超常记忆中记忆术的内容、机制和迁移的研究

People are curious about the astonishing feat of accurately recalling lists of materials after a very short study period, and of perfectly reciting a large body of information as tens of thousands of digits or a very longest poem. Although previous studies on expert memorists provided evidences for the key role played by mnemonics in superior memory performance, less knowledge was about what the mnemonics are, how to use them, and when they works. Experiment 1 is designed to explain the mnemonics used by memorists to the competition tasks in World Memory Championship, while Experiment 2 is detailly on the study and recall activites during the laboratory task where the presentation rate of stimuli is self-paced by participant himself/herself. The results from two experiments will provide the basis for exploring the cognitive mechenism of mnemonics in Experiment 3 and 4. Experiment 3, through the experimental task of using a memory method repeatedly on one type of material, focuses on the encoding processes. In comparison, the retrieval process is emphathized by Experiemnt 4 where participants need to recall the specified digits cued by different probes.Next, the transferability of mnemonics, being found from the former four experiments, will be under inverstigation. Both Experiment 5, constraining the memorized lists by consisting of only a few stimuli, and Experiment 6, varying the stimuli presentation rates from 250 ms to 1000 ms, will observe the efficacy/non-efficacy of memory skills acquired by memorists. The experimental paradigm on expertise, procedures of sequential study and recall,techniques of verbal reporting and of analyzing study/recall times are consistently used in the six experiments. Current studies, as the extension work of our previsous studies on the holder of Guiness World Record for reciting digits in pi (i.e., Chao Lu), are aimed at deveoloping the general experimental methods on expert memorists, proposing the specific theory for accounting for the nature of superior memory, and suggesting the evidence-based training programs on various memory abilities. The high-quality outcomes of the research project are expected, considering our previous records of publishing emperical papers in top-rated journals (e.g., Cognitive Psychology, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition) and the complemented background among the researchers in our groups.

人们惊叹于各类超常记忆表现，对其认识大多凭传说、轶闻等主观资料。实验研究表明，超常记忆与记忆术有关；但是，关于"记忆术是什么"、"记忆术的认知实质"和"记忆术的使用场合"等，知之甚少。针对于此，本项目研究设计了6个行为实验。实验1和实验2探讨比赛任务上记忆术和自我定速任务上记忆术,侧重发现记忆术的内容；实验3和实验4则分析重复编码情境中记忆术和提示回忆中记忆术，重点揭示记忆术的机制；实验5和实验6则研究限制内容材料上记忆术和不同呈现速度下的记忆术，关注记忆术的迁移。6个实验的实施过程，统一采用专长研究范型、序列学习和回忆的实验程序，以及言语报告技术和反应时分析技术。项目研究的预期目标，在于形成有关超常记忆的通用研究模式，发展解释该现象实质及原因的理论，提出促进记忆能力发展的建议。

研究背景：在机器智能快速发展的时代背景下，我们对人类自身杰出行为（如超常记忆的实质及其提升）的了解依然不多。.主要内容：以记忆专家为研究对象，采用行为分析、脑成像和训练等方法，探讨了超常记忆中记忆术的内容、实质和迁移。.重要结果及关键数据：通过一系列实验，我们发现，记忆专家多使用一类记忆术，这包括图像法和位置法。在数字类超常记忆活动中，所揭示的行为机制有规律性波动的反应时，认知机制有高效编码方法、准确提取结构和快速存取过程，神经机制则有周期性的P200成分和alpha波振荡，以及顶叶区域的共有神经空间模式。上述记忆机制，可以部分出现在常人训练组（10-20天），但仅局限于所练材料上。.科学意义：这些研究发现丰富了长时工作记忆理论和脑认知功能重组理论，支持了超常记忆的后天说，有助于发展出提升人类个体记忆的有效方法和手段。