The Architecture of Memory

We are inclined to think of memory as a faithful recording of past events.

我们往往把记忆看作对过去事件的忠实记录。

In fact, each act of remembering involves reconstructing the experience from scattered fragments.

事实上，每一次回忆都是用零散的片段重新构建当时的经历。

During this process, memories are susceptible to distortion by subsequent information.

在这个过程中，记忆很容易被后来获得的信息扭曲。

Experiments have shown that subtly worded questions can alter what witnesses believe they saw.

实验表明，措辞微妙的提问可以改变目击者自以为看到的内容。

Some participants have even been induced to recall childhood episodes that never occurred.

甚至有一些参与者被诱导回忆起童年时从未发生过的事情。

Such findings carry profound implications for courts that rely heavily on eyewitness testimony.

这些发现对严重依赖目击证词的法庭有着深远的意义。

Confidence, it transpires, is a notoriously unreliable indicator of accuracy.

事实证明，自信程度是衡量准确性的一个出了名不可靠的指标。

Yet this malleability may be adaptive, allowing us to update our understanding of the world.

不过，这种可塑性也许是一种适应性的表现，让我们能够更新对世界的认识。

Memory, in other words, serves the future at least as much as it preserves the past.

换句话说，记忆服务于未来的程度，至少不亚于它保存过去的程度。