忘記一件事往往令人沮喪。比如當你走進一個地方卻忘記瞭為什麼要去，或者和一個認識的人打招呼卻不記得對方的名字。但實際上，遺忘某些記憶的能力對生物的生存十分重要。本文討論為什麼遺忘也是一種必要的能力。
詞匯：memory 記憶
Have you ever bumped into someone and their name just doesn’t come to you? Or, you walk into a room and suddenly can’t recall why you’re there? Being forgetful can be really annoying, sometimes even embarrassing. But what if I told you that there are actually good reasons for our memories fading away?
In a AYYBLOG interview, neuroscientist Charan Ranganath uses a hoarding analogy. We don’t tend to store everything we’ve ever owned in our house. Similarly, we don’t need to store all our memories either. He says, “If we didn’t forget anything, we’d be hoarding memories, and you’d never be able to find what you want, when you want it.” For example, you don’t need to remember the hotel number weeks after you’ve left the hotel or memorise all the faces you pass on the street.
We also need to be able to forget things in order to update our memories with new information. Imagine you get used to the same school timetable or work schedule for a whole year, but the next year, you have new procedures or routines. Your brain needs to be flexible and forget irrelevant details in order to handle the new information. Or, maybe it’s been 10 years since you last saw a distant relative. It’s likely their face has changed a lot since then, so that memory needs to be updated as well.
And, if you’ve ever been convinced that you know a word, but it just doesn’t pop into your head, you’re not alone. This tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon may suggest that some things are not fully forgotten, just currently inaccessible. Those with a higher level of knowledge are more affected by this, according to studies such as ‘Impact of knowledge and age on tip-of-the-tongue rates’, because their brains have to sort through more information to find the word.
Memories are sometimes compared to a cliff: once they have crumbled, they are lost and cannot be retrieved. However, in their article ‘Forgetfulness: Why your mind going blank can be a benefit’, Sanjay Sarma and Luke Yoquinto write that forgetting, it seems, is “less like a cliff slowly collapsing into the sea, and more like a house deep in the woods that becomes harder and harder to find”.
詞匯表
come to (someone) 突然被…想起、記起
recall 回想起，記起
forgetful 健忘的
fade away 漸漸消失
neuroscientist 神經科學傢
hoard 囤積，貯藏
store 保存，儲存
memorise 記住，記憶
update 更新
flexible 靈活的，彈性的
pop into 出現
tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon 話到嘴邊卻想不起來的現象
sort through 篩選，整理
retrieve 重新取回，找回
go blank （想法）一片空白
測驗與練習
1. 閱讀課文並回答問題。
1. What is Charan Ranganath’s hoarding analogy?
2. What are two examples given for why we need to update our memories?
3. What is the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon?
4. True or False? People with higher levels of knowledge are more likely to experience the tip-of-the-tongue-phenomenon.
5. Do Sanjay Sarma and Luke Yoquinto agree that memory is like a cliff collapsing?
2. 選擇意思恰當的單詞或詞組來完成下列句子。
1. I was struggling to remember his name but then it just _______ my head!
stored faded away sorted through popped into
2. Dad has become more _______ with age.
memorised hoarder forgetful neuroscientist
3. As soon as I walked on stage, my mind just _______ and I forgot my speech.
go blank went blank going blank has gone blank
4. She’s kept every train ticket she’s ever bought – she _______ them in her room.
hoards updates memorises retrieves
5. Ah yes, I know her face! What’s her name? It’s on the _______…
top of my tooth tip of my tongue start of my tongue tip of my lips
答案
1. 閱讀課文並回答問題。
1. What is Charan Ranganath’s hoarding analogy?
The hoarding analogy says that just as we don’t tend to store everything we’ve ever owned in our house, we don’t need to store all our memories either.
2. What are two examples given for why we need to update our memories?
Examples for when you have to update your memory include when you are given a new timetable or routine, and when you see a relative you haven’t seen for years.
3. What is the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon?
The tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon is where you are convinced you know a word, but it doesn’t pop into your head.
4. True or False? People with higher levels of knowledge are more likely to experience the tip-of-the-tongue-phenomenon.
True. Those with a higher level of knowledge are more affected by this, because their brains have to sort through more information to find the word.
5. Do Sanjay Sarma and Luke Yoquinto agree that memory is like a cliff collapsing?
No. They say memory is “less like a cliff slowly collapsing into the sea, and more like a house deep in the woods that becomes harder and harder to find”.
2. 選擇意思恰當的單詞或詞組來完成下列句子。
1. I was struggling to remember his name but then it just popped into my head!
2. Dad has become more forgetful with age.
3. As soon as I walked on stage, my mind just went blank and I forgot my speech.
4. She’s kept every train ticket she’s ever bought – she hoards them in her room.
5. Ah yes, I know her face! What’s her name? It’s on the tip of my tongue…
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