摘要：
美国《老年医学target='_blank'>期刊》近日发表文章说，如果你不相信自己老了以后能有一个好记性，那么你很可能真的会变成一个爱忘事的人；但如果你自信会有个好记性，那么良好的记忆力很可能就不会离开。
If you don't believe you'll have a good memory when you get older, then you might as well forget about this article.

美国《老年医学期刊》近日发表文章说，如果你不相信自己老了以后能有一个好记性，那么你很可能真的会变成一个爱忘事的人；但如果你自信会有个好记性，那么良好的记忆力很可能就不会离开。

据美国"生活科学"网站3月8日报道，美国布兰代斯大学的心理学家们对335名年龄从21岁到83岁的成年人进行了一项测试，要求他们回忆之前看到的一张词汇表，表中30个词汇被分成水果类和鲜花类等等。测试结果表明，在中年人和老年人中，那些对认知控制能力比较自信的人，测试成绩也就比较好。

负责此次研究的心理学教授玛吉·拉赫曼说，如果你对保持好记性有信心，那么好记性就会降临。她在报告中写道："你越是有信心用一些方法可以使自己记住某些事儿，那么你就越有可能尽力寻找适合的方法和有效地利用才智，就越不会担心忘掉那些事儿。"

人们年轻时候的记忆力问题，往往归咎于注意力不集中或其他一些因素。而老年人的记忆问题则往往会被人们理解为年纪大了之后的一种智力下降。拉赫曼说，许多人将记忆力降低看成是"人变老过程中无法避免、不可挽回和控制的一部分。"然而，"这些想法是有害的，因为它们往往与悲伤和焦虑有关，让人不去努力采取必要的措施就放弃了。"

（国际在线独家资讯 程瑶）

If you don't believe you'll have a good memory when you get older, then you might as well forget about this article.

But if you can just believe, then it might come true.

So says Margie Lachman, professor of psychology at Brandeis University. Lachman and her colleagues asked 335 adults, ages 21 to 83, to recall a list of 30 words that could be categorized as types of fruit, flowers and so on. Among the middle-aged and older people, those who had more confidence in their ability to control their cognitive functioning did better on the test.

Belief in your ability to retain a good memory helps make it happen, Lachman concludes.

"Our study shows that the more you believe there are things you can do to remember information, the more likely you will be to use effort and adaptive strategies and to allocate resources effectively, and the less you will worry about forgetting," she said.

Memory problems in youth get blamed on distraction or some other factor. But older people tend to blame their mental lapses on age. Many see memory decline as an "inevitable, irreversible, and uncontrollable part of the aging process," Lachman said today. "These beliefs are detrimental because they are associated with distress, anxiety, and giving up without expending the effort or strategies needed to support memory."

Lachman and her colleagues, writing in the Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, say preventing memory decline should involve interventions that target conceptions of control over memory.

And if nothing else, remember these tips: Mental exercises can cut your risk for dementia almost in half, another study showed, and just two weeks of memory training and improved diet and exercise can boost your recall abilities.

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