第1664期:Are our early memories real?

What’s the first thing you remember doing? It could be playing with your friends at school, or going to a birthday party and eating amazing cake. Most of us have a treasured early memory of our childhood, but can we really believe those vivid memories? Did those special moments really happen – or did we make them up?

你记得做的第一件事是什么？可能是在学校和你的朋友一起玩，或者去参加生日聚会吃美味的蛋糕。我们大多数人都对童年有着珍贵的早期记忆，但我们真的可以相信那些生动的记忆吗？那些特殊的时刻真的发生了吗——还是我们编造的？

It’s a strange concept to grasp, but according to research, about four out of 10 of us invent our first childhood memory. Rather than having experienced something, we could have fabricated a fake memory from videos or photos we’ve seen. We could have been influenced by a story recounted to us that spurs our minds on to adopt someone else’s memory as our own. What it means is that memories of our younger years, especially before the age of two, may be inaccurate, or entirely false.

这是一个奇怪的概念，但根据研究，大约十分之四的人发明了我们的第一个童年记忆。我们可以根据看过的视频或照片编造虚假记忆，而不是经历过某些事情。我们可能会受到向我们讲述的一个故事的影响，这个故事会刺激我们的思想将别人的记忆当作我们自己的记忆。这意味着我们年轻时的记忆，尤其是两岁之前的记忆，可能是不准确的，或者完全是错误的。

But why don’t we have clear memories from that age? Well, our ability to retain memories from before the age of two isn’t great. While at that age we do have short-term memories, according to Catherine Loveday, an expert in autobiographical memory at the University of Westminster, the memories that infants make are not long-lasting. This is possibly due to the rapid creation of brain cells in our early years. Some scientists also believe that as we get older, our childhood memories fade and after the age of seven, we get some kind of ‘childhood amnesia’.

但为什么我们对那个时代没有清晰的记忆呢？好吧，我们保留两岁之前记忆的能力并不好。根据威斯敏斯特大学自传体记忆专家凯瑟琳·洛夫戴 (Catherine Loveday) 的说法，虽然在那个年龄我们确实有短期记忆，但婴儿的记忆并不持久。这可能是由于我们早年脑细胞的快速产生。一些科学家还认为，随着年龄的增长，我们的童年记忆会逐渐消失，七岁以后，我们会患上某种“童年失忆症”。

So why do we create fake memories? Some experts believe that there is a clear desire for a sense of self and having a cohesive story of our existence. Creating memories can fill in the gaps – giving us a more complete structure for our early lives. As we get older, we want to have a complete picture of our entire lives.↳

那么我们为什么要制造虚假记忆呢？一些专家认为，人们对自我意识和对我们的存在有一个连贯的故事有着明确的渴望。创造记忆可以填补空白——为我们的早年生活提供更完整的结构。随着年龄的增长，我们希望对自己的整个生活有一个完整的了解。

So, the next time someone says they have a clear memory from when they were one – or even before - just remember that while it could be true, there’s a chance they just invented it at some point in their lives.↳

因此，下一次有人说他们对自己的童年或什至以前记忆犹新时，请记住，虽然这可能是真的，但也有可能是他们在生活中的某个时刻发明的。↳

词汇表

treasured 珍视的，珍重的
vivid 鲜明的，生动的
concept 概念
grasp 理解，领会
fabricate 编造
recount 叙述
spur on 促使，激励
adopt 采纳，采用
inaccurate 不准确的
clear 清晰的
retain 记住
short-term memory 短期记忆
autobiographical 自传体的，与个人生活事件紧密相关的
long-lasting 持久的
brain cell 脑细胞
fade 逐渐被遗忘
amnesia 失忆
cohesive 完整连贯的