[雙語新聞] 研究表明:記住的東西太多反而影響記憶力

 

Scientists say the problem is that you know too much - and you need to declutter, or spring-clean your mind.
科學(xué)家稱記不住東西是因為你記住太多東西。你需要對你的大腦進(jìn)行一次大掃除，刪除多余的記憶。

Experiments show that the memory lapses that come with age are not simply due to brain slowing down. Instead, they can be blamed on the well-used brain finding it more and more difficult to stop irrelevant information interfering with the task in hand.
實驗顯示，年紀(jì)大的人記憶力差并不是因為腦子不夠用，恰恰相反，正是因為他們頭腦運轉(zhuǎn)靈活，處理手頭工作時，不相干的記憶會不停地冒出來干擾他們。

The first step in the study was to compare the working memory of the young and old.In the context of the study, it involved giving the volunteers groups of sentences and asking them to work out whether each line made sense - and to remember the last word of each sentence.Overall, the younger people, who had an average age of 23, did better.
第一項實驗是對比年輕人和老年人的短期記憶能力。具體的試驗內(nèi)容包括給實驗對象一組句子，讓他們判斷這些句子是否有意義，并且記住每句話的最后一個單詞。
結(jié)果顯示平均年齡為23歲的年輕實驗對象做的更好。

Researchers then did a second experiment to see what was hindering the older volunteers, who had an average age of 67. This involved being shown  pictures of eight animals and being asked to memorize the order in which the creatures appeared.
研究人員進(jìn)行了第二項實驗，目的在于找到影響這群平均年齡為67歲的老年實驗對象的原因。實驗內(nèi)容包括給他們看八幅動物圖片，并記住圖片出現(xiàn)的先后次序。

The volunteers were then shown dozens of the pictures and asked to click on their computer mouse when the first animal in their memorized sequence occurred, then the second and so on. The older adults found it more difficult to progress, suggesting the previous picture was stuck in their mind.
實驗結(jié)束后，研究人員要求這些老年人根據(jù)自己的記憶在電腦屏幕上按圖片出現(xiàn)順序點擊動物圖片。這些老年人表示這個實驗很難，因為上一幅圖片在他們腦子里揮之不去。

Mervin Blair, of Montreal's Concordia University, said: "We found that the older adults had more difficulty in getting rid of previous information, which accounted for a lot of the working memory problems seen in the study."
蒙特利爾肯考迪亞大學(xué)的馬文•布萊爾說：“我們發(fā)現(xiàn)老年人不太容易忘掉過去的事情，正是這個原因?qū)е铝硕唐谟洃浾系K。”

A third study confirmed that the memory problems were not simply due to a simple slowing down of the mind.
第三項實驗證明記不住東西并不是因為思維速度減緩。

Mr Blair says that the older mind appears to have trouble suppressing irrelevant information. This makes it more difficult to concentrate on the here and now. For those who have trouble remembering, he suggests relaxation exercises to declutter the mind.
布萊爾稱老年人似乎很難摒除無關(guān)信息，這讓他們很難集中精力處理眼前的工作。他建議那些記不住東西的人放松身心，忘掉那些不重要的事情。

"Reduce clutter, if you don't, you may not get anything done."
他說道：“忘掉不重要的記憶，才能做好當(dāng)前的事情。”