Those different systems have limits, and a number of factors in our daily lives can impact our memory efficiency.
这些不同的系统有局限性, 我们日常生活中的许多因素 都会影响我们的记忆效率。
There was a famous neuropsychology case study of a patient referred to as patient HM,
有一个著名的神经心理学案例研究, 该患者被称为 HM 患者,
who became like a real-life Ten-Second Tom after brain surgery to treat a seizure disorder.
在脑部手术治疗癫痫发作障碍后, 他变得像现实版的 只有 10 秒记忆的汤姆一样。
In terms of his seizures, the surgery was a success.
就他的癫痫发作而言,手术取得了成功。
They were less severe and less frequent.
它们不那么严重,频率也较低。
But after his surgery, HM became unable to consciously learn new things.
但是在手术后, HM 变得无法自觉地学习新事物。
For example, he worked with the same neuropsychologist for years.
例如,他与同一位神经心理学家合作了多年。
He never remembered meeting her, he'd introduce himself each time.
他从来不记得见过她, 每次他都会自我介绍。
And he never remember doing the different tasks that she would bring to test his memory.
而且他从来不记得做过那些测试, 为检验他的记忆而设计的测试。
But here's the interesting part.
但这是有趣的部分。
His performance got better on some of those tasks over time.
随着时间的推移,他在其中 一些任务上的表现变得更好了,
He never remember doing them.
他从来不记得做过。
He always thought he was doing them for the first time.
他一直以为自己是第一次这样做。
But his brain had learned the procedures without him being aware.
但是他的大脑在他没有意识到的情况下 就学会了这些程序。
We learned from patient HM and others like him that there are different types of memory.
我们从病人 HM 和其他像他一样的人那里了解到, 记忆有不同的类型。
Some memories come to mind almost automatically.
有些回忆几乎会自动浮现在脑海中。
Like if you're walking through a garden and you smell the flowers that your grandma used to keep on her kitchen table, and all of a sudden,
就像你在花园里散步,闻到奶奶 以前放在厨房桌子上的花朵的味道, 突然之间,
you're thinking of your favorite memory with your grandma.
你想起了 你与奶奶在一起的美好回忆。
But other memories take more brainpower and effort to recall.
但是其他记忆需要 更多的脑力和精力才能回忆,
Like trying to remember my new computer password.
就像尝试记住我的新计算机密码一样。
Because some memories take more brainpower and effort to recall, they're also more prone to interference.
由于有些记忆需要更多的 脑力和精力才能回忆, 因此它们也更容易受到干扰。
You're at the grocery store, and you're trying to remember 10 things that you need to pick up.
你在杂货店, 你正在努力记住需要买的 10 件东西。
But you run into your neighbor in the produce section, and after a few minutes of chit chat, hearing about their new car,
但是你在农产品区遇到了邻居, 在闲聊了几分钟, 听说他们的新车之后,
you can only remember two of those 10 things.
你只能记住这 10 件事中的两件事。
Even though our memory storage is pretty impressive -- 5,000 iPhones big -- the short-term memory that you're using to keep track of your grocery list is more like seven,
Doesn't have to be huge or major stressors, either.
也不一定是巨大或主要的压力源。
All those day-to-day stresses, pressures and deadlines take up brain space, too, and force our brain to do a bunch of mental multitasking.
所有这些日常焦虑、压力 和最后期限也占用了大脑空间, 迫使我们的大脑进行大量的多任务处理。
Last summer, I locked myself in a stairwell twice in the same week because I was trying to do this mental multitasking.
去年夏天,我在同一周 把自己锁在楼梯间里两次, 因为我正在一心多用。
I was packing up at the end of the day, and at the same time, I was thinking about phone calls I needed to make tomorrow,
一天结束时我正在收拾行装, 同时,我在想明天要打的电话,
and ideas for a project that I was working on and what I was going to make for supper that night and whether I should pick up my daughter before or after I get groceries.