2018年6月大学英语六级听力常考时文：Distraction Is a Bad Thing

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　　1.Which way will be more useful in learning a phone number? ...
learning.
        　　2.When someone is distracted, which way of learning will play the main
role? ...
        　　3.What is harmful for kids in learning new concepts and information?
...
        　　Your parents were right; don’t study with the TV on. Multitasking may be a
necessity in today’s fast-paced world, but new research shows distractions
affect the way people learn, making the knowledge they gain harder to use later
on. That could affect a lot of young people. As Poldrack explains it, the brain
learns in two different ways. One, called declarative learning, deals with
learning active facts that can be recalled and used with great flexibility. The
second is called habit learning. For instance, in learning a phone number you
can simply memorize it by using declarative learning, and can then recall it
whenever needed. A second way to learn is by habit. Punch it in 1,000 times.
Then even if you don’t remember it consciously, you can go to the phone and
punch it in. Memorizing is a lot more useful, for if you use the habit system,
you have to be at a phone to recreate the movements. The problem is that the two
types of learning seem to be competing with each other, and when someone is
distracted, habit learning seems to take over from declarative learning. We have
to multitask in today’s world, but you have to be aware of this: when a kid is
trying to learn new concepts and new information, distraction is going to be
bad, and it’s going to impair their ability to learn. That doesn’t mean Poldrack
thinks a silent environment is essential — music can help in learning because it
can make the individual happier. But in general, distraction is almost always a
bad thing.