Nairne James S, Thompson Sarah R, Pandeirada Josefa N S
Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA.
J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn. 2007 Mar;33(2):263-73. doi: 10.1037/0278-7393.33.2.263.
The authors investigated the idea that memory systems might have evolved to help us remember fitness-relevant information--specifically, information relevant to survival. In 4 incidental learning experiments, people were asked to rate common nouns for their survival relevance (e.g., in securing food, water, or protection from predators); in control conditions, the same words were rated for pleasantness, relevance to moving to a foreign land, or personal relevance. In surprise retention tests, participants consistently showed the best memory when words were rated for survival; the survival advantage held across recall, recognition, and for both within-subject and between-subjects designs. These findings suggest that memory systems are "tuned" to remember information that is processed for fitness, perhaps as a result of survival advantages accrued in the past.
作者们研究了这样一种观点，即记忆系统可能已经进化到帮助我们记住与适应性相关的信息——具体来说，是与生存相关的信息。在4项附带学习实验中，人们被要求对普通名词与生存的相关性进行评分（例如，在获取食物、水或抵御捕食者方面）；在对照条件下，对相同的词语进行愉悦度、与搬到异国他乡的相关性或个人相关性的评分。在意外记忆测试中，当对词语进行生存相关性评分时，参与者始终表现出最佳的记忆力；这种生存优势在回忆、识别以及在个体内和个体间设计中均成立。这些发现表明，记忆系统被“调整”以记住为适应性而处理的信息，这可能是过去积累的生存优势的结果。
