Department of Psychology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10025, USA.
Trends Cogn Sci. 2010 Oct;14(10):464-72. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2010.08.002. Epub 2010 Sep 9.
Memory is essential to adaptive behavior because it allows past experience to guide choices. Emerging findings indicate that the neurotransmitter dopamine, which signals motivationally important events, also modulates the hippocampus, a crucial brain system for long-term memory. Here we review recent evidence that highlights multiple mechanisms whereby dopamine biases memory towards events that are of motivational significance. These effects take place over a variety of timescales, permitting both expectations and outcomes to influence memory. Thus, dopamine ensures that memories are relevant and accessible for future adaptive behavior, a concept we refer to as 'adaptive memory'. Understanding adaptive memory at biological and psychological levels helps to resolve a fundamental challenge in memory research: explaining what is remembered, and why.
记忆对于适应行为至关重要，因为它使过去的经验能够指导选择。新出现的发现表明，神经递质多巴胺（dopamine）信号提示动机重要事件，也调节海马体（hippocampus），这是长期记忆的关键大脑系统。在这里，我们回顾了最近的证据，这些证据强调了多种机制，通过这些机制，多巴胺使记忆偏向于具有动机意义的事件。这些影响发生在各种时间尺度上，允许期望和结果影响记忆。因此，多巴胺确保记忆与未来的适应性行为相关且可访问，我们将这个概念称为“适应性记忆”。从生物学和心理学层面理解适应性记忆有助于解决记忆研究中的一个基本挑战：解释什么被记住了，以及为什么。
