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The shift in reading comprehension with age might also be related to a specific kind of memory called your phonological loop.
阅读理解能力随着年龄的增长而变化，这也可能与一种被称为语音循环的特定记忆有关。
Imagine a conversation where you're not really paying close attention, and then you notice the other person is waiting for you to respond. So you quickly think of the last few words they said so you can rephrase it as a question.
想象一下，在一场你并没有仔细倾听的谈话中，之后你注意到对方正在等着你的回应。所以你很快地想一下他们说的最后几句话，这样你就可以将其重新表述成一个问题。
That's the phonological loop in action. It's like a buffer of a few moments of auditory information your mind keeps ready in case you need to go back, like if you need to repeat a phone number to yourself before you dial. And that's really useful when you're reading.
这就是语音循环的作用。这就像你的大脑将几分钟的听觉信息缓冲起来，以备万一你需要回复时使用，比如你需要在拨号前重复一个电话号码。这在阅读时非常有用。
Researchers in the year 2000 found this was part of the decline in reading comprehension with age.
2000年的研究人员发现，这是随着年龄增长阅读理解能力下降的部分原因。
Basically, once they controlled for how much people can keep in their phonological loop, readers in their 40s and 50s showed about the same reading comprehension as those over 60.
基本上，一旦他们控制了人们能保持语音循环的数量，四五十岁的读者与六十岁以上读者的阅读理解能力相同。
And that suggests the phonological loop is the key factor it stores less as you age.
这表明，语音循环是关键因素，随着年龄的增长，它储存的信息会减少。
So at the very least, you can take comfort in the fact that this is a typical part of healthy aging. But another reason why this research is important is because of that key word, “healthy.”
因此至少，你可以放心，这是典型的健康老龄化。但这项研究重要的另一个原因是关键词，“健康”。
Because focusing on the details of your reading ability might also help distinguish typical aging from Alzheimer's disease.
因为专注于阅读能力的细节也可能有助于区分典型的老龄化和阿尔茨海默病。
Like we said before, this phenomenon is surprising because most people keep a fairly consistent level of word knowledge and memory as they age.
就像我们之前说的，这一现象令人惊讶，因为随着年龄的增长，大多数人对单词的认识和记忆水平相当一致。
But that's not the case for people with Alzheimer's disease. For them, meanings are impaired, too. They perform worse at naming words that fall in specific categories like things at a grocery store.
但对于阿尔茨海默症患者来说，情况并非如此。对他们来说，单词的意义也受损了。他们在命名特定类别的单词时表现得更差，比如杂货店里的东西。
A 2016 study identified a few key brain regions that help distinguish those with Alzheimer's from others, such as the amygdala.
2016年的一项研究确定了几个关键的大脑区域，这些区域有助于区分阿尔茨海默症患者和其他人，比如大脑杏仁核。
In people with Alzheimer's, their verbal ability was related to how much gray matter they had in those regions — but not the control group.
在阿尔茨海默症患者中，他们的语言能力与这些区域的灰质含量有关，但与对照组无关。
Older studies have had a hard time distinguishing Alzheimer's patients from controls based on verbal abilities alone.
以前的研究仅基于语言能力，很难将阿尔茨海默症患者与对照组区分开来。
Understanding the differences, paired with brain scans, may help us understand the unique features of Alzheimer's. So if your reading is slowing down as you get older, don't worry.
通过对大脑的扫描来了解这些差异，可以帮助我们了解阿尔茨海默症的独特特征。因此，如果随着年龄的增长，你的阅读速度变慢了，别担心。
You're not alone -- and you'll still enjoy that novel just as much as those kids are enjoying that dance challenge online.
你并不孤单——你仍然会喜欢那部小说，就像那些孩子喜欢在线的舞蹈挑战一样。
But if you want a little help finding the time to get your reading in, there's Blinkist. Blinkist is an app that takes the best insights, the need-to-know information from over 3,000 nonfiction books and condenses them into just 15 minutes.
但如果你想找点阅读材料，可以用Blinkist。Blinkist是一款应用程序，它将3000多本非小说类书籍中最好的见解和需要知道的信息浓缩到了15分钟内。
For example, you might enjoy The Mystery of the Exploding Teeth, a collection of bizarre stories from the history of medicine. It will help you appreciate just how far science and medicine have come!
例如，你可能会喜欢这本医学史上离奇的故事集《牙齿爆炸之谜》。它将帮助你了解科学和医学的进步！
The first 100 people to go to Blinkist.com/scishowpsych will get unlimited access for 1 week to try it out. You'll also get 25% off if you want the full membership.
前100名访问Blinkist.com/scishowpsych的用户可以在一周内无限制使用该网站。如果你想成为正式会员，还可以享受25%的减价。
You can get started with a 7-day free trial at the link in the description.
你可以点击链接开始7天的免费试用了。
