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