為什么我們不記得人生最初幾年的事？

Did you ever wonder why you have no memory of when you were a baby or very young child？

你有沒有想過，為什么你不記得當你是個嬰幼兒時發(fā)生的事情？

Researchers in the United States are investigating1 this question. The researchers work at Temple University in Philadelphia， Pennsylvania.

美國的研究人員們正在研究這個問題。這些研究人員在賓夕法尼亞州費城的坦普爾大學工作。

The question of why adults do not remember how they learned to walk or talk has long been a mystery2.

成年人為什么不記得他們是如何學會走路或說話的，這長久以來一直是個謎。

Nora Newcombe is a psychology3 professor at the university. She joined Zoe Ngo， a Temple graduate student， in the memory research project.

諾拉·紐康比是這所大學的心理學教授。她同坦普爾大學的研究生佐伊·恩格一起，進行該記憶研究項目。

Newcombe says， “You know you learned how to walk and talk， but the funny thing is that you dont remember when and how you learned this.”

紐康比說：“你知道你學會了走路和說話，但有趣的是，你不記得你是什么時候和怎么學會的?！?/p>

The Temple University study involved computer■based tests. The tests were designed to work like games. They were given to 32 four■year■olds， 32 six■year■olds and 50 young adults.

坦普爾大學的研究涉及到計算機測試。測試像玩游戲一樣輕松。該研究對32個四歲的孩子，32個六歲的孩子和50個年輕人進行測試。

The tests measured the memory process that helps people recognize differences between experiences， for example， a walk with your dog when you saw a friend， and a different walk without your dog or when you did not see your friend.

測試測量了記憶的過程，幫助人們識別不同體驗之間的差異，例如：帶著你的狗散步時，你遇到了一個朋友和沒有你的狗陪伴時或沒有遇到你的朋友時的不同的散步體驗。

“In order to remember those kind of autobiographical4 events， you need to relate one element5 to another，” Newcombe said. She notes that many people often take walks in a favorite park， but the experience might differ one day from another.

紐康比說：“為了記住這些自傳性的事件，你需要把一個元素與另一個元素聯(lián)系起來?！彼赋?，很多人經(jīng)常在最喜歡的公園里散步，但這個經(jīng)歷可能每天并不相同。

Special memory skills are needed to remember when different events happen， like meeting a friend， she said. It is known as relational6 memory.

她說，需要特殊的記憶技巧來記住不同的事情發(fā)生的時間，比如和一個朋友見面。這被稱為關(guān)聯(lián)記憶。

This skill would also be important to remembering where you parked your car today， compared to where you left it yesterday or last week.

相比于你昨天或上周停車的地方，這一技巧對于記住你今天把車停在哪里也很重要。

The second test involved showing the test subjects and a number of photographs. The children and young adults taking the test were asked to compare the first group of photos with a second set of pictures.

第二個測試涉及到測試對象和一些照片。研究人員要求參加測試的兒童和年輕人將第一組照片與第二組照片進行比較。

Sometimes， the two sets of photos were the same. But other times， they were different. Remembering differences in objects， such as pictures， is known as pattern separation.

有時，兩組照片是一樣的，但有時候是不同的。記憶物體上的差異，如圖片的差異，被稱為模式分離。

The results showed that in both tests， six■year■olds showed far better memory than 4■year olds. The six■year■olds performed about as well as the young adults on the two tests.

結(jié)果顯示，在兩項測試中，6歲兒童的記憶力都比4歲孩子的記憶力要好得多。在這兩項測試中，6歲的孩子表現(xiàn)得和年輕人一樣好。

The two tests suggest that memory skills are more advanced7 for six■year■olds than 4■year■olds. That might help explain why adults do not remember when they learned to walk or talk. But they do remember their third， fourth or fifth birthdays.

這兩項測試表明，6歲的孩子的記憶技能比4歲的孩子的更成熟。這可能有助于解釋為什么成年人不記得他們是什么時候?qū)W會走路或說話的，但他們還記得自己的三、四歲或五歲生日的情景。

“We dont have any memories in the first two years of life， and all of a sudden were able to form these memories for specific past events，” said Temple graduate student Zoe Ngo. “So， there must be something going on in early childhood or middle childhood thats very interesting.”

“在最初的兩年里，我們沒有任何記憶，突然之間，我們就能夠形成這些過去的某些特定事件留存在我們腦海中的記憶”，坦普爾大學的研究生佐伊·恩格說，“因此，在我們童年或童年中期肯定有一些有趣的事情發(fā)生過。”

For some people， memory loss is just for recent events. People may not remember what they did that morning， but remember experiences from 50 years ago.

對有些人來說，對最近發(fā)生的事情也會記憶力減退。人們可能不記得那天早上做了什么，但卻記得50年前的經(jīng)歷。

But memory loss research is not limited to helping Alzheimers patients.

但是對記憶喪失的研究并不只局限于為了幫助老年癡呆癥患者。