双语·情境依赖：为什么你的环境很重要

Context-dependence: Why your environment matters
情境依赖：为什么你的环境很重要

Consider an everyday situation: You get up from your desk to have a cup of tea. Once you arrive in the kitchen, you forget what you wanted. However, when you get back to your desk, you suddenly remember.
考虑一个日常会遇到的情况：你从桌旁起身想要倒杯茶，等你到了厨房，却忘了自己想要做什么，然而回到桌边时，突然就又想起来了。

Scientists have discovered that memories are heavily context-dependent. Context is essentially anything that is present during encoding (for instance the environment we are in). Our brains seem to encode the context as a part of the memory trace as if taking a snapshot of everything that is around us at the moment of creating the memory.
科学家发现，记忆是高度依赖情境的。情境基本上就是编码过程中出现的任何事（例如我们所处的环境）。我们的大脑似乎把情境也编码成了记忆的一部分，就好像在创造记忆的那一刻，对我们周围的一切拍了一张快照。

Successful retrieval of the memory trace then depends to some degree on the re-activation of the context in which it was encoded. Since the intention to have a cup of tea was encoded with the context of standing up from your desk, coming back to the kitchen re-activated the intention to have a cup of tea.
因此，成功检索记忆，某种程度上取决于成功激活编码时所处的情境。由于想要一杯茶是和桌边的情境一起被编码的，因此回到桌边会重新激活想要一杯茶的意图。

To combat context-dependence, you can adopt the same two approaches used for overcoming state-dependence. The first approach would be to emulate the environmental context of the test. For instance, you could revise in a quiet/noisy environment depending on where your exam will be situated. You may also consider revising together with a friend or two to get used to being distracted by other people in the examination room. An even better idea would be to revise in the classroom where you will be taking the test.
为了摆脱记忆的情境依赖，我们可以采取与克服记忆的状态依赖时相同的两种办法。第一个办法是模拟考试时的环境情境。例如，根据考试的地点，你可以选择在一个安静或嘈杂的环境下复习。也可以考虑和一两个朋友一起复习，从而适应在考场上受其他人干扰分心的情况。更好的办法是在你将要参加考试的那个教室里复习。

The second approach would be to revise in as many different contexts as possible. Studies have shown that students who revise in many different rooms prior to their test perform better than those who study in one room only (with a 30% improvement in test performance).
第二个办法是在尽可能多的不同情境下复习。研究已经表明，考前在许多不同房间复习的学生，考试时会比只在一个房间复习的学生表现好（考试成绩提高30%）。

Since the environmental context keeps changing, the information effectively becomes context-independent. In other words, you teach yourself how to retrieve the studied material in any kind of circumstance, which is extremely useful given that fact that you often cannot predict the exact circumstances you will face during the exam.
由于环境情境一直在变化，要记的信息就成功变得不依赖情境了。换句话说，你教会了自己如何在任何环境下记起学习材料。鉴于你通常无法预测考试中会遇到怎样的环境，这个办法非常有用。

The context of study need not be only environmental. The particular questions and practice tests you use also become the context that is encoded with your study material. Therefore, the more questions you practice on for a given concept, the more neural connections the brain has to generate between different contexts and the target concept. The more routes the brain has built, the easier it is to retrieve the concept later. This is because retrieval becomes less dependent on the particular starting point – the type of question asked or its particular wording.
学习的情境不仅指环境。你所使用的特定问题和练习测验同样构成情境，与你的学习材料一起被编码。因此，对于一个给定的概念，你练习的问题越多，大脑就会在不同的情境与要学的概念之间生成越多的神经联结。大脑建立的通路越多，日后检索相关概念就越容易。这是因为信息的检索变得不那么依赖于特定的起点——提问的类型或特定的表述。

The impact of this kind of context-sensitivity is particularly important when creating flashcards. If the question side of your flashcard contains irrelevant information, or information that won't be present when you really need to remember, you may not be able to recall it when you need it.
这种情境制约造成的影响在制作记忆卡片时格外重要。如果你的记忆卡片在问题面包含了无关信息，或者在你真正需要记起相关内容时不会出现的信息，那么在需要的时候就可能无法回想起记忆的内容。

Consider the following flashcards:
考虑下面的记忆卡：

Q: How do you say “again” in Chinese, but only for actions that you will repeat in the future? Like asking someone to do repeat something they just said…
问题：仅指未来会重复的行为时，“again”用中文怎么说？例如让某人重复他们刚刚说过的话……

A: 再
回答：再

Compare that to:
再比较下面的：

Q: Again (future)
问题：Again（future）

A: 再
回答：再

The former has so much more context, that you may memorize the pairing only with this context (which may be missing when you need to think about the term).
第一个记忆卡包含太多背景，导致你可能只在这个情境（而在你需要想起这个词时可能并不存在这样的情境）下才能记起二者的对应。

For this reason, it is better to either ask yourself questions with as little context as possible (and thus maximum difficulty) or to ask many different questions, with different contexts, so the same context isn't required for successful retrieval.
因此，最好问自己包含尽可能少情境信息的问题（由此使难度最大），或者在不同情境下问许多不同问题，从而不需要同样的情境也能成功检索记忆。

In summary, we recommend the following:
总结起来，我们推荐如下做法：

·For 1/2 of your study time, simulate the environmental conditions of your test (a noisy/quiet environment, similar distractions, people around)
·在一半的学习时间里，模仿考试的环境条件（嘈杂/安静的环境、类似的干扰、周围的人）。

·For the other 1/2, alternate rooms, places and conditions as you study
·另一半时间，在不同的房间、地点和条件下学习。

·Test yourself with different kinds of practice questions
·用不同类型的练习问题考自己

–what-questions
·“什么”类型的问题

–why-questions
·“为什么”类型的问题

–how-questions
·“如何”类型的问题

·Make use of minimal context for flashcards, or if possible, try different ways of asking yourself questions to maximize your flexibility.
·记忆卡片使用最少的情境信息，或者如果可能的话，尝试换不同方式问自己问题，从而充分增大记忆的灵活性。

——节选自《记忆的科学》