回忆过去便能预知未来

The New Power Of Memory

Memory allows for a kind of mental time travel, a way for us to picture not just the past but also a version of the future, according to a growing body of research.

越来越多的研究显示，记忆能让人进行一种心理时间旅行。通过这种方式，我们不仅能再现过去的情境，还能描绘未来。

The studies suggest that the purpose of memory is far more extensive than simply helping us store and recall information about what has already happened.

该研究还表明，记忆除了能帮我们存储、回想那些已发生事件的相关信息，它的存在还具有更广泛的意义。

Researchers from University College London and Harvard University have made strides charting how memory helps us draw a mental sketch of someone's personality and imagine how that person might behave in a future social situation. They detailed their latest findings in work published in the journal Cerebral Cortex last week.

在记录分析记忆如何帮我们勾勒某人性格特点、帮我们预想他/她在未来社会情境中可能的表现方面，伦敦大学学院(University College London)与哈佛大学(Harvard University)的研究人员已取得了一定进展。上周，研究人员将他们发表在《大脑皮层》期刊上(Cerebral Cortex)的最新科研成果作了详细阐述。

What the scientists showed could have implications not just for those who suffer memory loss, like the elderly, but young adults and their ability to plan and socialize. The

researchers are also following up what they've found by trying to see whether the ability to recall past events may be related to creativity and imagination.

科研人员揭示的这些道理可能不仅对那些失忆症患者，比如老年人，而且对年轻人以及他们的规划、社交能力也有所影响。研究人员还在继续探索现有的科研结论，他们正试着了解追忆往事的能力是否与创造力、想象力有着关联。

The body of work is 'broadening out our view of how we use memory,' says Daniel Schacter, a psychology professor at Harvard.

哈佛大学心理学教授夏克特(Daniel Schacter)称，该研究论文主体“就如何利用记忆拓展了我们的视野。”

This ability to imagine or anticipate what may come is important to our ability to plan and problem-solve and helps us make better decisions in social situations. The researchers also hope to uncover new ways of improving human memory.

这种对未知世界的想象力或预见力不仅对我们的规划能力、解决问题的能力至关重要，而且还有助于我们在社会情境中作出更好的决策判断。同时研究人员也希望能揭示提升人类记忆力的新途径。

'Using past experiences to anticipate possible future happenings' lets people weigh approaches to a coming situation without needing to try out the actual behaviors, Dr. Schacter says.

夏克特还称，“靠过去的经历预测将来可能发生的事”让人们无需再事事进行真实的尝试，只要认真考量与未来情况相似的事件即可。

Little is known about why some people might naturally have better abilities to recall experiences or imagine future ones.

为什么有些人可能天生具有更强的回忆往事或遥想未知的能力？对于这个问题，人们目前知之甚少。

Many techniques purported to improve memory or delay cognitive decline, like word games or brain teasers, are focused on working memory, the information we hold in our head at any time. There is mixed evidence about whether they do more than improve the ability to complete a specific task.

许多声称能提高记忆力、延缓认知衰退的方法，如填字游戏、脑筋急转弯等重点关注的都是工作记忆，即我们随时留存在大脑中的信息。至于工作记忆除了能提升完成某项具体任务的能力外是否还有更多作用，目前有各种各样的证据和说法。

Dr. Schacter's group is focused on a targeted intervention for recalling past experiences, known as episodic memory, and increasing recall of details, not on improving overall memory. The initial experiment is expected to be completed this summer.

夏克特博士的团队着重研究的是对过往经历回忆的针对性干预，即人们所知的情景记忆。他们重点关注的还有增加细节回忆能力，而并非整体记忆力的提升。该研究的初步试验预计将在今年夏天完成。

Talking to amnesiacs first hinted to researchers that recalling past experiences might be crucial for mental time travel. Along with memory loss, the patients appeared to struggle with planning.

与健忘症患者交谈首先向研究人员传递出这样一种讯息：回忆过往经历可能对心理时间旅行至关重要。健忘症患者与失忆症患者一样，这两类人群在制定计划时都显得很费劲。夏克特博士和他研究生院的顾问托尔文 (Endel Tulving)在80年代就开始观察患者K.C. 。 For example, when patient K.C., whom Dr. Schacter and his graduate-school adviser, Endel Tulving, observed in the 1980s, was asked what he would do the next day, he couldn't come up with specifics. He might say something like, 'I think I'll have breakfast,' but failed to provide any details about what he might have or where he would go, according to Dr. Schacter.

举个例子，当K.C. 被问及第二天将干什么时，他却说不出详尽的答案。夏克特博士说，K.C. 可能会说出一些类似“我觉得我要吃早餐”之类的话，但却提供不了任何相关细节，比如他可能会吃什么或者他要去哪儿吃。

In 2007, Demis Hassabis, a research fellow at the Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit at University College London, and his colleagues published a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences showing in five amnesiac patients an impoverished ability to imagine and describe future events. The finding generated much excitement in the field and has spurred more research.

2007年，伦敦大学学院盖茨比计算神经科学组 (Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit)的研究人员丹米斯•哈撒比斯 (Demis Hassabis)与其同事在《美国国家科学院学报》

( Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)上发表的一项研究表明，五名健忘症患者在想象与描述未来事件时表现出来的能力都极其有限。此发现在该领域引起了轰动，也激发促成了更多的研究。

Scientists have conducted many studies in the lab since showing that young, healthy adults are much better at imagining future scenarios than older people whose memories have deteriorated. Schizophrenics, who are known to have problems with memory recall, also have trouble imagining the future.

那之后科学家们在实验室里进行了很多次研究，结果都表明在想象未来情景方面，健康年轻的成年人比记忆力减退的老年人表现得更出色。那些难以忆起往事的精神分裂症患者在描绘未来时也是困难重重。

（来源：WSJ ）