Chapter 3 Mental Representations
- The Accidental Blindfold Chess Master
- The Secret To Winning Chess
- Mental Representations
- Recognizing And Responding To Patterns
- Making Sense Of Information
- Finding An Answer
- Planning
- Mental Representations In Learning
- Physical Activities Are Mental Too
阅读体会
In this chapter, the author is going to discuss about the question that he left at the end of last chapter: What exactly are we trying to improve about our brains?
He brought us the concept of mental process by citing Alekhine's story, and two small experiments to get to mental representation. The differences between chess masters and novices: Firstly they process and make sense of chess positions. They have built up their organized chunks with hierarchy from years of practice; Secondly, they are capable of judging on every move and also see potential moves; Thirdly, they are able to analyze positions according to the known patterns and manage the game with a much more boarder view.
Mental representation在本书的中文版中译为心理表征。心理表征不仅仅只有象棋大师才有，其实我们每个人都拥有它，只不过是在质和量上与各个领域的大师有别，他们在相同的情况下能做出更快、更准确的判断。他们的刻意练习是其所在领域的高效的心理表征。刻意练习越多，心理表征就越丰富，就越能更好的吸收新的知识。也就是说，提高水平与改进心理表征是相辅相成的。
词语学习
Twenty-six boards, 832 individual pieces, and 1664 individual squares to keep track of -- all without taking notes or having any sort of memory aid -- and yet Alekhine never stumbled.
stumble 此处为不及物动词，字典上它的释义有很多种，符合文意的是 to speak or act in a hesitant or faltering manner, 即面对下盲棋的种种障碍和不利，他从不踌躇
例句：The manager stumbled through his opening speech as if he were afraid of making a mistake.
造句：He stumbled when she asked him to make a choice between her and his mistress.
Chess masters have been playing blindfolded for more than a thousand years, mostly as a way of showing off, although sometimes as a way of handicapping themselves when playing less-skilled opponents.
handicap 最初学过形容词handicapped意为残疾的，这里的handicap及物动词，表示使。。。不利，让子， to make it difficult for someone to do something that they want or need to do
例句：Each has at least one handicap that, in any other year, would make it impossible for him to win the nomination.
造句：You don't have to handicap yourself as I do hope to have a fair game with you.
这句我一开始以为是说大师们偶尔会和less-skilled players下棋，后来发现play的宾语前并没有介词aganist，所以这里它并不是和谁对弈的意思，而是表示扮演
造句：Don't play fool. You know what's going on here.
Alekhine was well on this way toward that goal when the First World War began, an interruption that rekindled his interest in blindfold chess.
rekindle 及物动词，在这里表示他重燃了对盲棋的兴趣，英文释义是to make someone have a particular feeling, thought etc again
例句：The trial has rekindled painful memories of the war.
造句：I wish we could rekindle the feeling we used to have.
Over the coming years Alekhine would set the word record twice more -- with twenty-eight games in 1925 and thirty-two games in 1933 -- but he always contended that blindfold chess was little more than a way of bringing attention to the game of chess and, of course, to himself.
contend 同insist, to argue or state that something is true
例句：Some astronomers contend that the universe may be younger than previously thought.
造句：Suspects always contend that they are innocent before truths come out.
Before we delve into this, however, let us take a quick detour to examine in more detail the sort of memory that chess experts have for pieces arranged on a chessboard.
delve 不及物动词, to try to find more information about someone or something
例句：We are working on a research that delves deeply into this issue.
造句：To avoid any loose ends, let's keep on delving into this subject.
Gradually, however, as you spend time around dogs and start to understand them, all this information becomes integrated into one holistic concept that is represented by the word dog.
holistic 形容词 considering a person or thing as a whole, rather than as separate parts，近义表达有all-inclusive, rounded, full, complete, general, universal, whole
例句：Finally, the author sums up the holistic concept of human information acceptance behavior, and prospects the research trends.
造句：We can try to delve into the theme in a more holistic way.