Are our early memories real?

What's the first thing you remember doing? It could be playing with your friends at school, or going to a birthday party and eating amazing cake. Most of us have a treasured early memory of our childhood, but can we really believe those vivid memories? Did those special moments really happen – or did we make them up?
你记忆中做的第一件事是什么？可能是在学校和朋友们一起玩耍，也可能是参加生日派对，吃着美味的蛋糕。我们中的大多数人都有一段珍贵的童年记忆，但我们真的能相信那些生动的回忆吗？那些特别的时刻是真的发生过，还是我们编造出来的？

It's a strange concept to grasp, but according to research, about four out of 10 of us invent our first childhood memory. Rather than having experienced something, we could have fabricated a fake memory from videos or photos we've seen. We could have been influenced by a story recounted to us that spurs our minds on to adopt someone else's memory as our own. What it means is that memories of our younger years, especially before the age of two, may be inaccurate, or entirely false.
这是个很难理解的概念，但根据研究，我们每 10 人中就有 4 人编造了自己童年的第一段记忆。我们可能不是亲身经历了什么，而是根据看过的视频或照片编造了一段虚假的记忆。我们可能受到了一个故事的影响，这个故事刺激了我们的思维，让我们把别人的记忆当成了自己的记忆。这意味着，我们幼年时期的记忆，尤其是两岁之前的记忆，可能是不准确的，甚至是完全虚假的。

But why don't we have clear memories from that age? Well, our ability to retain memories from before the age of two isn't great. While at that age we do have short-term memories, according to Catherine Loveday, an expert in autobiographical memory at the University of Westminster, the memories that infants make are not long-lasting. This is possibly due to the rapid creation of brain cells in our early years. Some scientists also believe that as we get older, our childhood memories fade and after the age of seven, we get some kind of 'childhood amnesia'.
但为什么我们没有那个年龄段的清晰记忆呢？我们保留两岁前记忆的能力并不强。根据威斯敏斯特大学自传体记忆专家凯瑟琳·洛夫戴的说法，虽然在那个年龄段我们确实有短期记忆，但婴儿的记忆并不持久。这可能是由于我们早年脑细胞的快速生成造成的。一些科学家还认为，随着年龄的增长，我们对童年的记忆会逐渐消失，7岁以后，我们就会患上某种“童年健忘症”。

So why do we create fake memories? Some experts believe that there is a clear desire for a sense of self and having a cohesive story of our existence. Creating memories can fill in the gaps – giving us a more complete structure for our early lives. As we get older, we want to have a complete picture of our entire lives.
那么，我们为什么要制造虚假记忆呢？一些专家认为，我们明显渴望有一种自我意识，渴望有一个关于我们存在的连贯故事。创造记忆可以填补空白——为我们早期的生活提供一个更完整的结构。随着年龄的增长，我们希望对自己的一生有一个完整的描述。

So, the next time someone says they have a clear memory from when they were one – or even before - just remember that while it could be true, there's a chance they just invented it at some point in their lives.
因此，下次如果有人说他们对自己一岁甚至更早的时候有清晰的记忆，请记住，虽然这可能是真的，但也有可能是他们在生命中的某个时刻编造出来的。

词汇表
treasured 珍视的，珍重的
vivid 鲜明的，生动的
concept 概念
grasp 理解，领会
fabricate 编造
recount 叙述
spur on 促使，激励
adopt 采纳，采用
inaccurate 不准确的
clear 清晰的
retain 记住
short-term memory 短期记忆
autobiographical 自传体的，与个人生活事件紧密相关的
long-lasting 持久的
brain cell 脑细胞
fade 逐渐被遗忘
amnesia 失忆
cohesive 完整连贯的

✔更多内容见公众号【琐简英语】，回复“1”，可进入【打卡交流群】