如何科學(xué)的原諒并遺忘...

When Lauren Conrad looked Heidi Montag straight inthe eye and said "I want to forgive you, and then Iwant to forget you" on a tension-filled episode ofThe Hills, that was the linear definition of a mood ifI've ever seen one. I remember watching the sceneunfold, thinking about how Los Angeles hadprobably never been so cold than it was in that verymoment, and admiring Conrad for doing, at least tome, the unthinkable. To this day, I've never beenable to figure out how to really forgive and forget, and wipe my life clean of a specific person ormemory. I can't imagine it's an easy skill to master, but according to new research, it'sdefinitely possible, so at least there's that shred of comfort.

記得在《希爾山》里情感迸發(fā)的一個(gè)情節(jié)，當(dāng)勞倫·康拉德深情注視著海蒂·蒙塔格，并說(shuō)“我想要原諒你，如此我才能忘記你。” 這個(gè)情節(jié)成了我心中最直接的情感的定義?？粗楣?jié)一步步發(fā)展，只覺(jué)得那一刻洛杉磯變得格外冰冷。我羨慕康拉德，至少對(duì)我來(lái)說(shuō)，是不敢做出像她那樣直接的舉動(dòng)的。 直到今天，我仍不明白怎樣才能真正地原諒和忘卻，才能把一個(gè)人從我的記憶中抹去。我不敢相信忘記是一件輕而易舉的事情，但最新的研究表明，這的確是可能的，至少給了我些許寬慰。

The ironic thing about forgiving and forgetting is that actively trying not to remember someoneor something, actually takes more effort than remembering does. At least, that's the story thatresearchers from the University of Texas at Austin are rolling with as a result of their mostrecent study, which explored how to intentionally forget certain memories.

具有諷刺意味的是，積極地試圖忘記某人或某事，實(shí)際上比記憶他們要付出更多的努力。 至少，這是德克薩斯州大學(xué)奧斯汀分校的研究人員在他們最近的研究中得出的結(jié)論，這項(xiàng)研究探索了如何有意識(shí)地忘記某些記憶。

 

 

According to UT Austin's official press release on the study, researchers were looking todemonstrate that humans are capable of making themselves forget a memory beyond thenatural elimination process that happens in the brain over time. They found that consciouslyforgetting requires "moderate levels" of brain activity, compared to moments when you'retrying to put two and two together until the lightbulb goes off. Fascinating, right?

根據(jù)德克薩斯大學(xué)奧斯汀分校關(guān)于這項(xiàng)研究的官方新聞稿，研究人員希望證明，人類能夠使自己忘記一段記憶，而不是使之隨著時(shí)間的推移在大腦中發(fā)生自然排除。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)，與試圖把兩個(gè)燈泡放在一起，直到燈泡熄滅相比，有意識(shí)的遺忘需要"適度的"大腦活動(dòng)，很吸引人，對(duì)吧?

For their experiment, researchers recruited a group of healthy young adults who wereindividually shown of a series of images, and for each picture, the participants were instructedto either remember or forget what they were seeing. Per UT Austin's press release, theresearchers used neuroimaging in order to keep track of participants' brain activity throughoutthe study, and according to the results published in the Journal of Neuroscience, there's a fineline between how much brain power is necessary to strengthen or forget a memory.

在他們的實(shí)驗(yàn)中，研究人員招募了一組健康的年輕人，他們被單獨(dú)展示了一系列圖片，對(duì)于每張圖片，參與者被要求記住或者忘記他們所看到的。 根據(jù) UT 奧斯汀的新聞稿，研究人員在整個(gè)研究過(guò)程中使用了神經(jīng)成像技術(shù)來(lái)跟蹤參與者的大腦活動(dòng)，根據(jù)發(fā)表在《神經(jīng)科學(xué)雜志》上的結(jié)果，在加強(qiáng)或忘記記憶所需的大腦能量之間有一條細(xì)微的界限。

More specifically, according to lead author of the study, Tracy Wang, a "moderate level of brainactivity is critical to this forgetting mechanism." In other words, if you put too much effortinto forgetting a memory, you'll likely end up painting a clearer picture of the scenario in yourhead. But if you make too little of an effort to wipe your memory clean, the memory will likelystay put, according to Wang and her team's findings.

更具體地說(shuō)，根據(jù)該研究的主要作者Tracy Wang的說(shuō)法，“中等水平的大腦活動(dòng)對(duì)于這種遺忘機(jī)制至關(guān)重要。”換句話說(shuō)，如果你付出太多努力忘記記憶，你可能最終會(huì)在你頭腦中畫(huà)出更清晰的情景畫(huà)面。但根據(jù)wang和她的團(tuán)隊(duì)的研究結(jié)果，如果你沒(méi)有盡力消除記憶，那么反而記憶可能會(huì)留下來(lái)。

"It's the intention to forget that increases the activation of the memory," Wang explained. "When this activation hits the 'moderate level' sweet spot, that's when it leads to laterforgetting of that experience."

"遺忘的意圖增加了記憶的激活,"王教授解釋說(shuō)。 "當(dāng)這種激活達(dá)到'中等水平'的最佳點(diǎn)時(shí)，就會(huì)導(dǎo)致以后忘記那種體驗(yàn)。”

So what does this all mean in terms of forgiving and forgetting a person? Well, it's important tonote that while, clearly, intentionally forgetting is a skill you can learn and use at will, theresearchers in this study did point out that their participants had an easier time forgettingimages of scenes than they did images of human faces. But don't let that discourage you fromtrying, friends. If Lauren Conrad can forget Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt, then you cancertainly say buh-bye to toxic people in your life once and for all, too.

那么，這一切對(duì)于原諒和忘記一個(gè)人意味著什么呢? 值得注意的是，雖然有意識(shí)地遺忘是一種你可以隨意學(xué)習(xí)和使用的技能，但研究人員在這項(xiàng)研究中指出，他們的參與者更容易忘記場(chǎng)景圖像，而不是人臉圖像。 但是朋友們，不要因此而放棄嘗試。 如果勞倫•康拉德可以忘記海蒂•蒙塔格和斯賓塞•普拉特，那么你當(dāng)然也可以永遠(yuǎn)地和你生活中的壞人說(shuō)再見(jiàn)。

That being said, memories do have a tendency to kind of sneak up on you from time to time, which brings up an important question that this particular study hasn't answered: Are humansable to forgive and permanently forget? Michael Alcee, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist basedin Tarrytown, New York (who was not involved in the study), is skeptical.

也就是說(shuō)，記憶確實(shí)有一種時(shí)不時(shí)偷偷靠近你的傾向，這就帶來(lái)了一個(gè)重要的問(wèn)題，這個(gè)特殊的研究還沒(méi)有回答: 人類能夠原諒并且永久忘記嗎? 來(lái)自塔里敦的臨床心理學(xué)家邁克爾·阿爾塞博士(他沒(méi)有參與這項(xiàng)研究)對(duì)此表示懷疑。

"Although it can be possible with a certain degree of processing or psychotherapy to take downthe intensity and volume of certain memories, there is also some research to suggest thatmemories sometimes and often autonomously spring up," Alcee tells Elite Daily over email. When memories come up out of the blue, he explains, scientists have actually linked this to aprotein structure in the brain called prions, which are apparently responsible for the"seemingly random and whimsical nature of memory," he says.

"雖然通過(guò)一定程度的處理或心理治療可以降低某些記憶的強(qiáng)度和容量，但也有一些研究表明，記憶有時(shí)候會(huì)自動(dòng)產(chǎn)生,"阿爾茜在電子郵件中告訴《精英日?qǐng)?bào)》。 他解釋說(shuō)，當(dāng)記憶突然出現(xiàn)時(shí)，科學(xué)家實(shí)際上已經(jīng)將其與大腦中一種叫做朊病毒的蛋白質(zhì)結(jié)構(gòu)聯(lián)系起來(lái)，這種蛋白質(zhì)結(jié)構(gòu)顯然可以解釋“看似隨機(jī)和異想天開(kāi)的記憶本質(zhì)"，他說(shuō)。