge and make all of these connections and it becomes more meaningful. We also want to use imagery. We are built for images. We need to take advantage of that. Think about things in images, write things down that way. If you read a book, pull things up. I just got through reading 'The Great Gatsby,' and I have a perfect idea of what he looks like in my head, so my own version.
8:23 The last one is organization and support. We are meaning-making machines. It's what we do. We try to make meaning out of everything that happens to us. Organization helps, so we need to structure what we're doing in ways that make sense. If we are providing knowledge and experience, we need to structure that.
8:39 And the last one is support. We all started as novices. Everything we do is an approximation of sophistication. We should expect it to change over time. We have to support that. The support may come in asking people questions, giving them a sheet of paper that has an organizational chart on it or has some guiding images, but we need to support it.
8:59 Now, the final piece of this, the take-home message from a working memory capacity standpoint is this: what we process, we learn. If we're not processing life, we're not living it. Live life. Thank you.
9:17 (Applause)
0:11 昨天呢，我出門走在 這幢樓前的大街上。 我在人行道上 和幾個朋友同行。 我們都很守規(guī)矩地 走在人行道上。 我們什么也不說，就是向前走。 就這樣往前走。 走在我前面的人突然減慢了速度。 我看見他放慢了速度， 然后停下了。 然后我很快就趕上他了。 正好我要在街角轉(zhuǎn)彎，我就繞過他走。 我一邊走，一邊看他在做什么。 他就是這樣。 他在發(fā)短信。 因為他不可能一邊走路一邊打字。 現(xiàn)在我們可以 從短期記憶的角度 或從多任務(wù)處理的角度來看這件事。 我們今天要講的就是短期記憶的問題。
0:59 短期記憶是 每天任何一個有意識的片斷里 我們自我意識的一部分。 你現(xiàn)在就有短期記憶。 我們不可能隨時關(guān)閉它。 你要是把它關(guān)閉了，那就叫昏迷，對不對? 所以，你們現(xiàn)在都做得挺好。
1:16 短期記憶有四個基本元素。 它使我們能夠存儲一些很直接的體驗 和很少的一部分知識。 它允許我們?nèi)プ匪菸覀兊拈L期記憶 找到我們需要的， 進(jìn)行組合和處理， 這主要取決于我們的當(dāng)前動機(jī)是什么。 那么當(dāng)前動機(jī)不是象 我想要總統(tǒng)或是做世界最佳沖浪手這樣的動機(jī)。 它更世俗化，比如我要吃那塊餅干， 或者我要找到今晚住宿的酒店。 短期記憶的能力 是我們能夠利用記憶的能力， 是我們利用知識的能力。 我們可以依賴， 可以利用短期記憶能力來達(dá)成 我們眼前的目標(biāo)。
1:56 短期記憶能力 有相當(dāng)長的歷史， 它能帶來很多積極效應(yīng)。 短期記憶能力強(qiáng)的人 一般會很擅長講故事。 他們一般很善于應(yīng)付標(biāo)準(zhǔn)化測試， 不管是多么重要的考試。 他們很善于寫作。 他們善于提出深層次的問題。
2:19 那么這里呢，我們來做個短期記憶能力的小游戲。 我會讓你們完成兩個任務(wù)， 帶你們的短期記憶出來兜兜風(fēng)。 你們想玩兒吧？好！
2:31 我會給你們五個詞， 我要你們記住這些詞， 不是把它們寫下來，而是用腦子記住它們。 五個詞。 你記著它們的同時，還要回答我三個問題。 我想看看你們記這五個詞兒記得怎么樣 好吧，這五個詞兒是： 樹， 公路， 鏡子， 土星 和電極。 沒問題吧？ 好！現(xiàn)在我要你們 回答我的問題， 23乘以8是多少。 喊出來就行。 (喃喃自語)（笑聲） 事實上它等于 — — (喃喃自語) — — 完全正確。（笑聲） 好吧。那現(xiàn)在我要你們伸出你的左手， 你們要數(shù)：“一、二、三、四、五、 六、 七、 八、 九，十'。 它是一個神經(jīng)功能測試，如果你想知道。 好吧，我現(xiàn)在要你們 倒著讀出來 英語字母表中的最后五個字母。 要從 Z 開始讀。 （笑聲）
3:42 好吧。這里有多少人 還記得我剛才給出的那五個單詞？ 好吧。通常會有不到一半的人還記得。 沒錯，這是很正常的。就是這么個范圍。 有些人可以記住五個。 有些人可以記住十個。 有的人只能記住兩三個。
3:57 我們知道，這個對大腦功能確實很有用，對吧？ 在TED尤其重要， 因為你會接觸到很多不同的想法。
4:06 現(xiàn)在我們的問題是 我們迎面而來的生活， 它來得非?？?。 我們需要做的是收集那些模糊的 體驗，然后 用短期記憶來提煉 它的意義所在。 差不多一個豌豆大小。 別搞錯，短期記憶是很不簡單的。 它允許我們 在繼續(xù)前行時 檢視我們當(dāng)前的體驗。 它讓我們理解我們周圍的世界。 但它確實是有極限的。
4:36 短期記憶讓我們能夠和人交流。 我們可以談話， 我可以通過敘述來說明 我們講到哪兒了，要說什么 以及怎么說。 它讓我們解決問題，慎重思考。 我們可能在一個會議期間， 聽別人的發(fā)言，評價它， 決定我們是否喜歡它， 然后提出問題。 所有這一切都是在短期記憶的范疇里。 它讓我們?nèi)ド痰?買牛奶、雞蛋和奶酪， 當(dāng)我們真正想買的 是紅牛飲料和培根時。（笑聲） 要確保我們知道我們要找的是什么。 現(xiàn)在，短期記憶的一個主要問題是 它的局限性。 它的能力和時長都是有局限的。 它的聚焦點也有局限。 我們一般可以記住四件事情。 對吧？以前說是七件， 但用功能性核磁共振成像檢測，其實是四件 我們以前是逞強(qiáng)了。 現(xiàn)在我們在大約10到20秒時間內(nèi) 可以記住四件事， 如果我們利用它， 處理它，應(yīng)用它， 討論它。
5:43 我們談到短期記憶的時候 我們需要意識到它的局限性 對我們的影響。 你以前有沒有從一個房間走到另個房間 突然忘了你要干什么？ 你知道怎么解決這樣的事，對吧？ 你就回到原來的那個房間去想想。（笑聲） 你曾經(jīng)忘記過你的鑰匙吧？ 你曾經(jīng)忘記過你的車吧? 你曾經(jīng)忘記過你的孩子吧？ 你有沒有在聊天時， 意識到你左邊那人的談話 其實更有趣？（笑聲） 嗯，你在點頭，你在笑， 你一直很專心地聽我講 直到你聽到我說的最后一個字音調(diào)升高， 你才意識到， 我是在問你一個問題。（笑聲） 然后你們希望答案是否定的。 因為那是你要說的。 我們講的就是這些短期記憶， 我們能做什么，不能做什么。 我們必須認(rèn)識到短期記憶 的能力是有限的。 短期記憶的能力在于我們怎么平衡它。 我們通過一些策略來平衡。
6:48 我現(xiàn)在想講的就是兩個策略。 這兩個確實很重要。 因為接下來的幾天 你將處在一個信息爆炸的環(huán)境里。 首先我們需要思考 我們需要整理我們的體驗， 迅速地和反復(fù)地。 我們需要處理正在發(fā)生的事情 就在當(dāng)下，而不是十分鐘后， 更不是一周后，就在當(dāng)下。 我們需要考慮，嗯，我同意他嗎？ 不足的地方有那些？我想知道有哪些？ 我同意這個假設(shè)嗎？ 我怎么把它用到我這兒？ 我們就這么處理正在發(fā)生的事情 然后就可以利用它。 那么，我們還需要重復(fù)它，需要實踐。 所以需要不斷琢磨它。 同時需要和別人談?wù)撍?回家后還要寫下它。 然后拿出那些記錄，再考慮考慮它。 就這樣結(jié)束記憶的訓(xùn)練。 為某些原因而重復(fù)記憶是一件非常消極的事。 但它其實有非常積極的意義。
7:46 下一件事就是，我們需要考慮如何精練 和如何闡述我們的記憶。 很多時候，我們將新知識和舊知識聯(lián)系起來。 把它們?nèi)跁炌ā?我們想要把所有我們舊的體驗 都圍繞著新的知識展開， 讓新舊知識融合在一起使它變得更有意義。 我們還需要運用圖像。人類對圖像天生敏感。 我們需要利用這一點。 思考圖像里面的事實， 把它記下來。 如果你在讀一本書，從里面提煉出想要的東西。 我以前通讀過《偉大的蓋茨比》， 我很清楚地知道他是怎樣的人。 在我的腦海里，我有我自己的看法。
8:23 最后一個就是組織和支持。 人天生喜歡追尋意義。我們做的也就是這個。 我們努力從任何事情中尋求意義所在。 大腦的組織整理功能幫助我們，所以我們要 讓做的事情更加合情合理。 如果我們提供知識和經(jīng)驗， 就需要去構(gòu)建它。
8:39 最后一個是支持。 我們都是從初學(xué)者起步的。 我們做的一切都是一點點趨向成熟。 這就需要時間使我們成熟起來。我們需要支持體系。 這個支持體系通過問人們問題， 給他們有表格的紙張， 或一些提示性圖片， 我們需要這樣的支持體系。
8:59 現(xiàn)在，最后我要說的就是 從短期記憶能力的角度來看是這樣的： 我們整理思考什么信息，就學(xué)習(xí)什么。 我們不整理思考人生，我們就是行尸走肉。 過好你的人生。謝謝。
9:17 （掌聲）
