There is a biological reason why we learn more from our triumphs than from our failures, according to new research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

    Scientists there have shown that the brain responds to success at the level of individual brain cells, but the neurons show virtually no response to failures.

    The fact that we learn more from our successes than from our failures is not new. Even family pets respond more to reward than punishment, and so do children, according to numerous psychology studies.

    Little Is Known About How Environment Guides Learning

    The scientists used monkeys in the research because it isn't possible to monitor individual brain cells, or neurons, without implanting an electrode in the brain, and of course that's out of the question with human subjects. But monkeys can learn things, and then relearn things, fairly quickly, although they are not as good at it as humans.

    Neurons Retain Memory of Correct Action

    Histed, lead author of the study, said via e-mail that the research explored the neural circuitry "at the single neutron level."

    "We found that the memory of past actions could be maintained by the activity of the neurons," Histed said. "Some neurons started to fire after correct responses, and continued to fire for several seconds until the next action was to be made."

    In other words, the neurons themselves retained a memory of the correct action, paving the way for continued success.

    The researchers found that monkeys that were rewarded for the right response to a cue learned quickly how to respond the next time they saw the cue, but monkeys that responded incorrectly weren't any better equipped to deal with the same cue the next time they saw it.

    Evolutionary Basis for How Brains Learn

    "If the monkey just got a correct answer, a signal lingered in its brain that said 'you did the right thing.' Right after a correct answer, neurons processed information more sharply and effectively, and the monkey was more likely to get the next answer correct as well," Miller said. "But after an error there was no improvement. In other words, only after successes, not failures, did brain processing and the monkeys' behavior improve."

    There is apparently an evolutionary basis for why the brain learns that way, Miller said.

    "There's a practical reason for it," he said. "Successes are more informative than failures."

    If you fail at something you probably know why. You got fired because you showed up late most of the time. Your spouse left because you showed up too many times at the wrong place, with the wrong person. You already know the reason you failed.

    "If you succeed, everything has gone right, so there's a lot more information in successes than failures," Miller said. "The brain probably evolved to take advantage of successes because there's more information there."

    美國(guó)馬薩諸塞科學(xué)協(xié)會(huì)最新一項(xiàng)研究表明，生物學(xué)可以解釋我們?yōu)槭裁磸某晒χ袑W(xué)到更多，而不是失敗。

    科學(xué)家表明：大腦以個(gè)人腦細(xì)胞水平高低對(duì)成功有反應(yīng)，但是神經(jīng)細(xì)胞幾乎對(duì)失敗沒(méi)有反應(yīng)。

    我們從成功中學(xué)到更多而不是失敗的事實(shí)已經(jīng)不是第一次了。據(jù)眾多心理學(xué)研究，即使是家里養(yǎng)的寵物對(duì)獎(jiǎng)賞有更多的反應(yīng)而不是懲罰，孩子也是一樣的。

    不清楚如何引導(dǎo)學(xué)習(xí)環(huán)境

    科學(xué)家用猴子做實(shí)驗(yàn)，因?yàn)樵跊](méi)有給他們大腦灌輸電極時(shí)是不可能監(jiān)督各自的大腦細(xì)胞的，當(dāng)然，那不是人類的問(wèn)題。但是，猴子可以學(xué)習(xí)，然后反復(fù)學(xué)習(xí)，而且相當(dāng)快，盡管沒(méi)有人類學(xué)得好。

    神經(jīng)細(xì)胞保留正確的動(dòng)作的記憶

    研究者Histed通過(guò)郵件說(shuō)，"研究探索了在單個(gè)神經(jīng)末梢的神經(jīng)線路。"

    結(jié)果發(fā)現(xiàn)過(guò)去情節(jié)的記憶可以通過(guò)活躍的神經(jīng)保留下來(lái)".他說(shuō)，"一些神經(jīng)在正確的反應(yīng)后開(kāi)始解散小時(shí)，接下來(lái)的幾秒繼續(xù)這樣一直到將要做下一個(gè)動(dòng)作。

    ".

    換句話說(shuō)，神經(jīng)細(xì)胞自身保存著正確行為的記憶，為以后的成功鋪平道路。

    研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，因反應(yīng)正確而得到獎(jiǎng)賞的猴子，當(dāng)下一次他們看到線索時(shí)對(duì)怎么反應(yīng)學(xué)習(xí)的更快，而那些反應(yīng)錯(cuò)誤的猴子，對(duì)下一次如何去處理看到的同樣的事物沒(méi)有什么人長(zhǎng)進(jìn)。

    學(xué)習(xí)如何演化基礎(chǔ)大腦

    如果猴子剛剛回答的正確，一種信號(hào)進(jìn)入他們的大腦說(shuō)你做對(duì)了，之后神經(jīng)細(xì)胞傳授信息會(huì)更靈敏更有效，同時(shí)猴子也更有可能做對(duì)接下來(lái)的動(dòng)作。"Miller說(shuō)。"但如果是錯(cuò)誤的，以后會(huì)沒(méi)有提高。換句話說(shuō)，只有經(jīng)過(guò)成功，而不是失敗，大腦才能傳輸，猴子的行為才能改善。

    一個(gè)進(jìn)化發(fā)展基礎(chǔ)論明顯的解釋了為什么大腦那樣學(xué)習(xí)，Miller說(shuō)。

    ."一個(gè)很實(shí)際的原因，".他說(shuō)，"成功比失敗的見(jiàn)識(shí)更多，信息更廣。"

    如果你某些事失敗了，你可能知道原因。你被解雇了因?yàn)槟氵t到了好長(zhǎng)時(shí)間。你的愛(ài)人離開(kāi)了因?yàn)槟愫芏嗟胤藉e(cuò)了，和不應(yīng)該在一起的人在一起。 你已經(jīng)知道失去的原因。

    如果你成功了，一切事情正常，因此在成功的路上比失敗有很多信息。Miller說(shuō)，"大腦可能轉(zhuǎn)為去好好利用成功，就因?yàn)槌晒τ泻芏嘈畔ⅰ?quot;