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The Science of Memory: An Infinite Loop in the Brain
Jill Price can rattle off, without hesitation, what she saw and heard on almost any given date. She remembers many early childhood experiences and most of the days between the ages of 9 and 15. There are virtually no gaps in her memory.
She can also date events that were reported in the media, provided she heard about them at the time. When and where did the Concorde crash? When was O.J. Simpson arrested? When did the second Gulf War begin? Price doesn't even have to stop and think. She can effortlessly recite the dates, numbers and entire stories.
“People say to me: Oh, how fascinating, it must be a treat to have a perfect memory,” she says. Her lips twist into a thin smile. “But it's also agonizing.”
In addition to good memories, every angry word, every mistake, every disappointment, every shock and every moment of pain goes unforgotten. Time heals no wounds for Price. “I don't look back at the past with any distance. It's more like experiencing everything over and over again, and those memories trigger exactly the same emotions in me. It's like an endless, chaotic film that can completely overpower me. And there's no stop button.”
Can someone who cannot forget even fall in love? Can they forgive, either others or themselves? Price's life has had its share of suffering, including family strife, her mother's cancer and, later, the sudden death of her husband Jim. Because she was hounded by bad memories, grew depressed and feared that she was going crazy, she sat in front of her computer on June 5, 2000 and typed a single word into Google: memory.
That was how Price found James McGaugh, and became part of a scientific case study.
McGaugh is one of the leading experts on memory in the United States. He founded the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory at the University of California in Irvine.
“I was skeptical, of course, when Jill told me her story,” says McGaugh, a slim, grey-haired man with glasses. “But I've spent most of my life studying the mechanisms in the brain that are associated with the development of lasting memories. So I thought that I should at least meet the woman.”
McGaugh and his staff realized they were looking at an exotic case, perhaps even a scientific sensation. For that reason they took a thorough approach, and for five years they subjected Price to batteries of neuropsychological(神經(jīng)心理學(xué)的)tests, combed the professional literature for similar cases and developed special questionnaires to allow them to test her memory.
Once she was asked to write down the dates of all Easter holidays from 1980 to 2003. “It took her 10 minutes, and she only got one of the 24 dates wrong, where she was off by two days,” says McGaugh. He had Price repeat the test two years later, and the second time she got all the dates right. “I thought that was especially impressive,” says McGaugh, “because she is Jewish. Easter means nothing to her.”
McGaugh and his colleagues concluded that Price's episodic memory, her recollection of personal experiences and the emotions associated with them, is virtually perfect. A case like this has never been described in the history of memory research, according to McGaugh. He explains that Price differs substantially from other people with special powers of recall, such as autistic savants(自閉學(xué)者), because she uses no strategies to help her remember and even does a surprisingly poor job on some memory tests.
It's difficult for her to memorize poems or series of numbers—which helps explain why she never stood out in school. Her semantic memory, the ability to remember facts not directly related to everyday life, is only average.
Two years ago, the scientists published their first conclusions in a professional journal without revealing the identity of their subject. Since then, more than 200 people have contacted McGaugh, all claiming to have an equally perfect episodic memory. Most of them were exposed as fakes. Three did appear to have similarly astonishing abilities.“Their personalities are very different. The others are not as anxious as Jill. But they achieve comparable results in the tests,” McGaugh reports. The subjects do have certain compulsive traits in common, says McGaugh, especially compulsive hoarding.
In neurobiological terms, a memory is a stored pattern of links between nerve cells in the brain. It is created when synapses in a network of neurons are activated for a short time. The more often the memory is recalled afterwards, the more likely it is that permanent links develop between the nerve cells—and the pattern will be stored as a long-term memory. In theory there are so many possible links that an almost unlimited number of memories can be permanently stored.
So why don't all people have the same powers of recollection as Jill Price? “If we could remember everything equally well, the brain would be hopelessly overburdened and would operate more slowly,” says McGaugh. He says forgetting is a necessary condition of having a viable memory—except in the case of Price and the other three memory superstars.
For McGaugh, there is another reason why people with such phenomenal memory are so puzzling. They challenge a theory on which his research has been based for the last half a century. This theory, based on clinical observation, says memories are stored in greater detail and with more staying power when they are tied to emotion.
Sensations are emotionally processed in the amygdala, a specific part of the brain's limbic system. There decisions are made as to which information should remain in long-term memory. The more powerfully the amygdala is activated, the greater the likelihood of a permanent memory. “But now here we have these four people who seem to violate this principle, because they also remember the most banal and inconsequential things,” says McGaugh.
1. When people admire Price's perfect memory, she shows a thin smile because _____.
A. it just brings her good memory
B. it also causes her some troubles
C. she appreciates those praises
D. she is gifted by God
2. Price became depressed and was afraid that she was going crazy because _____.
A. her husband Jim died suddenly
B. she feared about the future
C. she didn't know why her memory was so perfect
D. she was wrenched by bad memories consistently
3. When McGaugh first heard Price's story, _____.
A. he felt she was an odd woman
B. he determined to cure he
C. he thought it unimaginable
D. he didn't plan to meet her
4. When first was asked to write down the dates of all Easter holidays from 1980 to 2003, how many mistakes did Price make?
A. One.
B. Two.
C. Twenty-two.
D. Twenty-four.
5. Price didn't study very well because _____.
A. she preferred to learn poems only
B. she had difficulties memorizing series of numbers
C. she only remembered facts that directly related to daily life
D. she didn't pay much attention to her study
6. The other three subjects with perfect episodic memory _____.
A. had different abilities
B. has different personalities
C. were as anxious as Price
D. achieved different results in the tests
7. In neurobiological terms, memories can be permanently stored when _____.
A. they are stored as pattern of links between nerve cells
B. synapses in a network of neurons are activated for a short time
C. they are stored in more nerve cells in the brain
D. permanent links develop between the nerve cells
8. For common people, _____ is a necessary condition of having a viable memory.
9. McGaugh's research was based on the theory that memories are stored in greater detail when _____.
10. Price and the other three subjects violated McGaugh's theory in that they also remember _____ things.
文章精要:
Jill Price的記憶力非常好,殊不知在別人艷羨的背后,她經(jīng)受著痛苦的折磨??茖W(xué)家McGangh對她的情況進(jìn)行了研究,至今仍無定論。
答案解析:
1. B 根據(jù)題干信息詞thin smile定位到第三段末句。文章提到,當(dāng)人們都夸贊Price的非凡記憶力時,她總是撇嘴一笑。她說記性好也使她很煩惱,即記性好給她帶來了很多麻煩,故選B。
2. D 根據(jù)題干信息詞depressed和going crazy定位到第五段末句。文章提到,由于一些不愉快的記憶一直糾纏她,她變得越來越壓抑,害怕自己會瘋掉。所以這些不好的記憶是在折磨她,故D正確。hound意為“追捕,追逐”,常指被壞的事物糾纏;wrench意為“折磨”。
3. C 根據(jù)題干信息詞first heard定位到第八段首句。文中提到,當(dāng)McGaugh聽說了Price的故事后表示懷疑,即他認(rèn)為很不可思議,故選C。skeptical意為“懷疑的”。
4. A 根據(jù)題干信息詞wrong定位到第十段第二句。文章提到,McGaugh第一次要求Price寫下1980年到2003年之間復(fù)活節(jié)的日期時,她只用了十分鐘就寫下了24個日期,但錯了一個,與正確的日期只差了兩天,故選A。
5. B 根據(jù)題干信息詞study well定位到第十二段首句。文章提到,Price很難記住詩歌或者一連串?dāng)?shù)字,這可以解釋為什么她在學(xué)校成績不突出,故答案為B。選項C的表述過于絕對,因此不能入選。
6. B 根據(jù)題干和答案信息詞three subjects,abilities,personalities定位到第十三段第四句,答案一目了然,應(yīng)選B。comparable results意為“結(jié)果相當(dāng),結(jié)果差不多”,而D項中的different results與之不符,故排除。
7. D 根據(jù)題干信息詞neurobiological定位到倒數(shù)第四段首句和第三句。文章指出,從生物學(xué)的角度看,記憶是以大腦神經(jīng)細(xì)胞連接的形式儲存起來的,如果某段記憶越多地被回想起來,那么相應(yīng)的連接就越持久,記憶也就越持久,故答案為D。
8. forgetting。根據(jù)題干信息詞a viable memory定位到倒數(shù)第三段末句,此處答案顯然應(yīng)填forgetting。
9. they are tied to emotion。根據(jù)題干信息詞McGaugh's research,theory定位到倒數(shù)第二段末句。文章指出,McGaugh說當(dāng)記憶與情感聯(lián)系在一起的時候,記憶就更具體,也更持久,故答案為they are tied to emotion。
10. the most banal and inconsequential。根據(jù)題干信息詞violated可定位到原文最后一句。文章指出,McGaugh說他的理論不能解釋這四位研究對象的情況,因為他們也記住了那些最平凡、最沒有規(guī)律的事情,故答案為the most banal and inconsequential。
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