You ask me why I like to study in the coffee shop? Because it's very scientific!

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"Hi! What are you doing? "

"reading in the coffee shop. "

"well, can you really see such a noisy place? "

", yes. "

My friend always doesn't understand why I like to study in a noisy coffee shop so much, because in her mind, a quiet environment is a necessary and sufficient condition for learning, and the two will never be separated.

I understand her very well, because this is the "common sense" that we are familiar with.

Common sense, however, may not be so scientific.

Can you study only in a quiet environment? No, background music works better.

In 1985, Steven M. Smith recruited 54 freshmen majoring in psychology at Texas University of Agriculture and Engineering University to conduct an experiment on background music and learning effects.

The students were divided into three groups and spent 10 minutes learning the same 40 words in two classrooms with different background music and a quiet classroom. Two days later, they regrouped and went back to the three classrooms to take the exam.

The results were interesting: those who studied in quiet classrooms and took exams there did the worst (an average of only 11 words), while those who studied in background music classrooms were about the same wherever they took the exam-twice as good as the former (an average of 21 words).

What is the reason for this? Smith believes that this is because in a quiet environment, students do not have much background information to help them code, so students who study in a background music environment will remember it better.

I think this experiment gives us at least two lessons:

Common sense is not necessarily scientific.

When we learn, we absorb more things in our minds than we can realize, and some of them directly affect our memory.

Since background music can help memory, can plugging headphones in the bedroom or study room have the same effect?

Science tells us that the brain actually wants more.

The coffee shop is a "mess"? Maybe that's what the brain likes.

In the mid-1970s, also Steven M. Smith, he and two other psychologists, Robert A. Bjorck and Arthur Glenberg, conducted an experiment at the University of Michigan (University of Michigan): students were divided into two groups to learn 40 new words twice; one group studied in the same place twice, and the other in different places.

What are the test results? What a surprise.

The group that had previously studied in the same room could remember an average of 16 words. Groups studying in different rooms can remember an average of 24. Just changing the place of study can improve the ability of memory extraction by 40%!

As for why there is such a result, scientists say one possible explanation is that when the brain stores words, the storage code in this room is slightly different from that in another room, so when learning in different environments, the number of background tips connected to words has also multiplied. In this room, the beige walls, the light of fluorescent lights, and piles of messy books color the memory of a word; in that room, the same word is tied to the natural light sprinkled through the window, the old oak tree in the yard, and the hum of the air conditioner. In this way, it provides the brain with more opportunities to retrieve memories.

Think of the coffee shop: warm yellow lights and unique decorations, the noise of the coffee machine and the noise of whispering conversation, fragrant coffee, different skin colors and different clothes.

Whether you are preparing for tomorrow's calculus exam or studying Kant's moral rules, I believe this "messy" environment will provide you with enough background tips to help you remember better.

Since the coffee shop is helpful to study, how about drinking coffee? Of course it helps.

How should I learn before the exam? The answer is "drinking coffee."

When we are in the examination room, our bodies automatically go into a state of excitement, and scientists have evidence that if we are also excited when we are studying, then our grades will be better.

In the early 1970s, American scientists studied marijuana, a drug that we do not often come into contact with, but is more effective than coffee.

In 1975, a team led by James James Eric Eich of the National Institute of Mental Health (National Insititute of Mental Health) conducted an experiment to test the role of marijuana in memory enhancement.

The team recruited 30 "regular smokers" who smoked marijuana an average of five times a week to test the relationship between smoking marijuana and memorizing words. The results are clear: no matter whether or not you smoke marijuana before memorizing words and taking the test, as long as the state of study is consistent with that of the test, then the score is always the best.

The reason, scientists say, is that the state of the brain does not affect the number of words it stores, but does affect extraction. When extracting memory information, the brain reorganizes the information in different ways, and the extracted "key" appears most clearly when the brain is in the same state as before. Therefore, if we study for exams, it is best to stay in that state of excitement when we study.

In order to stay excited, we certainly can't smoke marijuana, so drinking coffee is a good choice.

Summary

After writing this article in the coffee shop, I sent it to my friend. A sentence was attached: "didn't you ask me why I like to go to the coffee shop to read?" Read this article. "

After a while, she replied with a message: "shall I study in the coffee shop with you tomorrow?" "

I smiled and replied:

"good: d"

Note: the examples of this article are quoted from How We Learn by Benedict Carey.