也許你無(wú)法相信，一項(xiàng)新研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，一個(gè)5歲小孩再認(rèn)記憶測(cè)試中能擊敗多數(shù)成年人。至少在某種特殊條件下。
這一發(fā)現(xiàn)似乎完全違背了多年來(lái)有關(guān)記憶能力研究取得的結(jié)論：年輕人記性好，記憶能力是從孩提時(shí)代向成人期逐步發(fā)育成熟的。
在一項(xiàng)現(xiàn)場(chǎng)識(shí)別以前曾見(jiàn)過(guò)的動(dòng)物的圖片測(cè)試中，孩童記憶正確率百分之三十一，而成人僅為百分之七。
記憶正確率的差別并非是成人腦袋里灌滿(mǎn)了各種約會(huì)、為生存而競(jìng)爭(zhēng)的殘酷環(huán)境和其它日益增多的信息資源。研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，成人記憶的出錯(cuò)事實(shí)上緣自他們比孩童懂得更多，在判斷新事物時(shí)往往應(yīng)用已掌握知識(shí)。
Vladimir Sloutsky說(shuō)：“這實(shí)際上是知識(shí)影響記憶正確性的一個(gè)事例?！盫ladimir Sloutsky是美國(guó)俄亥俄州立大學(xué)認(rèn)知科學(xué)中心主任、教授和該項(xiàng)研究課題的合作者，也是俄亥俄州立大學(xué)人類(lèi)生態(tài)學(xué)院副院長(zhǎng)。他與俄亥俄州立大學(xué)研究生 Anna Fisher共同進(jìn)行該 課題的研究，論文發(fā)表在‘心理科學(xué)’雜志上。
該文論述了人們?nèi)绾芜\(yùn)用一種被稱(chēng)為歸納的推理方式，即以特殊到一般原則。有種歸納方法是分類(lèi)法。例如，若有個(gè)人知道有個(gè)貓有大腦袋，他就推導(dǎo)其它同一類(lèi)動(dòng)物（在此舉例中是指‘貓’）也有大腦袋。這就是絕大多數(shù)成人的推理方法。
但是，你也可采用另一種方法進(jìn)行推理，如相似性。同樣以貓為例，他可能從動(dòng)物長(zhǎng)相把它歸屬貓，有大腦袋，也應(yīng)該有個(gè)大腦袋。從該項(xiàng)研究可發(fā)現(xiàn)，這種方法是孩童采用的推理方法。
研究人員在測(cè)試中向77位孩童（平均年齡5歲）和71位大學(xué)生展示了30張各種貓、熊和鳥(niǎo)的圖畫(huà)。有時(shí)候先展示一種貓的圖片，并告訴他們?cè)搫?dòng)物“體內(nèi)有貝塔細(xì)胞”?！∪缓笠来握故?0張不同動(dòng)物的圖片，并要求回答這些動(dòng)物是否也都有貝塔細(xì)胞。
進(jìn)行完該項(xiàng)目測(cè)試后，再向參與者展示28張圖片，并要他們回答那些是新的（完全一樣）那些是舊的。參與者事先并不知道要記住這些圖片。
這次測(cè)試孩童成績(jī)好于成年人四倍，孩童記憶正確率為31%，成年人則僅為7%.其原因，Sloutsky認(rèn)為，是孩童在第觀(guān)察圖片時(shí)是采用相似性導(dǎo)向辨認(rèn)法。當(dāng)問(wèn)到那個(gè)圖片中的動(dòng)物是否像第展示的貓一樣有“貝塔細(xì)胞”時(shí)，孩童仔細(xì)觀(guān)察那個(gè)動(dòng)物是否與原來(lái)的貓相似。
可是，成人是采用目錄導(dǎo)向辨認(rèn)法：一旦他們確定圖片中的動(dòng)物是貓或不是貓，就不再關(guān)心圖片中畫(huà)的細(xì)微差別。所以，在以后測(cè)試時(shí)，成人辨別正確率不如孩童。
Sloutsky說(shuō)：“采用目錄導(dǎo)向辨認(rèn)法時(shí)，他們往往忽略了次要信息。成人沒(méi)有注意到特殊形狀的貓，而他們所要知道的就是畫(huà)中動(dòng)物是不是貓?？墒?，孩童們卻比較畫(huà)中動(dòng)物的相似性：動(dòng)物是否與第展示的有貝塔細(xì)胞的貓相似。所以，孩童們仔細(xì)辨認(rèn)畫(huà)中動(dòng)物各細(xì)節(jié)差別，從而有助于對(duì)它的記憶。”
另一個(gè)測(cè)試中是進(jìn)行比較，參與者看過(guò)30張圖片后，叫他們記住后再要他們辨認(rèn)。在此情況下，沒(méi)采用誘導(dǎo)推理，成人正確率為42%，而孩童為27%.
第二次測(cè)試時(shí)研究人員教5歲孩童采用目錄導(dǎo)向辨認(rèn)法記憶圖片，正確率跌到成人一樣。這又證明，參與者采用的推理方法影響記憶正確率，同時(shí)有力證明孩童是采用相似性導(dǎo)向辨認(rèn)記憶法，而不是目錄導(dǎo)向辨認(rèn)記憶法。
當(dāng)有些研究人員相信孩童采用相似導(dǎo)向辨認(rèn)記憶法時(shí)，有人爭(zhēng)論說(shuō)這是“純真學(xué)說(shuō)（na？ve theory）”，認(rèn)為孩童像成人一樣采用目錄導(dǎo)向辨認(rèn)記憶法。
Sloutsky 說(shuō)：“我們的研究有力證明了孩童是采用相似導(dǎo)向辨認(rèn)記憶的觀(guān)點(diǎn)，并證明在the na？ve theory條件下說(shuō)明是非常困難的。如果孩童是采用目錄導(dǎo)向辨認(rèn)記憶法，他們記憶正確率就不會(huì)高于成人。”
changj72@163.com
Children Can Have A Better Memory Than Adults （At Least Sometimes）
COLUMBUS， Ohio —— Believe it or not， a 5-year-old could beat most adults on a recognition memory test， at least under specific conditions， according to a new study.
These findings run counter to what has been known for years from memory research – namely， that memory develops from early childhood to young adulthood， with young adults having much better memory than children.
In one study， children were accurate 31 percent of the time in identifying pictures of animals they had seen earlier， while adults were accurate only 7 percent of the time.
And the memory difference was not because adults already have their mind filled with appointments， to-do lists and other various grown-up issues.
The memory accuracy of adults is hurt by the fact that they know more than children and tend to apply this knowledge when learning new information， the findings showed.
“It‘s one case where knowledge can actually decrease memory accuracy，” said Vladimir Sloutsky， co-author of the study and professor and director of the Center for Cognitive Science at Ohio State University.
Sloutsky， who is also associate dean for research at the university‘s College of Human Ecology， co-authored the study with Anna Fisher， a graduate student at Ohio State. Their research will appear in the August 2004 edition of the journal Psychological Science.
The issue is how people perform a type of reasoning called induction， in which a person uses particular facts to reach general principles. One way of doing induction is by category. For example， if a person learns that a particular cat has a large brain， he can induce that other animals in the same category – in this case “cats” – also have large brains. This is the way most adults perform induction.
But you can also do induction in other ways， such as by similarity. Using the same example， a person could induce that any animal that looks similar to the cat with a large brain， also must have a large brain. In this research， the findings showed that this is how children most often perform induction.
In one study， the researchers showed 77 young children （average age of 5 years） and 71 college students 30 pictures of cats， bears and birds. In some cases， the subjects were first shown a picture of a cat and informed that it had “beta cells inside its body.” They were then presented with the 30 pictures of animals， one at a time， and were asked whether each of the animals also had beta cells.
After this phase of the study was done， the participants were shown 28 pictures and asked whether each was “old” – exactly the same picture shown previously – or new. None of the participants knew they were going to be tested about their memory of the pictures.
This is where the children were four times better than adults —— a 31 percent accuracy rate compared to only 7 percent for grown-ups. The reason， Sloutsky said， was because children used similarity-based induction when they were examining the pictures the first time. When they were asked whether each pictured animal had “beta cells” like the first cat they were shown， they looked carefully to see if the animal looked similar to the original cat.
On the other hand， the adults used category-based induction： once they determined whether the animal pictured was a cat or not， they paid no more attention to the details of the picture. So when they were tested later， the adults didn‘t know the pictures as well as the children.
“When people use category information， they will filter out unrelated information，” Sloutsky said. “The adults didn‘t care about a specific cat – all they wanted to know was whether the animal was a cat or not.
“The children， though， were comparing similarity – whether the animals looked like that first cat who had the beta cells. So they remembered specific items about each picture that helped them remember it later.”
The study also included a comparison group in which participants were simply shown the pictures of the 30 animals and told to remember them for a recognition test. In this case – which didn‘t involve inductive reasoning - adults were accurate 42 percent of the time， compared to only 27 percent for the children.
In a second experiment， the researchers taught 5-year-old children to use category-based induction just like adults do. When they did that， the memory accuracy of the children dropped to the level of adults. This provides additional evidence that it was the type of inductive reasoning the participants used that determined their accuracy， Sloutsky said. It also provides strong evidence that children usually use similarity-based induction， rather than category-based.
While some researchers have believed that children used similarity-based induction， others argue for what is called the “na？ve theory，” which states that children use category-based induction， just like adults.
“Our study supports the similarity-based approach in children and presents evidence that would be very difficult to account for under the na？ve theory，” Sloutsky said. “If children used category-based induction， they should not have had higher memory accuracy than adults.”
這一發(fā)現(xiàn)似乎完全違背了多年來(lái)有關(guān)記憶能力研究取得的結(jié)論：年輕人記性好，記憶能力是從孩提時(shí)代向成人期逐步發(fā)育成熟的。
在一項(xiàng)現(xiàn)場(chǎng)識(shí)別以前曾見(jiàn)過(guò)的動(dòng)物的圖片測(cè)試中，孩童記憶正確率百分之三十一，而成人僅為百分之七。
記憶正確率的差別并非是成人腦袋里灌滿(mǎn)了各種約會(huì)、為生存而競(jìng)爭(zhēng)的殘酷環(huán)境和其它日益增多的信息資源。研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，成人記憶的出錯(cuò)事實(shí)上緣自他們比孩童懂得更多，在判斷新事物時(shí)往往應(yīng)用已掌握知識(shí)。
Vladimir Sloutsky說(shuō)：“這實(shí)際上是知識(shí)影響記憶正確性的一個(gè)事例?！盫ladimir Sloutsky是美國(guó)俄亥俄州立大學(xué)認(rèn)知科學(xué)中心主任、教授和該項(xiàng)研究課題的合作者，也是俄亥俄州立大學(xué)人類(lèi)生態(tài)學(xué)院副院長(zhǎng)。他與俄亥俄州立大學(xué)研究生 Anna Fisher共同進(jìn)行該 課題的研究，論文發(fā)表在‘心理科學(xué)’雜志上。
該文論述了人們?nèi)绾芜\(yùn)用一種被稱(chēng)為歸納的推理方式，即以特殊到一般原則。有種歸納方法是分類(lèi)法。例如，若有個(gè)人知道有個(gè)貓有大腦袋，他就推導(dǎo)其它同一類(lèi)動(dòng)物（在此舉例中是指‘貓’）也有大腦袋。這就是絕大多數(shù)成人的推理方法。
但是，你也可采用另一種方法進(jìn)行推理，如相似性。同樣以貓為例，他可能從動(dòng)物長(zhǎng)相把它歸屬貓，有大腦袋，也應(yīng)該有個(gè)大腦袋。從該項(xiàng)研究可發(fā)現(xiàn)，這種方法是孩童采用的推理方法。
研究人員在測(cè)試中向77位孩童（平均年齡5歲）和71位大學(xué)生展示了30張各種貓、熊和鳥(niǎo)的圖畫(huà)。有時(shí)候先展示一種貓的圖片，并告訴他們?cè)搫?dòng)物“體內(nèi)有貝塔細(xì)胞”?！∪缓笠来握故?0張不同動(dòng)物的圖片，并要求回答這些動(dòng)物是否也都有貝塔細(xì)胞。
進(jìn)行完該項(xiàng)目測(cè)試后，再向參與者展示28張圖片，并要他們回答那些是新的（完全一樣）那些是舊的。參與者事先并不知道要記住這些圖片。
這次測(cè)試孩童成績(jī)好于成年人四倍，孩童記憶正確率為31%，成年人則僅為7%.其原因，Sloutsky認(rèn)為，是孩童在第觀(guān)察圖片時(shí)是采用相似性導(dǎo)向辨認(rèn)法。當(dāng)問(wèn)到那個(gè)圖片中的動(dòng)物是否像第展示的貓一樣有“貝塔細(xì)胞”時(shí)，孩童仔細(xì)觀(guān)察那個(gè)動(dòng)物是否與原來(lái)的貓相似。
可是，成人是采用目錄導(dǎo)向辨認(rèn)法：一旦他們確定圖片中的動(dòng)物是貓或不是貓，就不再關(guān)心圖片中畫(huà)的細(xì)微差別。所以，在以后測(cè)試時(shí)，成人辨別正確率不如孩童。
Sloutsky說(shuō)：“采用目錄導(dǎo)向辨認(rèn)法時(shí)，他們往往忽略了次要信息。成人沒(méi)有注意到特殊形狀的貓，而他們所要知道的就是畫(huà)中動(dòng)物是不是貓?？墒?，孩童們卻比較畫(huà)中動(dòng)物的相似性：動(dòng)物是否與第展示的有貝塔細(xì)胞的貓相似。所以，孩童們仔細(xì)辨認(rèn)畫(huà)中動(dòng)物各細(xì)節(jié)差別，從而有助于對(duì)它的記憶。”
另一個(gè)測(cè)試中是進(jìn)行比較，參與者看過(guò)30張圖片后，叫他們記住后再要他們辨認(rèn)。在此情況下，沒(méi)采用誘導(dǎo)推理，成人正確率為42%，而孩童為27%.
第二次測(cè)試時(shí)研究人員教5歲孩童采用目錄導(dǎo)向辨認(rèn)法記憶圖片，正確率跌到成人一樣。這又證明，參與者采用的推理方法影響記憶正確率，同時(shí)有力證明孩童是采用相似性導(dǎo)向辨認(rèn)記憶法，而不是目錄導(dǎo)向辨認(rèn)記憶法。
當(dāng)有些研究人員相信孩童采用相似導(dǎo)向辨認(rèn)記憶法時(shí)，有人爭(zhēng)論說(shuō)這是“純真學(xué)說(shuō)（na？ve theory）”，認(rèn)為孩童像成人一樣采用目錄導(dǎo)向辨認(rèn)記憶法。
Sloutsky 說(shuō)：“我們的研究有力證明了孩童是采用相似導(dǎo)向辨認(rèn)記憶的觀(guān)點(diǎn)，并證明在the na？ve theory條件下說(shuō)明是非常困難的。如果孩童是采用目錄導(dǎo)向辨認(rèn)記憶法，他們記憶正確率就不會(huì)高于成人。”
changj72@163.com
Children Can Have A Better Memory Than Adults （At Least Sometimes）
COLUMBUS， Ohio —— Believe it or not， a 5-year-old could beat most adults on a recognition memory test， at least under specific conditions， according to a new study.
These findings run counter to what has been known for years from memory research – namely， that memory develops from early childhood to young adulthood， with young adults having much better memory than children.
In one study， children were accurate 31 percent of the time in identifying pictures of animals they had seen earlier， while adults were accurate only 7 percent of the time.
And the memory difference was not because adults already have their mind filled with appointments， to-do lists and other various grown-up issues.
The memory accuracy of adults is hurt by the fact that they know more than children and tend to apply this knowledge when learning new information， the findings showed.
“It‘s one case where knowledge can actually decrease memory accuracy，” said Vladimir Sloutsky， co-author of the study and professor and director of the Center for Cognitive Science at Ohio State University.
Sloutsky， who is also associate dean for research at the university‘s College of Human Ecology， co-authored the study with Anna Fisher， a graduate student at Ohio State. Their research will appear in the August 2004 edition of the journal Psychological Science.
The issue is how people perform a type of reasoning called induction， in which a person uses particular facts to reach general principles. One way of doing induction is by category. For example， if a person learns that a particular cat has a large brain， he can induce that other animals in the same category – in this case “cats” – also have large brains. This is the way most adults perform induction.
But you can also do induction in other ways， such as by similarity. Using the same example， a person could induce that any animal that looks similar to the cat with a large brain， also must have a large brain. In this research， the findings showed that this is how children most often perform induction.
In one study， the researchers showed 77 young children （average age of 5 years） and 71 college students 30 pictures of cats， bears and birds. In some cases， the subjects were first shown a picture of a cat and informed that it had “beta cells inside its body.” They were then presented with the 30 pictures of animals， one at a time， and were asked whether each of the animals also had beta cells.
After this phase of the study was done， the participants were shown 28 pictures and asked whether each was “old” – exactly the same picture shown previously – or new. None of the participants knew they were going to be tested about their memory of the pictures.
This is where the children were four times better than adults —— a 31 percent accuracy rate compared to only 7 percent for grown-ups. The reason， Sloutsky said， was because children used similarity-based induction when they were examining the pictures the first time. When they were asked whether each pictured animal had “beta cells” like the first cat they were shown， they looked carefully to see if the animal looked similar to the original cat.
On the other hand， the adults used category-based induction： once they determined whether the animal pictured was a cat or not， they paid no more attention to the details of the picture. So when they were tested later， the adults didn‘t know the pictures as well as the children.
“When people use category information， they will filter out unrelated information，” Sloutsky said. “The adults didn‘t care about a specific cat – all they wanted to know was whether the animal was a cat or not.
“The children， though， were comparing similarity – whether the animals looked like that first cat who had the beta cells. So they remembered specific items about each picture that helped them remember it later.”
The study also included a comparison group in which participants were simply shown the pictures of the 30 animals and told to remember them for a recognition test. In this case – which didn‘t involve inductive reasoning - adults were accurate 42 percent of the time， compared to only 27 percent for the children.
In a second experiment， the researchers taught 5-year-old children to use category-based induction just like adults do. When they did that， the memory accuracy of the children dropped to the level of adults. This provides additional evidence that it was the type of inductive reasoning the participants used that determined their accuracy， Sloutsky said. It also provides strong evidence that children usually use similarity-based induction， rather than category-based.
While some researchers have believed that children used similarity-based induction， others argue for what is called the “na？ve theory，” which states that children use category-based induction， just like adults.
“Our study supports the similarity-based approach in children and presents evidence that would be very difficult to account for under the na？ve theory，” Sloutsky said. “If children used category-based induction， they should not have had higher memory accuracy than adults.”