揭開人類記憶的祕密

人類的頭腦是個相當複雜而神奇的器官，我們對它的瞭解還是相當有限。而我們平時生活中從小到大積累的一些“常識”居然是錯的！現在就來看看你的常識“誤導”了你多少次吧！

1. People suffering from amnesia typically cannot recall their own name or identity.
1. 患有健忘症的人通常記不起自己的名字和身份。

Fully 83% of people agreed either 'mostly' or 'strongly' with this statement. In contrast all the experts disagreed 'mostly' or 'strongly' with this statement. In fact people suffering from amnesia normally can remember their own name and identity.
83%的人基本同意以上觀點。同時所有專家都不同意這個說法。其實患有健忘症的人一般是能夠記得自己的名字和身份的。

The reason people get this so wrong is probably because they are often exposed to incredibly inaccurate depictions of amnesia. Films like 'The Bourne Identity' (and every sitcom ever made that uses an amnesia plot) are partly to blame; while films like 'Memento', with its much more accurate depiction of amnesia, are in the minority.
給大衆留下這種觀念很可能是因爲大家平時接觸關於健忘症的描述都是錯的。類似於《諜影重重》這樣的電影就對大衆曲解健忘症負有部分責任；而《記憶拼圖》這樣的電影對健忘症的描述就比較靠譜了，但是這樣的電影卻是非常少的。

2. In my opinion, the testimony of one confident eyewitness should be enough evidence to convict a defendant of a crime.
2. 我覺得要鑑定嫌疑人罪名成不成立，看目擊證人的證詞就能確定了。

37% of the public agreed, while all experts disagreed. Actually eyewitness testimony can be frighteningly inaccurate. One of the problems with memory is that people are surprisingly suggestible.
這個觀點有37%的人認爲是對的，而專家表示這個觀點錯誤。其實目擊證人的證詞很可能會因爲害怕而不能真實反應當時情況。人的記憶還有一個大問題：人的耳根子是很軟的。

3. Human memory works like a video camera, accurately recording the events we see and hear so that we can review and inspect them later.
3. 人類的記憶力就像是攝像機，會把我們看到和聽到的東西正確、完全的記錄下來，這樣我們就可以在之後回顧它們。

63% of the public agreed, while all 16 experts disagreed. This is a surprisingly high percentage given how most people frequently have problems recalling basic facts. Human memory works nothing like a video camera.
這個觀點有63%的人同意，而16名專家們一致反對。在回憶基本事實這一方面有障礙的人數相當之多。人的記憶其實根本就不是攝像機那樣。

In reality what we recall is affected by our current emotional state, our motivations and so on. And, of course, a lot of the time we can't remember it at all.
其實我們的回憶經常會受到情緒、動機等因素的影響。當然很多時候我們乾脆把什麼都給忘了。

4. Hypnosis is useful in helping witnesses accurately recall details of crimes.
4. 催眠能幫目擊者回憶起犯罪細節。

55% of the public agreed, while 14 experts disagreed and 2 didn't know or thought it was unclear.
這一觀點有55%的人同意，而16名專家中，有14名專家反對，2名專家表示不確定。

Hypnosis is a bit more controversial, but still the public had a lot more faith in it than the psychologists. Part of the problem with hypnosis is that it can make people incredibly suggestible to completely false information.
催眠這個問題上爭議比較大，但是公衆對它的信任還是要比心理學家們的來得大。催眠的一個問題就是，它可以讓人們很大程度上受到一些完全錯誤的信息的影響。

5. Once you have experienced an event and formed a memory of it, that memory does not change.
5. 如果你經歷了某件事，並對其留下了記憶，那麼這段記憶就再也不會改變了。

48% of the public agreed while 15 experts disagreed and one thought it was unclear. Actually even so-called 'flashbulb memories' can be quite inaccurate or easily change over time.
48%人同意這個觀點，15位專家不同意這個觀點，1位專家表示不清楚。其實心理學中有一種記憶叫做“閃光燈記錄”，這種記憶很容易隨着時間的流逝更改或出現錯誤記憶。