研究:三个臭皮匠顶不上诸葛亮
Two heads aren't always better than one, at least when it comes to memory。
People who memorize facts in groups remember less than solo students do, according to a newly research. The group as a whole remembers more than any single memorizer would have, but the people in the group fail to live up to their full memory potential, each recalling less than if they'd studied alone。
On the other hand, according to study researcher Supama Rajaram, a psychologist at Stony Brook University in New York, other people's memories can enrich our own, as can be attested by anyone who suddenly recalls a long-ago event when another person starts telling a story。
One way people in groups tend to disrupt each other's memories is by encroaching on other's study habits. Everyone has preferred methods of picking information out of their minds, so working with others can be distracting. And then there's a phenomenon called "social contagion," in which one group member brings up an error or "remembers" something that didn't happen. Those erroneous memories can lodge in other group members' brains as real。
The overview appears in the April edition of the journal Current Directions in Psychological Science。三个臭皮匠并不一定就顶得上诸葛亮，至少就记忆力而言是这样。
最新研究表明，大家一起背东西的效果不如单独记忆的效果好。按理来说，小组整体记忆要比单独记忆的内容多，但是小组成员并不能发挥各自的最大记忆潜力，结果要比各自单独记忆时的效果差。
而另一方面，据研究人员、纽约州立石溪大学心理学家Supama Rajaram称，我们可借助他人的记忆丰富头脑，正如经验证明一个人突然想起很久以前发生的事情时，另一个人便开始顺下去讲自己的故事。
组内成员干扰彼此记忆能力的其中一种方式便是打破别人的学习习惯。每个人都有特定的挑选信息的习惯，所以和他人一起学习可能会受到干扰。而且还有一种现象叫做“社会传染”，即小组中其中一个成员出了错或者“记起来”根本没发生过的是事情。那些错误记忆便会成为小组其他成员脑中的真实记忆。
研究刊登于4月号的《当代心理科学指南》。
