In a world as fast-changing and full of information as our own, every one of us — from schoolchildren to college students to working adults — needs to know how to learn well. Yet evidence suggests that most of us don’t use the learning techniques that science has proved most effective. Worse, research finds that learning strategies we do commonly employ, like rereading and highlighting, are among the least effective.
我們生存的這個世界變化極快、信息量大，從中小學(xué)生到大學(xué)生再到職場人士，所有人都應(yīng)該知道怎樣更好學(xué)習(xí)。但是有證據(jù)表明，我們之中的大多數(shù)人并不會使用最有效的學(xué)習(xí)技巧。更糟糕的是，研究發(fā)現(xiàn)我們經(jīng)常使用的學(xué)習(xí)策略，如重讀和劃重點(diǎn)，都是最沒有效率的學(xué)習(xí)技巧之一。

The scientific literature evaluating these techniques stretches back decades and across thousands of articles. It’s far too extensive and complex for the average parent, teacher or employer to sift through. Fortunately, a team of five leading psychologists have now done the job for us.
有關(guān)學(xué)習(xí)技巧評估的科學(xué)文獻(xiàn)早在幾十年前就開始出現(xiàn)，現(xiàn)在已有上千篇文章。一般家長、教師和老板要從中挑選精華，數(shù)量太過龐大，內(nèi)容太過復(fù)雜。幸運(yùn)的是，現(xiàn)在，一個由五名頂尖的心理學(xué)家組成的團(tuán)隊已經(jīng)替我們完成了這項工作。?

In a comprehensive report released on Jan. 9 by the Association for Psychological Science, the authors, led by Kent State University professor John Dunlosky, closely examine 10 learning tactics and rate each from high to low utility on the basis of the evidence they’ve amassed. Here is a quick guide to the report’s conclusions:
1月9日，美國心理科學(xué)協(xié)會發(fā)布了一篇全面的報告?？咸刂荽髮W(xué)的教授John Dunlosky同其他作者一起，仔細(xì)研究了十種學(xué)習(xí)技巧，并基于他們收集的證據(jù)，根據(jù)實(shí)用性的高低給這些學(xué)習(xí)技巧打了分。以下是報告結(jié)論的大致內(nèi)容：

The Worst
最差學(xué)習(xí)技巧

Highlighting and underlining led the authors’ list of ineffective learning strategies. Although they are common practices, studies show they offer no benefit beyond simply reading the text. Some research even indicates that highlighting can get in the way of learning; because it draws attention to individual facts, it may hamper the process of making connections and drawing inferences.
在這些作者最沒有效率的學(xué)習(xí)策略列表中，突出顯示和下劃線的劃重點(diǎn)方式排在第一位。雖然這些都是很常見的學(xué)習(xí)做法，但是研究表明除了幫助閱讀文本之外，這些沒有任何益處。一些研究中甚至顯示，劃重點(diǎn)有可能會影響學(xué)習(xí)進(jìn)程；因?yàn)閯澲攸c(diǎn)會讓人把吸引力轉(zhuǎn)向了各個獨(dú)立的事實(shí)，它有可能會妨礙學(xué)習(xí)者理清各個事實(shí)間的關(guān)系和做出推論。?

Nearly as bad is the practice of rereading, a common exercise that is much less effective than some of the better techniques you can use. Lastly, summarizing, or writing down the main points contained in a text, can be helpful for those who are skilled at it, but again, there are far better ways to spend your study time. Highlighting, underlining, rereading and summarizing were all rated by the authors as being of “l(fā)ow utility.”
與劃重點(diǎn)差不多的另外一個學(xué)習(xí)策略是重讀，這也是一種常見的做法，比起其他好的策略來說效率更低一些。最后，做匯總或是列出文章中的主要觀點(diǎn)對于擅長做這些事的人來說是有幫助的，但是同剛才的策略一樣，還有一些策略要比總結(jié)好得多，更能充分利用時間。突出顯示、下劃線、重讀和做匯總都被論文作者們評為“實(shí)用性低”的學(xué)習(xí)技巧。

The Best
最佳學(xué)習(xí)技巧

In contrast to familiar practices like highlighting and rereading, the learning strategies with the most evidence to support them aren’t well known outside the psych lab. Take distributed practice, for example. This tactic involves spreading out your study sessions, rather than engaging in one marathon.
與人們通常使用的劃重點(diǎn)、重讀相反，那些最好的、有最多論證支持的學(xué)習(xí)策略，出了心理學(xué)實(shí)驗(yàn)室反而就沒什么人知道了。比如說，分散式學(xué)習(xí)。這種學(xué)習(xí)策略的方法是把學(xué)習(xí)的時間分散開來，而不是像跑馬拉松一樣地一次性完成學(xué)習(xí)。?

Cramming information at the last minute may allow you to get through that test or meeting, but the material will quickly disappear from memory. It’s much more effective to?dip into the material at intervals over time. And the longer you want to remember the information, whether it’s two weeks or two years, the longer the intervals should be.
在最后一分鐘把信息塞進(jìn)腦子里，有可能可以幫助你順利通過考試或者會議，但是這些信息會很快從記憶中消失。在不同的時間段深入研究學(xué)習(xí)材料是更有效的學(xué)習(xí)方法。另外，無論是兩周也好兩年也好，如果希望能把這些信息記得越久，就越需要延長分散式學(xué)習(xí)的時間間隔。

The second learning strategy that is highly recommended by the report’s authors is practice testing. Yes, more tests — but these are not for a grade. Research shows that the mere act of calling information to mind strengthens that knowledge and aids in future retrieval.
報告作者們強(qiáng)烈推薦的第二種學(xué)習(xí)策略是實(shí)際測試。沒錯，要做更多測試，但是不是那種為了獲得成績而進(jìn)行的測試。研究表明，單單是回憶腦海中的信息這一過程就能強(qiáng)化知識，并且在未來重拾知識時派上用場。?

While practice testing is not a common strategy — despite the robust evidence supporting it — there is one familiar approach that captures its benefits: using flash cards. And now flash cards can be presented in digital form. Both spaced-out learning, or distributed practice, and practice tests were rated as having “high utility” by the authors.
盡管有大量證據(jù)支持，但是實(shí)際測試并不是常用的學(xué)習(xí)策略。不過，有一種熟悉的學(xué)習(xí)方法帶來的益處和實(shí)際測試相近：使用記憶卡片。而且現(xiàn)在記憶卡片可以變得數(shù)字化了。分散式學(xué)習(xí)和實(shí)際測試都被作者們評為“高實(shí)用性”的學(xué)習(xí)技巧。

The Rest
其他學(xué)習(xí)技巧

The remainder of the techniques evaluated by Dunlosky and his colleagues fell into the middle ground — not useless, but not especially effective either. These include:
Dunlosky和他的同事們評估的其他技巧都處于中間地帶——雖然不是完全沒用，但是也沒有多大的效率。這些技巧有：?

Mental imagery, or coming up with pictures that help you remember text (which is time-consuming and only works with text that lends itself to images);
心理意象，即看圖片記文字（很耗時間，而且只對能聯(lián)想得到圖片的文字有用）；?

Elaborative interrogation, or asking yourself “why” as you read (which is kind of annoying, like having a 4-year-old tugging at your sleeve);
學(xué)習(xí)精細(xì)化整合，即邊讀邊問自己問為什么（有點(diǎn)煩人，就好像四歲小孩一直拉著你的袖子問問題一樣）；?

Self-explanation, or forcing yourself to explain the text in detail instead of passively reading it over (its effectiveness depends on how complete and accurate your explanations are);
自我解釋，即強(qiáng)迫自己解釋文中出現(xiàn)的細(xì)節(jié)內(nèi)容，而不是之后再被動地重新閱讀（這種方法是否有效取決于你的解釋是否完整精確）；?

Interleaved practice, or mixing up different types of problems (there is not much evidence to show that this is helpful, outside of learning motor tasks);
交叉實(shí)踐，即把幾種不同的問題組合在一起（沒有太多證據(jù)能說明這種方法有效，除非是學(xué)習(xí)開車）；?

And lastly the keyword mnemonic, or associating new vocabulary words, usually in a foreign language, with an English word that sounds similar — so, for example, learning the French word for key, la clef, by imagining a key on top of a cliff (which is a lot of work to remember a single word).
最后是關(guān)鍵詞助記，即把新的詞匯（通常是一門外語）與英語讀音相近的詞聯(lián)系在一起，舉例來說，學(xué)習(xí)法語詞表示“鑰匙”的單詞 la clef 的時候，想想一把鑰匙放在懸崖（cliff）上（這樣記單詞要花很多功夫）。

All these techniques were rated of “moderate” to “l(fā)ow” utility by Dunlosky et al because either there isn’t enough evidence yet to be able to recommend them or they’re just not a very good use of your time. Much better, say the authors, to spread out your learning, ditch your highlighter and get busy with your flash cards.
這些學(xué)習(xí)技巧都被Dunlosky和其他作者評為“中等實(shí)用性”或者“低實(shí)用性”，因?yàn)槠渲杏行┘记刹]有得到足夠證據(jù)的支持，還有些被評為中和低，單純是因?yàn)樗鼈儾⒉荒艹浞掷脮r間。作者們表示，分散學(xué)習(xí)時間、丟掉熒光筆然后去做記憶卡片，你的學(xué)習(xí)效果會好得多。