This research-based approach has shown improvements in brain function in as little as 12 hours.
这种研究型方法在短短12小时内改善了大脑功能。
What separates strategic, visionary thinkers from the rest of us? And why do we tend to worry about our ability to remember names—or where our keys are—rather than loss of cognitive memory that makes great performers?
是什么将我们和那些有远见、有战略意识的思想家区分开？我们又是为什么总倾向于担忧自己记不住名字或者把钥匙放哪儿了，却不担心自己对认知记忆的丢失——而恰恰是认知记忆促成了好的表现？
These were questions that puzzled Sandra Bond Chapman, founder and chief director of the Center for Brain Health at the University of Texas—Dallas. She wondered if high-level cognitive function could be taught or improved and set about figuring out how to do so. As a result, she and her team have developed Strategic Memory Advanced Reasoning Training , a research-based brain training program that they claim can improve focus, memory, and cognitive function, starting with just nine hours of training.
这些问题困扰着德克萨斯—达拉斯大学大脑健康中心的创始人兼主任桑德拉·邦德查普曼。她想了解高层次的认知功能是否可以被训练或改进，并开始着手研究如何做到这一点。因此，她和她的团队开发了“策略记忆高级推理训练”，这是一项研究型的大脑训练计划。他们表示只需9个小时的培训就可以提高人们的注意力，记忆力和认知功能。
Multitasking, information overload, and constant interruptions are impairing the way our brains work.
多任务作业，信息负载和不断的干扰正在损害我们大脑工作的方式。
If that seems unlikely, randomized clinical trials indicate that even relatively short periods of this type of training can have an impact. A 2013 study found that just 12 hours of directed brain training altered brain function, increasing blood flow, enhancing information communication across key brain regions, and expanding the connections between brain regions that lead to new learning in adults over 50 years old.
这听起来似乎不太可能，但是随机临床试验表明，即使这种类型的训练只进行了相对较短的时间也会对大脑产生影响。2013年的一项研究发现，50多岁的成年人仅经过12小时的定向大脑训练就改变了大脑功能，增加了血液流量，关键脑区域的信息沟通也增强了，还扩大了管控学习的脑区之间的联系。
“It’s paradoxical that some of the things we think are good for our brain, the brain science is showing are almost like tobacco for the brain,” Chapman says. Multitasking, information overload, and constant interruptions are impairing the way our brains work, she says.
查普曼说：“我们以为有些事情对我们的大脑有好处，但是大脑科学却显示这些东西对大脑而言就像是烟草一样可怕，有时候就是这么矛盾。”她还说，多任务作业，信息负载和不断的干扰正在损害我们大脑工作的方式。
THE SMART APPROACH
“策略记忆高级推理训练”方法
The SMART program focuses on the brain’s top-down processing. Think about when you’re listening to someone tell a story: You think about the main themes and the bottom-line summary of what’s being said. Bottom-up processing is where you pay close attention to the specific details to understand what’s being said. That’s important because you need to be master the fundamentals, but if you get stuck in that way of thinking, it’s tough to be visionary, she says. To help improve the brain’s ability to think in these broader, bigger ways, the program has three areas of focus.
SMART项目以大脑自上而下的信息处理为重点。想象一下，当你在听某人讲故事的时候，你会兼顾故事主题和结尾的总结。而自下而上的信息处理方式则需要你密切关注细节来明白到底说了些什么。这非常重要，因为你需要掌握基本的知识，但如果你在这种思维方式中陷入困境，那么就很难有创造力，她说道。为了提高大脑在这些更广泛，更大的方面思考的能力，该项目有三个重点。
Strategic Attention
策略注意
Focus is essential for memory and learning. The SMART program teaches participants to eschew multitasking and, instead, truly concentrate on the task at hand. The increase in productivity and learning when we stop trying to do several things at once is remarkable, Chapman says. Participants learn how to block irrelevant or extraneous elements and better understand root issues.
集中注意力是记忆和学习的关键。SMART项目旨在教会参与者避免一心多用，而是真正专注于手头上的任务。查普曼说，当我们停止尝试同时做几件事情时，生产力和学习效率的提高十分明显。参与者可以学习如何中断不相关或无关紧要的事情的干扰，更好地厘清根本问题。
Integration
综合技能
Chapman says this area is where the training has the most impact. Integrative reasoning hones mental tools that exert cognitive control to “zoom in” to quickly scan the critical details, then quickly reprocess that information into global ideas by “zoom out” strategies, evaluating how those details fit into the big pictures. Trainees learn to reach broader perspectives and construct generalized applications through that toggling of focus, otherwise known as “zooming deep and wide.”
查普曼说，整合这个部分受培训影响最大。综合推理能够对我们的思维进行“打磨”、“推敲”。而思维对我们进行认知控制，使用“放大”策略来快速扫描重要细节，然后通过“缩小”策略快速将这些信息重新处理来适应全局，同时评估这些细节是否符合总体情况。通过切换焦点，学员可以学习用更广阔的视角来看待问题，并做到推广应用，也被称为“推近拉远”策略。
Mental Flexibility
灵活性思维
Being able to consider varied viewpoints and perspectives is another, possibly surprising, element of improving mental sharpness and cognitive function. Rather than processing information in the same way, adopting different perspectives and using information in new ways is important to improve key aspects of brain performance.
能够考虑不同观点和用不同的视角看问题是提高精神锐度和认知功能的另一个因素，这也许会让你感到意外。采用不同的视角看待问题、以新的方式来处理信息，对待问题不总是千篇一律，这对于改善大脑反应的关键方面十分重要。
The center has plans to release an app based on SMART called “BrainHealth” later this summer. In the meantime, Chapman says that there are things we can do in our everyday lives to mimic some of the training’s methods and improve our own brain function.
该中心计划在今年夏天发布一个基于SMART项目的名为“大脑健康”的应用程序。同时，查普曼说，我们也可以在日常生活中做些事情，来模拟一些训练的方法，然后改善我们的大脑功能。
STOP MULTITASKING
别再一心多用啦
When we’re constantly shifting our attention from one thing to another, we inhibit our ability to learn and to get things done, Chapman says. While it’s fine to watch television while cooking dinner, for example, trying to answer email messages while focusing on a big writing project is likely going to detract from performance on each. The increase in productivity and learning when we stop trying to do several things at once is remarkable.
查普曼说，当我们不断将注意力从一件事转移到另一件事时，很大程度上抑制了我们学习和完成工作的能力。虽然在烹饪晚餐时，看看电视也无妨，但是比如你一边想回复邮件信息，一边又想专注于一个大型写作任务，很可能两件事的结果都会大打折扣。当我们停止尝试同时做好几件事情时，生产效率和学习效果的提高是显著的。
DISTILL AND SUMMARIZE
提炼总结
Chapman says that we should all think like reporters, meaning that we should be looking at information, stories, and other forms of input for the key thematic element, as well as the broader storyline, then focusing on the particular applications and meaning.
查普曼说，我们都应该像记者一样思考，这意味着我们应该关注专题要素的关键成分，包括信息，故事和其他形式的素材，以及更大的故事情节，然后还得聚焦在具体的应用和意义上。
Shifting back and forth between that “big-picture” perspective and the nitty-gritty of what it means to us helps us gain greater understanding and learn more. “If we can move it through taking in information, abstracting very quickly, and applying it, we get brain change very dramatically,” Chapman says.
在这种“大局”观和事情的本质中来回转换视角，可以帮助我们了解更多也学到更多。她说：“如果我们可以完成获取信息，快速提取总结并应用，我们的大脑将有大大的改变。”
EXPLORE NEW VIEWS
探索新观点
Related:
What Happens To Our Brains When We Exercise And How It Makes Us Happier
Your Brain Has A “Delete” Button—Here’s How To Use It
How Giving Up Refined Sugar Changed My Brain
Here’s How To Trick Your Brain Into Making Smarter Mistakes
How Your Brain Reacts To Change
相关话题如：
当我们运动时，我们的大脑会发生什么变化，它又是如何让我们更快乐的？
你的大脑有一个“删除”按钮——该如何使用它？
放弃精制糖会如何改变我的大脑？
怎样让你的大脑犯更聪明的错误？
面对变化，你的大脑会如何反应？
Chapman says that forcing ourselves to think in new ways and develop understanding of how other people view things is another important element of the training. Sometimes, that requires difficult work. In her team’s work with Navy SEALS, she asks them to consider why Osama Bin Laden was a charismatic leader to some people.
查普曼说，训练中另一个重要的模块就是强迫自己以新的方式思考，并且了解别人是如何看待事物的。有时候，这需要大量的努力。在她的团队与美国海军“海豹”突击队一起工作时，她让海军们思考一个问题：为什么对某些人来说，奥萨马·本·拉登是一个有魅力的领导人。
That’s an unthinkable concept to many, but pushing people to be more broad-based in their thinking is essential to developing visionary ability. It also helps participants get used to exploring highly volatile or uncomfortable ideas without getting emotional.
对许多人来说，另辟蹊径地思考是一个不可想象的概念，但是逼着人们开阔思想对发展创造力十分重要。它也帮助参与者习惯于探索、触碰反复无常的或让人不舒服的想法，而不会变得情绪化。
TAKE BRAIN BREAKS
让大脑休息一会儿
“The more information we download or take in, the more shallower our thinking is, and the more fragmented our brain systems are.”
“我们下载或接收的信息越多，我们的思维就越浅薄，而我们的大脑系统也就越碎片化。”
Five 5-minute breaks each day where you get away from technology and work, and give your brain a few moments of rest can yield remarkable results. That’s all it takes, Chapman says. She jokes about the power of bathroom breaks during her sessions. “People go to the bathroom and come back and they had a breakthrough idea, and I say, ‘What was going on in the bathroom?’ It really is just because they stopped trying push through. The brain break is one of the ways to keep your brain’s mental energy on high charge,” she says.
远离工作，每天五次为时五分钟的休息，让你的大脑放松一会儿，这样得到的效果颇好。查普曼说，大脑只需要这点休息时间。她拿会议期间上洗手间这件事对人们造成的影响开了个玩笑。她说道，“人们只是去了下洗手间，回来之后立马就有了突破性的想法，我就想问问‘洗手间里到底发生了什么啊？’这真的只是因为他们停止了不断强迫自己在问题上有所进展。所以，让大脑得到休息是保持大脑活力和高能量的方法之一。
READ LESS—AND DEEPER
阅读，求精不求多
Stop trying to know everything about everything and be more selective in the information you’re taking in. Instead of skimming dozens of stories each morning, choose a handful on which you can truly focus and you’ll retain more, Chapman says.
查普曼说，不要试图了解所有事情的全部细节，要更有选择性地掌握你所收集到的信息。比起每天早晨走马观花似的读几十个故事，选择一小部分你真正关注的，这样记住的更多。
“The more information we download or take in, the more shallow our thinking is, and the more fragmented our brain systems are,” she says. “it’s counterintuitive because we think that if I could just take in 20 things and quickly absorb them, I would be smarter, and the science has shown that the smartest leaders are those who know from the get go to literally block out some information.”
她说，“我们下载或接收的信息越多，我们的思维就越浅薄，而我们的大脑系统就越碎片化”。“这是违反直觉的，因为我们自认为，如果我能够接收20件事情并快速学会它们，我会变得更聪明，而科学表明，最聪明的领导人深知习得的东西确实会阻碍一些信息的进入。”
So, while our focus on getting more done through multitasking, skimming, and moving on to the next thing as quickly as possible seems effective, Chapman says the key to truly developing the sharp focus necessary to get things done requires working at a deeper level. “We keep loading ourselves down so we’re mentally exhausted all the time. Our battery is too worn down to really engage in deeper-level thinking and be more efficient,” Chapman says. Cognitive improvement is possible when we slow down, stop letting technology interrupt us repeatedly, and practice focusing on the task or information with which we’re engaged, she says.
专注于同时进行多个任务，略读或尽快着手下一件事，似乎能有效地帮助我们更多地完成任务，但查普曼说，如果真的想要提高做好事情的能力，关键是在更深的层次上付出努力。“我们一直负重前行，所以一直处于精神疲惫的状态。大脑损伤地太厉害了，已经很难进行更深层次的思考，也很难更有效率。” 她表示，当我们放慢速度，认知能力的提高才有可能，不要再让技术不停地干扰我们，练习专注于眼前所从事的任务或要处理的信息。
