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##4. Stick to the minimum information principle

The material you learn must be formulated in as simple way as it is

o Simple is easy

By definition, simple material is easy to remember. This comes from the fact that its simplicity makes is easy for the brain to process it always in the same way. Imagine a labyrinth. When making a repetition of a piece of material, your brain is running through a labyrinth (you can view a neural network as a tangle of paths). While running through the labyrinth, the brain leaves a track on the walls. If it can run in only one unique way, the path is continuous and easy to follow. If there are many combinations, each run may leave a different trace that will interfere with other traces making it difficult to find the exit. The same happens on the cellular level with different synaptic connections being activated at each repetition of complex material

o Repetitions of simple items are easier to schedule

I assume you will make repetitions of the learned material using optimum inter-repetition intervals (as in SuperMemo). If you consider an item that is composed of two sub-items, you will need to make repetitions that are frequent enough to keep the more difficult item in memory. If you split the complex item into sub-items, each can be repeated at its own pace saving your time. Very often, inexperienced students create items that could easily be split into ten or more simpler sub-items! Although the number of items increases, the number of repetitions of each item will usually be small enough to greatly outweigh the cost of (1) forgetting the complex item again and again, (2) repeating it in excessively short intervals or (3) actually remembering it only in part!

Here is a striking example:

####Ill-formulated knowledge - Complex and wordy

  • Q: What are the characteristics of the Dead Sea?

  • A: Salt lake located on the border between Israel and Jordan. Its shoreline is the lowest point on the Earth's surface, averaging 396 m below sea level. It is 74 km long. It is seven times as salty (30% by volume) as the ocean. Its density keeps swimmers afloat. Only simple organisms can live in its saline waters

####Well-formulated knowledge - Simple and specific

  • Q: Where is the Dead Sea located?

  • A: on the border between Israel and Jordan

  • Q: What is the lowest point on the Earth's surface?

  • A: The Dead Sea shoreline

  • Q: What is the average level on which the Dead Sea is located?

  • A: 400 meters (below sea level)

  • Q: How long is the Dead Sea?

  • A: 70 km

  • Q: How much saltier is the Dead Sea than the oceans?

  • A: 7 times

  • Q: What is the volume content of salt in the Dead Sea?

  • A: 30%

  • Q: Why can the Dead Sea keep swimmers afloat?

  • A: due to high salt content

  • Q: Why is the Dead Sea called Dead?

  • A: because only simple organisms can live in it

  • Q: Why only simple organisms can live in the Dead Sea?

  • A: because of high salt content

You might want to experiment and try to learn two subjects using the two above approaches and see for yourself what advantage is brought by minimum information principle. This is particularly visible in the long perspective, i.e. the longer the time you need to remember knowledge, the more you benefit from simplifying your items!

Note in the example above how short the questions are. Note also that the answers are even shorter! We want a minimum amount of information to be retrieved from memory in a single repetition! We want answer to be as short as imaginably possible!

You will notice that the knowledge learned in the ill-structured example is not entirely equivalent to the well-structured formulation. For example, although you will remember why the Dead Sea can keep swimmers afloat, you may forget that it at all has such a characteristic in the first place! Additionally, rounding 396 to 400 and 74 to 70 produces some loss of information. These can be remedied by adding more questions or making the present ones more precise.

You will also lose the ability to fluently recite the description of the Dead Sea when called up to the blackboard by your teachers. I bet, however, that shining in front of the class is not your ultimate goal in learning. To see how to cope with recitations and poems, read further (section devoted to enumerations)

===

##原则四：遵循最小信息原则

你的学习材料须尽可能以简单的方式进行组织。

  • 简单即容易

根据定义，简单的材料容易记忆。这来自一个事实即简单化让大脑更容易以同样的方式进行处理。想象一下迷宫。当对一个材料进行复习时，你的大脑就像在通过一个迷宫（你可以把神经网络看成错综的路径）。通过迷宫时，大脑会在迷宫墙上留下了线索。如果他能以唯一方式通过，那么此路径就简单而便于跟随。反之，如果有很多组合的话，每一次通过就会留下不同的线索彼此干扰，从而难以找到出口。这同样发生在大脑细胞层面，每次复习复杂材料时，不同的大脑突触连接会被激活。

  • 简单易安排

我们假设你将使用最优重复间隔法来复习学过的材料（如SuperMemo）。如果你思虑的一个学习项是由两个子项构成的，那么你将需要足够频繁的复习才能把较难的子项记住。若把复杂项拆分成各个子项，各项的复习就能以各自的节奏进行从而节省了时间。一个缺乏经验的学生所创建的学习项，往往可以被轻易的划分成十个或更多的子项！虽然，学习项的数量增多了，但各项复习时间却往往很少，以致其益处远超于1)一遍遍忘记复杂内容2)过短的复习间隔3)实际只记住了部分内容 所付出的代价。

下面是一个明显的例子：

####组织很差的知识点 - 复杂而冗长

  • 问：死海的特点是什么？|
  • 答：死海是位于以色列和约旦边界的盐湖。它的海岸线是地球表面的最低点，平均海拔-396米，长74公里。含盐量是海洋的七倍(30%含量)。其密度可以使游泳者保持飘浮。只有简单的微生物可以生活其中。

####组织良好的知识点 - 简单而明确

  • 问：死海位于哪里？
  • 答：以色列和约旦边界|
  • 问：死海的平均海拔是多少？
  • 答：约海拔-400米
  • 问：死海的海岸线长度是多少？
  • 答：约70公里
  • 问：死海的含盐量相比是海洋的多少倍？
  • 答：7倍
  • 问：死海的含盐量是多少？
  • 答：30%
  • 问：为什么死海可以使游泳者飘浮？
  • 答：因为高含盐量
  • 问：为什么被称之为“死”海？
  • 答：因为仅有简单微生物可以存活其中。
  • 问：为什么仅有简单微生物可以在死海中存活？
  • 答：因为高含盐量

你可能想试验下并尝试用上述两种方法来学习两个主题，然后看看最小信息原则所能带来的好处。从长远来讲好处尤其明显，例如，你记忆知识所需时间越多，你从简化材料所获收益也就越多。

注意，上述例子中的问题很简短，答案就更为简短了！我们要求单次复习中从记忆中汲取的信息量足够小，回答就要尽可能的短！

你可能注意到了，组织很差和良好的知识点并不完全等同。比如：尽管你记住了死海为什么能使游泳者漂浮，而起初你可能完全忘记了它还有这个特点。还有，数字396到400以及74到70的四舍五入为造成一些信息丢失。这些问题都可以解决，如增加更多问题，或者使呈现的问题更为精确。

为此，当老师把你叫到黑板前，你可能没办法流利背诵完整的死海描述。然而我敢说，你学习的的最终目的，并不是为了在班级里显得熠熠生辉。若想了解如何处理朗诵和诗词，可以进一步阅读(有关枚举的专属章节)