Memory

BBC Learning EnglishWeekenderMemory
Jackie:  Hello, welcome to Weekender! My name's…umm, my name's… oh dearwhat was it again? Oh yes! Jackie Dalton. Today's topic ismemory and the programme will hopefully provide you withsome helpful study tips when it comes to memorizinginformation. We'll do this with the help of Andrew Maze¹.
　　He's a cognitive² neuroscientist at the University ofManchester in the UK. What's his tip for how to learnthings you need to remember?
　　AndrewThe best way to learn it is to space your learning. So youdon’t say I've got to learn this…  so sit down and spendabout ten hours trying to put it in your head in a sort ofmass practice fashion.
　　Jackie:  Andrew's tip for effective learning is tospace it out – don't try and learn a lot in one go. Why isthis?
　　AndrewWhat you do is you process certain parts of it on one dayand then you come back to it the following day or a fewdays later and learn it again and then you do that againand again. And this is much more efficient with much lesstime spent on the learning, you can get up to very highlevels of memory performance and furthermore, it survivesover long periods of time much better than if you learn itall in one go.
　　Jackie:  Andrew talks about 'processing'
　　information, which means organising it,- taking the information in and putting it in the rightplace – processing information. He says you process whatyou learn much better if you justdo a little at a time and leave a gap before you try tolearn more. This, he says, is a more 'efficient'  way oflearning – more efficient – it's a better way of usingyour time.
　　BBC Learning EnglishJackie:  Another tip for you, I always thought thebest time to study for exams was the morning, becausethat's when I felt most focused and awake. But according toAndrew, we tend to remember things better if we learn themat night. Why is this? Listen to Andrew to find outAndrewIf you learn something last thing at night and then go tosleep and compare that with learning something during theday and you then have 8 active hours after that in whichyou're learning new things, what you find after a few daysis that you remember the information that you learnt lastthing at night, immediately before you went to sleep - youremember that best. If you learn something during the dayand then carry on learning other things for about eighthours or so, you remember that stuff much less efficiently³.
　　Jackie:  So according to Andrew, if you memorizethings before you go to sleep, you remember them betterbecause your brain can process the information overnight.
　　It's harder to memorize things in the morning because yourbrain still has to cope with all the other information itreceives over the rest of the day. Let's listen to Andrewagain. We'll look at some of the language he usesafterwards.
　　AndrewAnd the evidence is growing that that's because if we learnnew things, the parts of the brain that store this newinformation are busy storing these new memories and thatinterrupts the memories that went in immediately before, itprevents them beingconsolidated very efficiently.
　　Jackie:  So if your brain is trying to store thingsyou've just learnt, then you start trying to learnsomething else, that gets in the way of the processing.
　　What expression did Andrew use to say that it's become moreand more clear that this is what happens?
　　AndrewAnd the evidence is growing thatJackie:  The evidence is growing that. 'Evidence' isfacts or signs that show that something is true. Andrewsaid evidence is growing – so there are more and morefacts that show that trying to learn a lot in one go isless efficient than just learning a little at a time. Healso used the word'consolidated⁵'. Do you know what that means? If not, try towork it out from the context.
　　AndrewAnd the evidence is growing that that's because if we learnnew things, the parts of the brain that store this newinformation are busy storing these new memories and thatinterrupts the memories that went in immediately before, itprevents them being consolidated very efficiently.
　　Jackie:  To 'consolidate⁴' means to bring thingstogether in order to make them more easy to deal with.
　　Well, I hope you've managed to consolidate all theinformation you've just received. And if you want to makesure you remember what you learnt today, have a rest, go tosleep, come back another day and go through it all again.
　　Happy learning!

1 maze   

n.迷宫，八阵图，混乱，迷惑

参考例句：

• He found his way through the complex maze of corridors.他穿过了迷宮一样的走廊。
• She was lost in the maze for several hours.一连几小时，她的头脑处于一片糊涂状态。

2 cognitive   

adj.认知的，认识的，有感知的

参考例句：

• As children grow older,their cognitive processes become sharper.孩子们越长越大，他们的认知过程变得更为敏锐。
• The cognitive psychologist is like the tinker who wants to know how a clock works.认知心理学者倒很像一个需要通晓钟表如何运转的钟表修理匠。

3 efficiently   

adv.高效率地，有能力地

参考例句：

• The worker oils the machine to operate it more efficiently.工人给机器上油以使机器运转更有效。
• Local authorities have to learn to allocate resources efficiently.地方政府必须学会有效地分配资源。

4 consolidate   

v.使加固，使加强；(把...)联为一体，合并

参考例句：

• The two banks will consolidate in July next year. 这两家银行明年7月将合并。
• The government hoped to consolidate ten states to form three new ones.政府希望把十个州合并成三个新的州。

5 consolidated   

a.联合的

参考例句：

• With this new movie he has consolidated his position as the country's leading director. 他新执导的影片巩固了他作为全国最佳导演的地位。
• Those two banks have consolidated and formed a single large bank. 那两家银行已合并成一家大银行。