Wemayallhavehadtheembarrassingmoment:Gettinghalf-waythroughastoryonlytorealizethatwe’vetoldthisexacttalebeforetothesameperson.Whydowemakesuchmemorymistakes?AccordingtoresearchpublishedinPsychological
Wemayallhavehadtheembarrassingmoment:Gettinghalf-waythroughastoryonlytorealizethatwe’vetoldthisexacttalebeforetothesameperson.Whydowemakesuchmemorymistakes?
AccordingtoresearchpublishedinPsychologicalScienceitmayhavetodowiththewayourbrainsprocessdifferenttypesofmemory.
ResearchersNigelGopieoftheRotmanResearchInstituteinTorontoandColinMacleodoftheUniversityofWaterloodividedmemoryintotwokinds.Thefirstwassourcememoryortheabilitytokeeptrackofwhereinformationiscomingfrom.Thesecondwasdestinationmemoryortheabilitytorecallwhowehavegiveninformationto.
Theyfoundthatsourcememoryfunctionsbetterthandestinationmemoryinpartbecauseofthedirectioninwhichthatinformationistravelling.
Tostudythedifferencesbetweensourceanddestinationmemorytheresearchersdidanexperimenton60universitystudentsaccordingtoaNewYorkTimesreport.Thestudentswereaskedtoassociate(联想)50random(随意的)factswiththefacesof50famouspeople.Halfofthestudents"told"eachfacttooneofthefacesreadingitaloudwhenthecelebrity's(名人的)pictureappearedonacomputerscreen.Theotherhalfreadeachfactsilentlyandsawadifferentcelebritypictureafterward.
Whenlateraskedtorecallwhichfactswentwithwhichfacesthestudentswhoweregivinginformationout(destinationmemory)scoredabout16percentloweronmemoryperformancecomparedwiththestudentsreceivinginformation(sourcememory).
Theresearchersconcludedthatout-goinginformationwaslessassociatedwithitsenvironmentalcontext(背景)----thatistheperson----thanwasincominginformation.
Thismakessensegivenwhatisknownaboutattention.Apersonwhoisgivinginformationevenlittlefactswilldevotesomementalresourcestothinkingaboutwhatisbeingsaid.Becauseourattentionislimitedwegivelessattentiontothepersonwearegivinginformationto.
Afterasecondexperimentwithanothergroupof40studentstheresearchersconcludedthatself-focusisanotherfactorthatunderminesdestinationmemory.
Theyaskedhalfthestudentstocontinuegivingoutrandominformationwhiletheothertoldthingsaboutthemselves.Thistimea
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