Whatever it is, you're bound to cherish it.

不管是什麼，你必然很珍惜它。

The Greek philosopher Aristotle once called memory, "the scribe of the soul," meaning that our memories are integral to our sense of self.

希臘哲學家亞里斯多德曾稱記憶為「靈魂的謄寫」，意思為記憶是自我不可或缺的一部分。

But can we actually trust them?

但我們真的可以相信記憶嗎？

Nothing about memory is simple.

關於記憶的一切，都是很複雜的。

For starters, where are memories stored?

首先，記憶儲存在哪呢？

In which part of the brain?

腦中的哪一部分？

Hundreds of studies have come to the same conclusion—there isn't one.

上百個研究歸納出同一個結論——記憶並非僅儲存在一處。

They're stored, processed, and moved around the brain, creating complex connections across neural networks that we still don't fully understand.

記憶被儲存和處理並遊走在大腦內，在神經網絡中創造我們尚未完全釐清的複雜連結。

The potential storage capacity of the human brain is vast.

人類大腦潛在的儲存容量是很龐大的。

It's not possible to quantify exactly, but estimates put it in the multimillions of gigabytes.

雖然無法確切知道腦容量的大小，但是估計有上百萬 GB。

But memory is malleable.

但是記憶是可被控制的。

What we remember is not necessarily what happened.

我們記得的不一定是真實發生的。

A memory is not a recording.

記憶並非影像的紀錄。

It's more like a dramatic reconstruction and one that we can keep changing without realizing it.

記憶更像是戲劇性地重現，而且可以被我們在不知不覺中改變。

For any experience to be remembered, it has to be encoded.

想要記得任何的經驗，都必須經過編碼。

This encoding though is not any kind of direct translation.

編碼並非直接的轉換。

It's a rich and complex process that creates associations and meanings.

編碼是大量且複雜的過程，創造各種聯想和含義。

As sensory information is encoded, and also whenever it's retrieved, it's interpreted in a way that can change it, and introduce errors.

當感官訊息被編碼或被檢索時，是以可改變且可能導入錯誤的方式解讀。

Memory is a creative process, because unlike computers, we need to be able to make sense of the information we store.

與電腦不同的是，記憶是創造性的過程，因為我們需要理解所儲存的資訊。

That means we're never remembering things exactly the way they occurred.

這也就是說，我們永遠不會準確地記得事情發生的一切。

We might be remembering something very similar, but subtly modified and colored by our own sets of associations.

我們記得的可能是極為相似的事情，但被巧妙的修改並增添我們自己的聯想。

Two people who see the same thing won't necessarily remember the same thing.

看見同一事情的兩個人記得的不一定會相同。

And in certain situations that's very problematic.

在某些情況中，這會充滿問題。

Psychologist Elizabeth Loftus produced groundbreaking research on eyewitness testimony.

心理學家 Elizabeth Loftus 對目擊者的證詞做了一項開創性的研究。

Her work showed that memories can easily be influenced, even after they've been created.

她的研究顯示即使記憶已經被創造，仍可以輕易地被影響。

For example, if investigators ask witnesses a leading question about a crime—such as, "what color coat was he wearing?"—their memories may adapt to incorporate the suggestions.

舉例來說，如果調查員詢問目擊者與犯罪相關的誘導性問題，如：「犯人穿的外套是什麼顏色的？」，目擊者的記憶會隨著暗示而有所調整。

Similarly, if two eyewitnesses confer with each other, their memories of events often change, incorporating what they've heard from the other one but they won't realize this has happened.

同樣地，如果兩位目擊者彼此對談，他們對事件的記憶通常會因為納入對方的陳述而因此改變，但他們卻渾然不知。

And witnesses who are shown an image of a someone after a crime, even if it's one of an innocent person, can sometimes paste it on to their memory of the actual event, a process known as unconscious transference.

在犯罪行為發生後給目擊者看某人的照片，即使照片上的人是清白的，目擊者也常常會將影像複製成真實事件的記憶——這個過程稱為「潛意識移情」。

The Innocence Project estimates that around 70 percent of wrongful convictions later overturned by DNA evidence, are due to mistaken eyewitness testimony.

清白專案組織估計大約 70% 在日後被 DNA 證據所推翻的不當判決，都是由錯誤的目擊證詞所引起。

In some cases, memories can even be deliberately created and implanted.

在一些案例中，記憶甚至被故意地創造和灌輸。

The Lost in the Mall experiment took a test group of subjects and talked to them in depth about key childhood memories, while also adding an invented one: the experience of having been lost in a shopping mall.

購物中心迷路實驗採納一組受試者並與他們深入談話，了解他們主要的童年記憶，同時添加了一個虛構的記憶——在購物中心走失的經驗。

It was found that between a quarter and a third of subjects not only accepted this new memory as genuine, but enriched it with specific details.

結果顯示，在 1/4 至 1/3 的受試者中，不僅將這個新的記憶認作是真實發生的，還加油添醋許多具體的細節。

They'd created a new memory indistinguishable from memories of events that had actually happened.

受試者創造一個新記憶，而這個記憶難以與真實發生的事件產生區隔。

We've all possibly done the same thing.

而我們所有人可能都做過一樣的事。

Most of us have certain key memories of being a very young child.

大部分的人對於幼童時期有很肯定的記憶。

But research suggests that they're highly unlikely to be actual memories due to the way memory is stored in the infant brain.

但研究指出，由於記憶在嬰幼兒腦中儲存的方式，那些記憶很可能並非真實。

In many cases, we probably imagined certain scenes at a later age, when shown photos or told stories about certain events.

許多案例中，當有人給我們看照片或說某個事件的故事時，我們可能會因此想像特定的場景。

The subjective experience of these memories is no different to remembering childhood events that actually happened.

這些主觀經驗的記憶與真實發生的童年事件並無差異。

Your precious first memory may well not be a real memory, and we're all perhaps living in our imaginations more than we realise.

你珍貴的第一記憶可能不是真實的記憶，我們所有人或許都活在超出意識的自我想像中。

Thanks for watching.

感謝你的觀看。

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記得訂閱頻道並開啟小鈴鐺接收最新影片的消息。

See you again soon!

下次見！