揭开人类记忆的秘密

人类的头脑是个相当复杂而神奇的器官，我们对它的了解还是相当有限。而我们平时生活中从小到大积累的一些“常识”居然是错的！现在就来看看你的常识“误导”了你多少次吧！

1. People suffering from amnesia typically cannot recall their own name or identity.

1. 患有健忘症的人通常记不起自己的名字和身份。

Fully 83% of people agreed either 'mostly' or 'strongly' with this statement. In contrast all the experts disagreed 'mostly' or 'strongly' with this statement. In fact people suffering from amnesia normally can remember their own name and identity.

83%的人基本同意以上观点。同时所有专家都不同意这个说法。其实患有健忘症的人一般是能够记得自己的名字和身份的。

The reason people get this so wrong is probably because they are often exposed to incredibly inaccurate depictions of amnesia. Films like 'The Bourne Identity' (and every sitcom ever made that uses an amnesia plot) are partly to blame; while films like 'Memento', with its much more accurate depiction of amnesia, are in the minority.

给大众留下这种观念很可能是因为大家平时接触关于健忘症的描述都是错的。类似于《谍影重重》这样的电影就对大众曲解健忘症负有部分责任；而《记忆拼图》这样的电影对健忘症的描述就比较靠谱了，但是这样的电影却是非常少的。

2. In my opinion, the testimony of one confident eyewitness should be enough evidence to convict a defendant of a crime.

2. 我觉得要鉴定嫌疑人罪名成不成立，看目击证人的证词就能确定了。

37% of the public agreed, while all experts disagreed. Actually eyewitness testimony can be frighteningly inaccurate. One of the problems with memory is that people are surprisingly suggestible.

这个观点有37%的人认为是对的，而专家表示这个观点错误。其实目击证人的证词很可能会因为害怕而不能真实反应当时情况。人的记忆还有一个大问题：人的耳根子是很软的。

3. Human memory works like a video camera, accurately recording the events we see and hear so that we can review and inspect them later.

3. 人类的记忆力就像是摄像机，会把我们看到和听到的东西正确、完全的记录下来，这样我们就可以在之后回顾它们。

63% of the public agreed, while all 16 experts disagreed. This is a surprisingly high percentage given how most people frequently have problems recalling basic facts. Human memory works nothing like a video camera.

这个观点有63%的人同意，而16名专家们一致反对。在回忆基本事实这一方面有障碍的人数相当之多。人的记忆其实根本就不是摄像机那样。

In reality what we recall is affected by our current emotional state, our motivations and so on. And, of course, a lot of the time we can't remember it at all.

其实我们的回忆经常会受到情绪、动机等因素的影响。当然很多时候我们干脆把什么都给忘了。

4. Hypnosis is useful in helping witnesses accurately recall details of crimes.

4. 催眠能帮目击者回忆起犯罪细节。

55% of the public agreed, while 14 experts disagreed and 2 didn't know or thought it was unclear.

这一观点有55%的人同意，而16名专家中，有14名专家反对，2名专家表示不确定。

Hypnosis is a bit more controversial, but still the public had a lot more faith in it than the psychologists. Part of the problem with hypnosis is that it can make people incredibly suggestible to completely false information.

催眠这个问题上争议比较大，但是公众对它的信任还是要比心理学家们的来得大。催眠的一个问题就是，它可以让人们很大程度上受到一些完全错误的信息的影响。

5. Once you have experienced an event and formed a memory of it, that memory does not change.

5. 如果你经历了某件事，并对其留下了记忆，那么这段记忆就再也不会改变了。

48% of the public agreed while 15 experts disagreed and one thought it was unclear. Actually even so-called 'flashbulb memories' can be quite inaccurate or easily change over time.

48%人同意这个观点，15位专家不同意这个观点，1位专家表示不清楚。其实心理学中有一种记忆叫做“闪光灯记录”，这种记忆很容易随着时间的流逝更改或出现错误记忆。