科學研究告訴你如何真正原諒並忘記某人

When Lauren Conrad looked Heidi Montag straight in the eye and said "I want to forgive you, and then I want to forget you" on a tension-filled episode of The Hills, that was the linear definition of a mood if I've ever seen one. I remember watching the scene unfold, thinking about how Los Angeles had probably never been so cold than it was in that very moment, and admiring Conrad for doing, at least to me, the unthinkable. To this day, I've never been able to figure out how to really forgive and forget, and wipe my life clean of a specific person or memory. I can't imagine it's an easy skill to master, but according to new research, it's definitely possible, so at least there's that shred of comfort.

記得在《希爾山》裏情感迸發的一個情節，當勞倫·康拉德深情注視着海蒂·蒙塔格，並說“我想要原諒你，如此我才能忘記你。” 這個情節成了我心中最直接的情感的定義。看着情節一步步發展，只覺得那一刻洛杉磯變得格外冰冷。我羨慕康拉德，至少對我來說，是不敢做出像她那樣直接的舉動的。 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 someone or something, actually takes more effort than remembering does. At least, that's the story that researchers from the University of Texas at Austin are rolling with as a result of their most recent 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奧斯汀分校的研究人員在他們最近的研究中得出的結論，這項研究探索瞭如何有意識地忘記某些記憶。

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

根據德克薩斯大學奧斯汀分校關於這項研究的官方新聞稿，研究人員希望證明，人類能夠使自己忘記一段記憶，而不是使之隨着時間的推移在大腦中發生自然排除。他們發現，與試圖把兩個燈泡放在一起，直到燈泡熄滅相比，有意識的遺忘需要"適度的"大腦活動，很吸引人，對吧？

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

在他們的實驗中，研究人員招募了一組健康的年輕人，他們被單獨展示了一系列圖片，對於每張圖片，參與者被要求記住或者忘記他們所看到的。 根據 UT 奧斯汀的新聞稿，研究人員在整個研究過程中使用了神經成像技術來跟蹤參與者的大腦活動，根據發表在《神經科學雜誌》上的結果，在加強或忘記記憶所需的大腦能量之間有一條細微的界限。

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

更具體地說，根據該研究的主要作者Tracy Wang的說法，“中等水平的大腦活動對於這種遺忘機制至關重要。”換句話說，如果你付出太多努力忘記記憶，你可能最終會在你頭腦中畫出更清晰的情景畫面。但根據wang和她的團隊的研究結果，如果你沒有盡力消除記憶，那麼反而記憶可能會留下來。

"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 later forgetting of that experience."

"遺忘的意圖增加了記憶的激活,"王教授解釋說。 "當這種激活達到'中等水平'的最佳點時，就會導致以後忘記那種體驗。”

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

那麼，這一切對於原諒和忘記一個人意味着什麼呢？ 值得注意的是，雖然有意識地遺忘是一種你可以隨意學習和使用的技能，但研究人員在這項研究中指出，他們的參與者更容易忘記場景圖像，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，那麼你當然也可以永遠地和你生活中的壞人說再見。

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 humans able to forgive and permanently forget? Michael Alcee, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist based in Tarrytown, New York (who was not involved in the study), is skeptical.

也就是說，記憶確實有一種時不時偷偷靠近你的傾向，這就帶來了一個重要的問題，這個特殊的研究還沒有回答: 人類能夠原諒並且永久忘記嗎？ 來自塔裏敦的臨牀心理學家邁克爾·阿爾塞博士(他沒有參與這項研究)對此表示懷疑。

"Although it can be possible with a certain degree of processing or psychotherapy to take down the intensity and volume of certain memories, there is also some research to suggest that memories 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 a protein structure in the brain called prions, which are apparently responsible for the "seemingly random and whimsical nature of memory," he says.

"雖然通過一定程度的處理或心理治療可以降低某些記憶的強度和容量，但也有一些研究表明，記憶有時候會自動產生,"阿爾茜在電子郵件中告訴《精英日報》。 他解釋說，當記憶突然出現時，科學家實際上已經將其與大腦中一種叫做朊病毒的蛋白質結構聯繫起來，這種蛋白質結構顯然可以解釋“看似隨機和異想天開的記憶本質"，他說。