研究：選擇性記憶代表智商更高 偶爾健忘有益健康

上週剛見過的人，這周又不記得叫什麼名字了。總愛忘事兒讓人煩惱，然而最新研究表明，健忘可能是優點。大腦選擇性的記憶能讓你做出更明智的決策，也體現出你的高智商。

You can relax if remembering everything is not your strong suit. Recent research makes the case that being forgetful can be a strength — in fact, selective memory can even be a sign of stronger intelligence.
如果事事牢記不是你的強項，你可以放心了。最新研究表明，健忘可能是個優點。事實上，選擇性記憶甚至可能表明智商更高。

Traditional research on memory has focused on the advantages of remembering everything. But looking through years of recent memory data, researchers Paul Frankland and Blake Richards of the University of Toronto found that the neurobiology of forgetting can be just as important to our decision-making as what our minds choose to remember.
傳統上有關記憶的研究一直專注於牢記不忘的優勢。但是，通過最近幾年統計的記憶數據，加拿大多倫多大學的研究人員保羅•弗蘭克蘭和布萊克•理查茲發現，就決策而言，與遺忘有關的神經生物學同大腦選擇牢記不忘同等重要。

“The goal of memory is not the transmission of information through time, per se. Rather, the goal of memory is to optimize decision-making. As such, transience is as important as persistence in mnemonic systems,” their study in Neuron states.
他們發表在《神經元》期刊上的研究論文指出：“記憶的目的本質上不是隨着時間流逝傳遞信息。相反，記憶的目的是優化決策。因此，記憶系統的短暫性與持久性一樣重要。”

Making intelligent decisions does not mean you need to have all the information at hand, it just means you need to hold onto the most valuable information. And that means clearing up space in your memory palace for the most up-to-date information on clients and situations. Our brains do this by generating new neurons in our hippocampus, which have the power to overwrite existing memories that are influencing our decision-making.
理性決策並不意味着你需要隨時掌握所有信息，它僅僅意味着你需要緊緊抓住最有價值的信息。這意味着要在記憶宮殿中爲最新的客戶和情景信息清理出空間。大腦通過產生新的海馬體神經元完成清理，海馬體能夠改寫影響人們決策的現有記憶。

“If you’re trying to navigate the world and your brain is constantly bringing up multiple conflicting memories, that makes it harder for you to make an informed decision,” Richards told Science Daily.
理查茲告訴《每日科學》的記者：“如果你試圖應對複雜情況，而你的大腦不停地記起多種互相矛盾的記憶，那會讓你難以做出明智的決策。”

If you want to increase the number of new neurons in our brain’s learning region, try exercising. Moderate aerobic exercise like jogging, power walking, and swimming have been found to increase the number of neurons making important connections in our brains.
如果你想增加大腦學習區域的新神經元數量，可以嘗試鍛鍊。研究發現，諸如慢跑、健步行走和游泳這類適度的有氧鍛鍊可以增加大腦內部重要連接區域的神經元數量。

When we forget the names of certain clients and details about old jobs, our brain is making a choice that these details do not matter. Although too much forgetfulness can be a cause for concern, the occasional lost detail can be a sign of a perfectly healthy memory system. The researchers found that our brains facilitate decision-making by stopping us from focusing too much on minor past details. Instead, the brain promotes generalization, helping us remember the most important gist of a conversation.
如果人們忘記了某些客戶的姓名和原先崗位的細節，那是大腦在進行選擇，認爲這些細節無關緊要。雖然嚴重健忘可能令人擔憂，但是偶爾忘記枝節小事可能表明記憶系統非常健康。研究人員發現人們的大腦通過阻止人過多關注以往的細枝末節來加強決策能力。大腦通過促進歸納來幫助人們記住最重要的談話要點。

“One of the things that distinguishes an environment where you’re going to want to remember stuff versus an environment where you want to forget stuff is this question of how consistent the environment is and how likely things are to come back into your life,” Richards said.
理查茲說：“區分究竟該記住還是該遺忘的要素之一就是：相關情景的一致程度如何及其在生活中再現的可能性有多大。”

If you’re an analyst who meets with a client weekly, your brain will recognize that this is a client whose name and story you need to remember. If this is someone you may never meet again, your brain will weigh that information accordingly.
如果你是個分析師，與一名客戶每週見一次，你的大腦會判斷出這個客戶的姓名和經歷必須記住。如果是一個你也許再也不會見到的人，你的大腦會相應地權衡這個信息。

We can get critiqued for being absent-minded when we forget past events in perfect detail. These findings show us that total recall can be overrated. Our brains are working smarter when they aim to remember the right stories, not every story.
如果你忘記了老客戶的具體信息，可能會受到批評，說你心不在焉。這些研究結果表明完整記憶的重要性可能被過分誇大了。人類的大腦非常聰明，它們只記住該記住的內容，而不是所有內容。