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In the midst of everything going on these days, you might have noticed something unusual happening.
在这些天发生的所有事情当中，你可能已经注意到发生了一些不寻常的事情。
Maybe you keep walking into a room and forgetting what you were looking for. Or maybe you forgot the name of the movie you were watching last night.
也许你会在走进房间时却忘了要找什么。或者你忘了你昨晚看过的影片名。
If you feel like you've been more forgetful than normal recently, you're definitely not alone.
如果觉得自己最近比平时更健忘，那绝对不是你一个人这样。
Forgetfulness is linked to a number of psychological conditions, including stress, anxiety, and depression — three things that are definitely exacerbated by the state of the world.
健忘与许多心理状况有关，包括压力、焦虑和抑郁，而世界的现状无疑更会加剧这三种情况。
But if you have been feeling forgetful, just know that, as unsettling as it is in the moment, you can probably expect to feel like your usual self again once life gets a little easier.
但如果你一直感觉健忘，你要明白，尽管此刻你很不安，但一旦生活变得轻松一些，你可能会感觉回到平常的自己。
For the time being, though — or during generally stressful times — some level of forgetfulness is pretty common, and it can affect different aspects of your memory.
暂时来说，或者在压力大的时候，某种程度的健忘是很常见的，它会影响你记忆的不同方面。
For instance, if you open a new tab in your internet browser and can't remember what you were trying to search for, that's an issue with short-term memory.
例如，如果你在网络浏览器中打开了一个新标签页，却不记得要搜索什么，这就是短时记忆的问题。
Short-term memories form when proteins in the brain undergo chemical changes that strengthen the connections between certain brain cells, or neurons.
当大脑中的蛋白质发生化学变化，以加强某些脑细胞或神经元之间的联系时，就形成了短时记忆。
Now, brain cells aren't physically connected, but molecules called neurotransmitters do travel from one cell to another, using chemical pathways to transmit signals between cells.
现在，大脑细胞在物理上是不相连的，但是被称为神经递质的分子确实从一个细胞传递到另一个细胞，它们利用化学途径在细胞之间传递信号。
And during the formation of memories, those pathways get modified, making it easier for neurotransmitters to travel among specific groups of neurons.
在记忆形成的过程中，这些通路被修改，使得神经递质更容易在特定的神经元群之间传递。
As a result, those groups of neurons are easy to trigger at the same time. When one of them fires, it activates the rest, and that group activation is the memory.
结果，这些神经元群很容易同时被触发。当其中一个激活时，它便会激活其余的，这组激活就形成了记忆。
But anything you remember beyond about 30 seconds is part of your long-term memory.
但是任何超过30秒的记忆都是长时记忆的一部分。
Like, if you wore sunglasses yesterday and now you can't find them, that's an issue with long-term memory.
比如，如果你昨天戴了墨镜，现在你找不到了，这就是长时记忆的问题。
Long-term memories form over time. Unlike short-term memories, they involve actual physical changes in the cells of the brain, including the growth of new connections.
长时记忆是随着时间而形成的。与短时记忆不同的是，它们涉及大脑细胞的实际物理变化，包括新连接的生长。
A lot of this happens during sleep, when your brain's hippocampus replays recent experiences, which helps neurons make those connections that commit those experiences to memory.
这主要发生在睡眠期间，大脑的海马体会回放最近的经历，这有助于神经元建立连接，将这些经历记录到记忆中。
Unfortunately, that means that if you're not sleeping enough, that can make it harder for you to remember things one day to the next.
不幸的是，这意味着如果你睡眠不足，到第二天就更难记住。
But the process of memory formation is also easily influenced by other conditions that the brain is dealing with, and two big factors are anxiety and stress.
但是，记忆形成的过程也很容易受到大脑正在处理的其他情况的影响，其中两大因素是焦虑和压力。
Acute stress and anxiety activate molecules called corticotropins, which produce hormones that tell the body to do certain things, like release the stress hormone cortisol.
急性压力和焦虑会激活促肾上腺皮质激素分子产生激素，告诉身体去做某些事情，比如释放应激激素皮质醇。
That's useful when there's actually an emergency that your body needs to respond to. But when this goes on for a long time, these molecules can mess with your memory.
当真的有紧急情况需要你的身体做出反应时，这是很有用的。但当这种情况持续很长时间时，这些分子就会扰乱你的记忆。
That's because corticotropin also changes the shape of dendrites.
这是因为促肾上腺皮质激素也会改变树突的形状。
Those are the branch-like parts of a neuron that extend outward and allow neurotransmitters to pass from one cell to another.
神经元的分支状部分向外延伸，允许神经递质从一个细胞传递到另一个细胞。
So, as a result, there's less transmission between cells. That makes it hard for neurons to establish the chemical pathways they need to form memories.
因此，细胞之间的传播就会减少。这使得神经元很难建立起形成记忆所需的化学路径。
So if you've been feeling a lot of stress, your brain may be struggling with making memories in the first place.
所以，如果你一直感到压力很大，你的大脑可能起初就在努力制造记忆。
But it may also be struggling with retrieving them, because anxiety just disrupts cognitive function in general.
但它也可能在努力找回它们，因为整体而言焦虑只是破坏了认知功能。
It puts us in this state of heightened vigilance, where we tend to give more attention to negative distractions even if they're not that important — like an angry stranger on Twitter or an upsetting email.
它使我们处于高度警惕的状态，在这种状态下，我们倾向于更多地关注负面的干扰，即使它们并不那么重要——比如Twitter上一个愤怒的陌生人或一封令人心烦的邮件。
And when your brain's resources are focused on distractions, it's much harder to use those resources to access whatever's stored in your memory.
当你的大脑资源集中在分散注意力的事情上时，你就很难利用这些资源来访问储存在你记忆中的东西。
Memory can also take a double-hit in people experiencing depression, which also has become more widespread since the beginning of the pandemic.
抑郁症患者的记忆力也会受到双重打击，自新冠疫情大流行开始以来，抑郁症也变得更加普遍。
Like anxiety, depression messes with memory formation and recall, but in a different way.
和焦虑一样，抑郁会扰乱记忆的形成和回忆，但方式不同。
Whereas anxiety disrupts the exchange of neurotransmitters between cells, scientists believe that depression reduces the number of them — especially the ones that regulate mood, like dopamine and serotonin.
尽管焦虑会破坏细胞间神经递质的交换，但科学家们认为，抑郁会减少神经递质的数量——尤其是那些调节情绪的递质，比如多巴胺和血清素。
And with fewer neurotransmitters going between neurons, once again, it's harder for memories to form.
由于神经元之间传递的神经递质更少，记忆也更难形成。
On top of that, similar to anxiety, depression can get in the way of memory retrieval by distracting the brain with depressive thoughts so it can't focus on tasks at hand, including those that involve memory recall.
最重要的是，与焦虑类似，抑郁也会阻碍记忆的提取，它会用抑郁的想法分散大脑的注意力，使其无法集中精力于手头的任务，包括那些涉及记忆回忆的任务。
That distraction can even interfere with what's known as prospective memory, which is your ability to remember to do something in the future, like mail something at the post office or call a friend.
这种分心甚至会干扰所谓的前瞻记忆，即你记住将来要做某事的能力，比如在邮局寄东西或给朋友打电话。
If any of this sounds familiar to you, know that, as frustrating as it feels, these are natural responses from your body during hard times.
如果这些听起来很耳熟，要知道，尽管感觉很沮丧，但这些都是身体在困难时期的自然反应。
But just because it's natural doesn't mean that there's nothing you can do about it.
但就因为这是自然的，并不意味着你对此无能为力。
Ultimately, if you treat feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression — with things like talk therapy, meditation, good rest, or anything your physician might recommend,
最后，如果你用谈话疗法、冥想、良好的休息或医生建议的任何方法来治疗这种压力、焦虑和抑郁的感觉，
you can start getting at what may be the root of the problem, and that may help your memory begin to bounce back.
你可能就会找到问题的根源，以帮助你的记忆开始反弹。
Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow Psych!
感谢收看本期《心理科学秀》节目！
SciShow Psych is just one of the shows we produce here at Complexly, and while you're here, I want to tell you about one of our newer projects, called “How to Vote in Every State.”
《心理科学秀》只是由Complexly出品的节目之一，恰好在此，我想推荐你我们的新栏目“在每个州如何投票？”。
If you live in the U.S., you know voting can get complicated. But no matter what state you live in, we have videos to help you navigate the process.
如果你生活在美国，你就知道投票会很复杂。但无论你生活在哪个州，在此过程中我们都有视频帮助你找到正确方法。
To check it out, follow the link in the description!
可点击链接查看！
