TED2012
Joshua Foer: Feats of memory anyone can do
Joshua Foer： 每個人都能表演的記憶壯舉
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有人能在很短時間內背下上千個數字，或是記下壹疊或更多牌的順序。 科技欄作家Joshua Foer 給您詳細講解這種記憶方法 —— 他稱其為"記憶宮殿" —— 並向您證明他的重點是: 任何人都可以擁有絕佳的記憶裏，包括他自己。
Joshua Foer - Writer
Joshua Foer is a science writer who 'accidentally' won the U.S. Memory Championship. Full bio
Joshua Foer is a science writer who 'accidentally' won the U.S. Memory Championship. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:16
I'd like to invite you to close your eyes.
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請大家跟我一起閉上眼睛
00:20
Imagine yourself standing
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想象一下 你站在
00:23
outside the front door of your home.
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自己家門外
00:27
I'd like you to notice the color of the door,
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請留心一下門的顏色
00:30
the material that it's made out of.
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以及門的材質
00:34
Now visualize a pack of overweight nudists on bicycles.
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現在請想象一群超重的裸騎者
00:41
They are competing in a naked bicycle race,
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正在進行一場裸體自行車賽
00:44
and they are headed straight for your front door.
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向你的前門直沖而來
00:48
I need you to actually see this.
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盡量讓畫面栩栩如生近在眼前
00:50
They are pedaling really hard, they're sweaty,
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他們都在奮力地踩腳踏板 汗流浹背
00:53
they're bouncing around a lot.
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路面非常顛簸
00:56
And they crash straight into the front door of your home.
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然後徑直撞進了你家前門
01:00
Bicycles fly everywhere, wheels roll past you,
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自行車四下飛散 車輪從你身旁滾過
01:04
spokes end up in awkward places.
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輻條紮進了各種尷尬角落
01:07
Step over the threshold of your door
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跨過門檻
01:11
into your foyer, your hallway, whatever's on the other side,
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進到門廳 走廊 和門裏的其他地方
01:13
and appreciate the quality of the light.
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室內光線柔和舒適
01:17
The light is shining down on Cookie Monster.
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光線灑在甜餅怪物身上
01:23
Cookie Monster is waving at you
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他坐在一匹棕色駿馬的馬背上
01:26
from his perch on top of a tan horse.
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向你招手
01:29
It's a talking horse.
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這匹馬會說話
01:31
You can practically feel his blue fur tickling your nose.
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你可以感覺到怪物的藍色鬃毛讓你鼻子發癢
01:35
You can smell the oatmeal raisin cookie that he's about to shovel into his mouth.
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你可以聞到他正要扔進嘴裏的葡萄燕麥曲奇的香氣
01:40
Walk past him. Walk past him into your living room.
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繞過他. 繞過他走進客廳
01:43
In your living room, in full imaginative broadband,
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站在客廳裏 把你的想象力調到最大檔
01:46
picture Britney Spears.
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想象小甜甜布蘭妮
01:49
She is scantily clad, she's dancing on your coffee table,
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她衣著性感 在你咖啡桌上跳舞
01:55
and she's singing "Hit Me Baby One More Time."
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並唱著"Hit Me Baby One More Time"
01:57
And then follow me into your kitchen.
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接下來 跟著我走進你的廚房
02:00
In your kitchen, the floor has been paved over with a yellow brick road
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廚房的地面被一道黃磚路覆蓋
02:04
and out of your oven are coming towards you
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依次鉆出你的烤箱向你走來的是
02:08
Dorothy, the Tin Man,
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《綠野仙蹤》裏的多蘿西 鐵皮人
02:10
the Scarecrow and the Lion from "The Wizard of Oz,"
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稻草人 和獅子
02:13
hand-in-hand skipping straight towards you.
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他們手挽著手 蹦蹦跳跳地向你走來
02:15
Okay. Open your eyes.
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好了 睜開眼睛吧
02:20
I want to tell you about a very bizarre contest
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我要給你們講一個每年春天在紐約
02:23
that is held every spring in New York City.
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都會舉辦的奇異競賽
02:26
It's called the United States Memory Championship.
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叫做全美記憶冠軍賽
02:30
And I had gone to cover this contest a few years back
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幾年前我作為一名科技類記者
02:33
as a science journalist
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去報道這項競賽
02:35
expecting, I guess, that this was going to be
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我期待這是一個
02:37
like the Superbowl of savants.
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學者的超級碗
02:40
This was a bunch of guys and a few ladies,
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參加比賽的是一群男人 以及少數女人
02:44
widely varying in both age and hygienic upkeep.
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在年齡和衛生習慣上有很大不同
02:48
(Laughter)
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（笑聲）
02:51
They were memorizing hundreds of random numbers,
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他們在記憶幾百個隨機數
02:55
looking at them just once.
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卻僅僅看那些數字一眼
02:56
They were memorizing the names of dozens and dozens and dozens of strangers.
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他們記很多陌生人名
03:01
They were memorizing entire poems in just a few minutes.
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他們在幾分鍾內記憶征收詩歌
03:04
They were competing to see who could memorize
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他們競爭來看誰能
03:06
the order of a shuffled pack of playing cards the fastest.
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最快的記憶一副牌的順序
03:10
I was like, this is unbelievable.
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我覺得這難以想象
03:12
These people must be freaks of nature.
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這些人一定是異類
03:15
And I started talking to a few of the competitors.
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所以我開始和他們交流
03:19
This is a guy called Ed Cook
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有一個叫艾德·庫克的人
03:20
who had come over from England
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是英格蘭人
03:22
where he had one of the best trained memories.
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在那裏他是記憶力最好的人之一
03:24
And I said to him, "Ed, when did you realize
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我說 艾德你什麽時候意識到
03:27
that you were a savant?"
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你是這種專家？
03:30
And Ed was like, "I'm not a savant.
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他說 我不是專家
03:33
In fact, I have just an average memory.
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我的記憶力很普通
03:35
Everybody who competes in this contest
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這個比賽中的所有人
03:37
will tell you that they have just an average memory.
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都會告訴你他們的記憶力很普通
03:40
We've all trained ourselves
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我們訓練我們自己
03:42
to perform these utterly miraculous feats of memory
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來完成這種奇迹般的任務
03:46
using a set of ancient techniques,
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用的只是一些很古老的技巧
03:48
techniques invented 2,500 years ago in Greece,
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在2500年前的希臘就有了
03:52
the same techniques that Cicero had used
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這個西斯羅用來記憶演講
03:55
to memorize his speeches,
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是同一個技術
03:57
that medieval scholars had used to memorize entire books."
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也是醫學學者來背醫書的技巧
04:01
And I was like, "Whoa. How come I never heard of this before?"
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我問 喔 我怎麽從來沒聽說過？
04:05
And we were standing outside the competition hall,
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然後我們站在競賽大堂外面
04:08
and Ed, who is a wonderful, brilliant,
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艾德 一個奇妙的 聰明的
04:11
but somewhat eccentric English guy,
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但有些奇怪的英國人
04:14
says to me, "Josh, you're an American journalist.
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告訴我 約什 你是一個美國記者
04:19
Do you know Britney Spears?"
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你知道布蘭妮·斯皮爾斯（歌手）嗎？
04:21
I'm like, "What? No. Why?"
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我說 什麽 不 圍著幹嘛
04:26
"Because I really want to teach Britney Spears
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因爲我想叫布蘭妮·斯皮爾斯
04:29
how to memorize the order of a shuffled pack of playing cards
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如何記憶撲克牌順序
04:31
on U.S. national television.
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在美國國家電視台上
04:34
It will prove to the world that anybody can do this."
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這樣就能證明每個人都行
04:37
(Laughter)
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（笑聲）
04:41
I was like, "Well I'm not Britney Spears,
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我說 我不是布蘭妮·斯皮爾斯
04:45
but maybe you could teach me.
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但也許你能教我
04:48
I mean, you've got to start somewhere, right?"
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我說 咱們開始吧
04:50
And that was the beginning of a very strange journey for me.
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這對于我來說是一段奇異的旅行
04:54
I ended up spending the better part of the next year
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在最後 我花了第二年的很長時間
04:57
not only training my memory,
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不僅用來訓練記憶力
04:59
but also investigating it,
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更研究它
05:01
trying to understand how it works,
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嘗試弄懂它如何工作
05:03
why it sometimes doesn't work
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爲什麽有時不工作
05:05
and what its potential might be.
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它的潛能何在
05:07
I met a host of really interesting people.
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我遇到了很多很有趣的人
05:10
This is a guy called E.P.
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有一個叫E.P.
05:11
He's an amnesic who had, very possibly,
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他是一個健忘症患者 也許有著
05:14
the very worst memory in the world.
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世界上最糟糕的記憶力
05:17
His memory was so bad
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他的記憶力太不好
05:18
that he didn't even remember he had a memory problem,
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以至于他不記得他又記憶問題
05:21
which is amazing.
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這多麽驚訝
05:23
And he was this incredibly tragic figure,
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他就是這樣一個悲劇的人
05:25
but he was a window into the extent
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但它反映了
05:27
to which our memories make us who we are.
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記憶能把我們變成什麽
05:31
The other end of the spectrum: I met this guy.
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在另一個極端 我遇見了這個人
05:34
This is Kim Peek.
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他叫金·匹克
05:35
He was the basis for Dustin Hoffman's character in the movie "Rain Man."
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他就是達斯汀·霍夫曼電影“雨人”的原型
05:39
We spent an afternoon together
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他花一個下午
05:41
in the Salt Lake City Public Library memorizing phone books,
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在鹽湖城公共圖書館記電話號
05:45
which was scintillating.
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這閃爍著光芒
05:48
(Laughter)
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（笑聲）
05:51
And I went back and I read a whole host of memory treatises,
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然後我回去讀了很多關于記憶的文章
05:55
treatises written 2,000-plus years ago
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在兩千多年前寫的
05:58
in Latin in Antiquity
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用拉丁文寫的
06:00
and then later in the Middle Ages.
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然後就是在中世紀寫的
06:03
And I learned a whole bunch of really interesting stuff.
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我學到了很多有趣的是
06:05
One of the really interesting things that I learned
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其中一個就是
06:08
is that once upon a time,
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從前
06:11
this idea of having a trained, disciplined, cultivated memory
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訓練記憶力這個觀念
06:17
was not nearly so alien as it would seem to us to be today.
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沒有現在這麽陌生
06:22
Once upon a time, people invested in their memories,
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從前人們努力訓練記憶力
06:26
in laboriously furnishing their minds.
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通過極爲刻苦的工作
06:31
Over the last few millenia
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在過去的幾千年裏
06:34
we've invented a series of technologies --
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我們發明了一系列的技術——
06:36
from the alphabet to the scroll
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從字母表到滾軸
06:39
to the codex, the printing press, photography,
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到代碼 出版社 攝影
06:41
the computer, the smartphone --
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計算機 智能手機——
06:43
that have made it progressively easier and easier
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這些都把記憶
06:46
for us to externalize our memories,
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變得越來越簡單
06:49
for us to essentially outsource
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讓我們超越
06:51
this fundamental human capacity.
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人類的極限
06:54
These technologies have made our modern world possible,
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這些技術讓我們的現代社會成爲可能
06:58
but they've also changed us.
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但他們也改變了我們
07:00
They've changed us culturally,
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他們在文化上改變了我們
07:02
and I would argue that they've changed us cognitively.
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而且我想說他們從認知上改變了我們
07:05
Having little need to remember anymore,
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幾乎不需要記什麽東西
07:08
it sometimes seems like we've forgotten how.
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我們似乎忘記了如何記
07:11
One of the last places on Earth
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地球上最後一塊地方
07:13
where you still find people passionate about this idea
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你依然能夠找到關于訓練記憶力
07:16
of a trained, disciplined, cultivated memory
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有激情的人
07:19
is at this totally singular memory contest.
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就是在唯一的記憶競賽
07:22
It's actually not that singular,
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其實不唯一
07:23
there are contests held all over the world.
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在全世界都有競賽
07:25
And I was fascinated, I wanted to know how do these guys do it.
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並且我很好奇 我想知道那些人如何完成的
07:29
A few years back a group of researchers at University College London
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幾年前一夥研究人員在倫敦大學
07:34
brought a bunch of memory champions into the lab.
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把一些記憶冠軍帶到了實驗室
07:37
They wanted to know:
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他們想知道
07:38
Do these guys have brains
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這些人
07:40
that are somehow structurally, anatomically different from the rest of ours?
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有結構上不同的大腦嗎？
07:44
The answer was no.
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答案是否定的
07:47
Are they smarter than the rest of us?
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他們是比我們更聰明嗎？
07:50
They gave them a bunch of cognitive tests,
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他們進行了一系列認知測試
07:52
and the answer was not really.
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並且得到否定的答案
07:54
There was however one really interesting and telling difference
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然而的確有一個有趣的不同
07:58
between the brains of the memory champions
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在這些記憶冠軍的大腦
08:00
and the control subjects that they were comparing them to.
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和控制組的大腦裏
08:02
When they put these guys in an fMRI machine,
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當他們用核磁共振
08:05
scanned their brains
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掃描
08:07
while they were memorizing numbers and people's faces and pictures of snowflakes,
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正在記憶數字 面部 圖像的大腦時
08:12
they found that the memory champions
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他們發現記憶冠軍
08:14
were lighting up different parts of the brain
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在用和其他人不同的部分
08:17
than everyone else.
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來記憶
08:19
Of note, they were using, or they seemed to be using,
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他們在用
08:22
a part of the brain that's involved in spatial memory and navigation.
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一個管理空間記憶和導航的部分
08:26
Why? And is there something the rest of us can learn from this?
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爲什麽？我們能學到什麽？
08:32
The sport of competitive memorizing
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記憶競賽
08:37
is driven by a kind of arms race
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被一種軍備競賽驅動
08:39
where every year somebody comes up
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在這裏每年一些人來到
08:43
with a new way to remember more stuff more quickly,
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同時帶來一些新的記憶方法
08:45
and then the rest of the field has to play catchup.
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然後其他人要趕緊追上來
08:47
This is my friend Ben Pridmore,
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這是我的朋友本·普裏蒂莫
08:49
three-time world memory champion.
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三次世界記憶冠軍
08:51
On his desk in front of him
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在他的台前
08:52
are 36 shuffled packs of playing cards
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有三十六副打亂順序的牌
08:56
that he is about to try to memorize in one hour,
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他要在一個小時內記下全部
08:59
using a technique that he invented and he alone has mastered.
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用的是一種他自己發明的 也只有他會的技巧
09:03
He used a similar technique
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用與此類似的方法
09:05
to memorize the precise order
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他曾一字不差地背下了
09:08
of 4,140 random binary digits
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4140個任意排列的二進制數
09:13
in half an hour.
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只用了半個小時
09:16
Yeah.
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很牛吧
09:18
And while there are a whole host of ways
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參賽者在這些競賽中
09:22
of remembering stuff in these competitions,
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運用過很多不同的記憶方法
09:25
everything, all of the techniques that are being used,
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各式各樣 被運用到的所有技巧
09:28
ultimately come down to a concept
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最終都能歸化爲一個概念
09:31
that psychologists refer to as elaborative encoding.
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心理學家稱之爲"精細編碼"
09:35
And it's well illustrated by a nifty paradox
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這個概念能用一則幽默的悖論完美诠釋
09:37
known as the Baker/baker paradox,
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叫做貝克悖論
09:39
which goes like this:
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簡單說來就是
09:41
If I tell two people to remember the same word,
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假設我讓兩個人去記同一個詞
09:44
if I say to you,
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我跟你說
09:45
"Remember that there is a guy named Baker."
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"記住有個人叫貝克"
09:49
That's his name.
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貝克是人名
09:50
And I say to you, "Remember that there is a guy who is a baker."
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我又來告訴你 "記住有個人是面包師(英文和貝克一樣)"
09:56
And I come back to you at some point later on,
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過了一段時間我又回來找到你們
09:59
and I say, "Do you remember that word
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問 "還記得我之前
10:03
that I told you a while back?
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叫你們記住的那個詞嗎?"
10:04
Do you remember what it was?"
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”還記得是什麽詞嗎?“
10:06
The person who was told his name is Baker
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被告知人名是貝克的人
10:09
is less likely to remember the same word
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記住這個詞的可能性遠不如
10:11
than the person was told his job is that he is a baker.
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被告知職業是面包師的那個人
10:15
Same word, different amount of remembering; that's weird.
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同樣的詞 導致不同的記憶程度
10:18
What's going on here?
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到底是爲什麽呢
10:20
Well the name Baker doesn't actually mean anything to you.
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是因爲 人名Baker沒有任何特殊含義
10:25
It is entirely untethered
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沒法跟你腦海裏
10:27
from all of the other memories floating around in your skull.
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零碎繁雜的記憶産生任何聯系
10:31
But the common noun baker,
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但是面包師作爲一個常用名詞
10:33
we know bakers.
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我們都知道面包師是什麽
10:34
Bakers wear funny white hats.
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面包師帶著搞笑的白帽子
10:37
Bakers have flour on their hands.
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他們手上沾滿了面粉
10:38
Bakers smell good when they come home from work.
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他們下班回到家帶著撲鼻的烤面包香
10:40
Maybe we even know a baker.
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甚至可能有些人有朋友就是面包師
10:42
And when we first hear that word,
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我們初次聽到這個詞時
10:44
we start putting these associational hooks into it
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馬上就會産生各種各樣的聯想
10:47
that make it easier to fish it back out at some later date.
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這使我們能在一段時間後還能回憶起來
10:51
The entire art of what is going on
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其實 要理解記憶競賽中的
10:54
in these memory contests
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一切奧妙
10:56
and the entire art of remembering stuff better in everyday life
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或在日常生活中改善記憶力的秘訣
10:59
is figuring out ways to transform capital B Bakers
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僅僅在于想辦法把Baker中的大寫B
11:03
into lower-case B bakers --
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變爲面包師(baker)中的小寫b
11:05
to take information that is lacking in context,
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把沒有前因後果
11:08
in significance, in meaning
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沒有重要性 沒有涵義的信息
11:11
and transform it in some way
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用某種方法轉化爲
11:12
so that it becomes meaningful
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有意義的內容
11:14
in the light of all the other things that you have in your mind.
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跟腦海裏的其他記憶串聯起來
11:19
One of the more elaborate techniques for doing this
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這種精確記憶的技巧
11:23
dates back 2,500 years to Ancient Greece.
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在兩千五百年前的古希臘就已出現
11:27
It came to be known as the memory palace.
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1978
後來將其稱爲記憶宮殿
11:29
The story behind its creation goes like this:
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發明這種技巧的過程如下
11:32
There was a poet called Simonides
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有個叫做西蒙奈德的詩人
11:35
who was attending a banquet.
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1906
他要去參加一個晚宴
11:37
He was actually the hired entertainment,
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其實他算是被請去做表演嘉賓的
11:39
because back then if you wanted to throw a really slamming party,
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因爲在那個年代 炫酷派對的標准
11:42
you didn't hire a D.J., you hired a poet.
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不是請D.J.來打碟 而是要請詩人來頌詩
11:46
And he stands up, delivers his poem from memory, walks out the door,
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他站起來 背出了他的全篇詩作 然後潇灑離去
11:50
and at the moment he does, the banquet hall collapses,
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他剛走出門口 晚宴大廳就塌了
11:56
kills everybody inside.
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砸死了裏面所有的人
11:58
It doesn't just kill everybody,
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不僅全體死亡
12:01
it mangles the bodies beyond all recognition.
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所有的死者都被砸得面目全非
12:05
Nobody can say who was inside,
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沒人說得清死者都有些誰
12:07
nobody can say where they were sitting.
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沒人說得清誰坐在哪兒
12:10
The bodies can't be properly buried.
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導致死者的屍體沒法得到合適的殉葬安置
12:12
It's one tragedy compounding another.
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這又加重了整件事的悲劇色彩
12:16
Simonides, standing outside,
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西蒙奈德站在外面
12:19
the sole survivor amid the wreckage,
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作爲廢墟中的唯一幸存者
12:21
closes his eyes and has this realization,
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閉上眼睛 猛然意識到
12:25
which is that in his mind's eye,
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在他的腦海中
12:27
he can see where each of the guests at the banquet had been sitting.
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他眼前出現了所有賓客所坐的位置
12:32
And he takes the relatives by the hand
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他就牽著親屬們的手
12:35
and guides them each to their loved ones amid the wreckage.
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穿過廢墟 把他們帶到了親人身邊
12:39
What Simonides figured out at that moment
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西蒙奈德當時猛然醒悟的事
12:42
is something that I think we all kind of intuitively know,
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大概我們大家也都猜到了
12:45
which is that, as bad as we are
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其實是 不管我們
12:48
at remembering names and phone numbers
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有多不善于記住姓名 電話號碼
12:51
and word-for-word instructions from our colleagues,
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或是同事的每句指令
12:53
we have really exceptional visual and spatial memories.
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我們都擁有異常敏銳的視覺或空間記憶能力
12:59
If I asked you to recount the first 10 words
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要是我讓你們逐字逐句地重述
13:03
of the story that I just told you about Simonides,
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我剛才講的西蒙奈德故事的前十個字
13:05
chances are you would have a tough time with it.
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應該沒幾個人會記得
13:07
But I would wager
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但我敢打賭
13:10
that if I asked you to recall
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2683
如果我讓你們現在回想下
13:12
who is sitting on top of a talking tan horse
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4556
在你的門廳裏 坐在會講話的棕色駿馬上的
13:17
in your foyer right now,
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1998
是誰
13:19
you would be able to see that.
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2325
你們就明白我剛才說的意思了
13:21
The idea behind the memory palace
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記憶宮殿的原理
13:24
is to create this imagined edifice in your mind's eye
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就是在你的腦海裏建立一棟想象大廈
13:29
and populate it with images
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並讓你想記住的東西
13:30
of the things that you want to remember --
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的影像充滿其中
13:32
the crazier, weirder, more bizarre,
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3329
越是瘋狂 古怪 奇詭
13:36
funnier, raunchier, stinkier the image is,
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3600
荒誕搞笑 亂七八糟 招人厭惡的影像
13:39
the more unforgettable it's likely to be.
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就越容易記住
13:42
This is advice that goes back 2,000-plus years
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這個建議來自于兩千多年前
13:45
to the earliest Latin memory treatises.
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拉丁最早的記憶學者
13:48
So how does this work?
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那麽 這種說法的原理到底是什麽呢
13:50
Let's say that you've been invited
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假設你被邀請
13:52
to TED center stage to give a speech
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站上TED的中心講台演講
13:56
and you want to do it from memory,
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而你想脫稿完成
13:59
and you want to do it the way that Cicero would have done it
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如西塞羅在兩千年前在TEDx羅馬上的演講一般
14:04
if he had been invited to TEDxRome 2,000 years ago.
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他就會這麽霸氣走一回 而你也想這樣
14:08
What you might do
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你要做的就是
14:11
is picture yourself at the front door of your house.
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想象自己站在自家門前
14:16
And you'd come up with some sort
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然後憑空想象出
14:18
of an absolutely crazy, ridiculous, unforgettable image
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一段完全荒誕瘋狂難忘的景象
14:21
to remind you that the first thing you want to talk about
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用來提示你上台要提的第一件事
14:24
is this totally bizarre contest.
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就是這場詭異的裸騎大賽
14:27
And then you'd go inside your house,
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2833
然後你走進房子裏
14:30
and you would see an image of Cookie Monster
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2852
想到甜餅怪物
14:33
on top of Mister Ed.
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1887
坐在Ed先生背上的樣子
14:35
And that would remind you
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這個景象會提醒你
14:36
that you would want to then introduce your friend Ed Cook.
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要介紹你的朋友Ed Cook
14:39
And then you'd see an image of Britney Spears
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然後你腦海裏出現了小甜甜布蘭妮的樣子
14:42
to remind you of this funny anecdote you want to tell.
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2812
你就會想起要講那個關于布蘭妮的小故事
14:45
And you go into your kitchen,
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1672
然後你走進廚房
14:46
and the fourth topic you were going to talk about
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1845
你要說到的第四個話題是
14:48
was this strange journey that you went on for a year,
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你花了一整年走過的奇妙曆程
14:51
and you have some friends to help you remember that.
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通過綠野仙蹤就可以聯想得到
14:56
This is how Roman orators memorized their speeches --
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這就是羅馬演說家背誦演講稿的秘訣
15:00
not word-for-word, which is just going to screw you up,
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並非一字不差 逐字背誦只會平添麻煩
15:04
but topic-for-topic.
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2412
而是記住一個個主題
15:06
In fact, the phrase "topic sentence,"
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2907
其實 短語"主題句"
15:09
that comes from the Greek word "topos,"
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3300
就來源于希臘詞"topos"
15:12
which means "place."
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1720
意思是"地點"
15:14
That's a vestige
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1567
這是古時候
15:16
of when people used to think about oratory and rhetoric
301
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2320
人們談到演講或是修辭時
15:18
in these sorts of spatial terms.
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2238
會用到的空間術語
15:20
The phrase "in the first place,"
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1937
短語 "第一"
15:22
that's like in the first place of your memory palace.
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就意味著你的記憶宮殿的第一層
15:25
I thought this was just fascinating,
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1980
這簡直太有意思了
15:27
and I got really into it.
306
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1900
我對這起了很大的興趣
15:29
And I went to a few more of these memory contests.
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後來我又去了更多記憶大賽
15:32
And I had this notion that I might write something longer
308
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2561
我開始萌發了要更詳細描寫
15:35
about this subculture of competitive memorizers.
309
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3293
這種競技記憶文化的念頭
15:38
But there was a problem.
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2027
但有一個問題
15:40
The problem was that a memory contest
311
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2748
問題是記憶大賽
15:43
is a pathologically boring event.
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其實過程很無聊的
15:46
(Laughter)
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(大笑)
15:49
Truly, it is like a bunch of people sitting around taking the SATs.
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4550
真的 就像一群人坐那兒高考一樣
15:54
I mean, the most dramatic it gets
315
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1694
最最激動人心的時刻
15:55
is when somebody starts massaging their temples.
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1379
也不過就是有人揉了揉太陽穴
15:57
And I'm a journalist, I need something to write about.
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3038
我是個記者 總得有東西可寫呀
16:00
I know that there's this incredible stuff happening in these people's minds,
318
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3777
我知道這些人腦子裏肯定是驚濤駭浪
16:03
but I don't have access to it.
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2100
但我作爲外人無法得見
16:06
And I realized, if I was going to tell this story,
320
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2719
我意識到 若我真的想報道這事兒
16:08
I needed to walk in their shoes a little bit.
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2750
一定得親身體驗才行
16:11
And so I started trying to spend 15 or 20 minutes
322
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所以我開始嘗試著每天早上坐下來看紐約時報前
16:15
every morning before I sat down with my New York Times
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2835
花上十五到二十分鍾
16:17
just trying to remember something.
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2521
嘗試記憶一些事
16:20
Maybe it was a poem.
325
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背背小詩
16:22
Maybe it was names from an old yearbook
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2039
背背我在跳蚤市場買來的
16:24
that I bought at a flea market.
327
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2259
舊年鑒裏的人名
16:26
And I found that this was shockingly fun.
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5496
我驚奇地發現這其實非常帶勁
16:31
I never would have expected that.
329
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2078
要不去嘗試根本想不到
16:34
It was fun because this is actually not about training your memory.
330
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有趣在于 其實目標並不是要通過訓練提高記憶力
16:37
What you're doing is you're trying to get better and better and better
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3038
而是你在努力培養改善
16:40
at creating, at dreaming up,
332
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2429
創造力 想象力
16:42
these utterly ludicrous, raunchy, hilarious
333
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2894
在你的腦海裏憑空造出
16:45
and hopefully unforgettable images in your mind's eye.
334
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4125
那些完全滑稽荒誕胡亂 最好是難忘的影像
16:49
And I got pretty into it.
335
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1583
而它成爲了我的樂趣
16:51
This is me wearing my standard competitive memorizer's training kit.
336
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這是我戴著標准競賽記憶者訓練套裝的樣子
16:58
It's a pair of earmuffs
337
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1966
它有一對耳塞
17:00
and a set of safety goggles that have been masked over
338
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3409
一副護目鏡 鏡面全部遮黑
17:03
except for two small pinholes,
339
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2673
就留了兩個小孔
17:06
because distraction is the competitive memorizer's greatest enemy.
340
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5326
因爲競技記憶者最大的敵人就是注意力分散
17:11
I ended up coming back to that same contest that I had covered a year earlier.
341
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5767
最後 我再次回到了一年前報道的那場競賽場上
17:17
And I had this notion that I might enter it,
342
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2106
我一時衝動 也想報名參加
17:19
sort of as an experiment in participatory journalism.
343
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3302
就當做參與性新聞報道的實驗了
17:22
It'd make, I thought, maybe a nice epilogue to all my research.
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4521
我當時想 到時能在前言裏調侃一下自己也好
17:27
Problem was the experiment went haywire.
345
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3738
問題是 實驗最後得到了意想不到的結果
17:30
I won the contest,
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2737
那場競賽我贏了
17:33
which really wasn't supposed to happen.
347
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3103
真是完全出乎我預料之外
17:36
(Applause)
348
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5849
(鼓掌)
17:42
Now it is nice
349
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1705
對我來說現在
17:44
to be able to memorize speeches
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背演講稿 電話號碼 或是購物單
17:47
and phone numbers and shopping lists,
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都是小菜一碟 倒是很不錯
17:50
but it's actually kind of beside the point.
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但其實這些都不重要了
17:53
These are just tricks.
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這些都是小伎倆
17:55
They are tricks that work
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這些記憶伎倆之所以有效
17:57
because they're based on some pretty basic principles
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是因爲它們依仗人類大腦運轉的
18:00
about how our brains work.
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一些基本原理
18:02
And you don't have to be building memory palaces
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並不用真的去建立記憶宮殿
18:06
or memorizing packs of playing cards
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或記下幾副牌的順序
18:08
to benefit from a little bit of insight
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你也完全可以從了解大腦運轉原理中
18:10
about how your mind works.
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獲得一些益處
18:12
We often talk about people with great memories
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我們總會議論記憶力很好的人
18:14
as though it were some sort of an innate gift,
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總覺得那些人是天賦異禀
18:16
but that is not the case.
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事實並不是這樣
18:18
Great memories are learned.
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強大的記憶力是可以習得的
18:22
At the most basic level, we remember when we pay attention.
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從最根本的說起 專心致志就能記住
18:26
We remember when we are deeply engaged.
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全心投入時就能記住
18:29
We remember when we are able
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只要能想辦法把信息和經曆
18:30
to take a piece of information and experience
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轉化爲有意義的事
18:33
and figure out why it is meaningful to us,
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就能記住
18:35
why it is significant, why it's colorful,
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想它爲何重要 爲何多彩
18:38
when we're able to transform it in some way
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當我們能把它轉化成爲
18:40
that it makes sense
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有前因後果的事
18:42
in the light of all of the other things floating around in our minds,
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並跟我們腦海中繁雜瑣碎的其他事産生聯想時
18:44
when we're able to transform Bakers into bakers.
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當我們能把人名Baker轉化爲面包師baker時
18:49
The memory palace, these memory techniques,
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記憶宮殿 或是那些記憶技巧
18:52
they're just shortcuts.
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都只是捷徑而已
18:54
In fact, they're not even really shortcuts.
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其實 說到底它們都不能算捷徑
18:56
They work because they make you work.
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這方法有效是因爲它迫使你思考
19:00
They force a kind of depth of processing,
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它迫使你往更深層次去想
19:04
a kind of mindfulness,
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讓你更加專注
19:05
that most of us don't normally walk around exercising.
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大部分人平時並不會費力去訓練這個
19:09
But there actually are no shortcuts.
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其實捷徑並不存在
19:12
This is how stuff is made memorable.
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這一直就是我們能記住事物的原因
19:15
And I think if there's one thing that I want to leave you with,
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有一件事我希望你們能記住
19:19
it's what E.P.,
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就是E.P.
19:22
the amnesic who couldn't even remember that he had a memory problem,
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那個連自己患了健忘症都想不起來的人
19:26
left me with,
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讓我深思
19:27
which is the notion
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得出了一個感想
19:29
that our lives are the sum of our memories.
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人生就是我們個人記憶的合集
19:34
How much are we willing to lose
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在短暫的人生裏
19:40
from our already short lives
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你還願意因爲黑莓 iPhone
19:44
by losing ourselves in our Blackberries, our iPhones,
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喪失多少瞬間
19:51
by not paying attention to the human being across from us
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忽略對面坐著的人
19:54
who is talking with us,
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在跟我們交談的人
19:56
by being so lazy that we're not willing
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變得越發懶惰 不願意
19:58
to process deeply?
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深究任何事？
20:02
I learned firsthand
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通過親身經曆 我發現
20:04
that there are incredible memory capacities
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我們的身體裏潛藏著
20:08
latent in all of us.
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不可思議的記憶能力
20:10
But if you want to live a memorable life,
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但若你想活得難忘
20:13
you have to be the kind of person
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就得做那種
20:15
who remembers to remember.
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記得時常記憶的人
20:18
Thank you.
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謝謝
20:20
(Applause)
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(鼓掌)
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Joshua Foer - WriterJoshua Foer is a science writer who 'accidentally' won the U.S. Memory Championship.
Why you should listen
In 2005 science writer Joshua Foer went to cover the U.S. Memory Championship. A year later he was back -- as contestant. A year of mental training with Europe's top memorizer turned into a book, Moonwalking with Einstein, which is both a chronicle of his immersion in the memory culture and wonderfully accessible and informative introduction to the science of memory. Much more surprisingly, that year of training also turned into a first-place victory at the national competition in New York and the chance to represent the U.S. at the World Memory Championship. Foer's writing has appeared in National Geographic, Slate, the New York Times, and other publications. He is the co-founder of the Atlas Obscura, an online guide to the world’s wonders and curiosities, and is also the co-founder of the design competition Sukkah City.
Joshua Foer | Speaker | TED.com