科学美国人60秒：记忆力越好越容易感到厌倦
燕山大学 刘立军 宋葳 编写
◆TRANSCRIPT
This is Scientific American - 60-Second Science. I'm Karen Hopkin. This will just take a minute.
Summer's here and it won't be long before school-aged kids across America start complaining that they're tired of riding their bikes, playing at the park, swimming in the pool...and all the other awesome activities their parents hoped would keep them entertained for the next 10 weeks.
Well, if it's any consolation, such rapid-onset boredom could indicate that the kids have amazing powers of recall. Because a new study shows that the better your short-term memory, the faster you feel sated and decide you've had enough. The findings appear in the Journal of Consumer Research.
"Though satiation can be physical, like when you feel full after eating too much, we were interested in the psychological side of satiation. Like when you're just tired of something."
Noelle Nelson, assistant professor of marketing and consumer behavior at the University of Kansas School of Business. She and her colleague Joseph Redden at the University of Minnesota tried to think outside the lunch box.
"Something that was interesting to me is that some people get tired of same things at very different rates. So if you think about pop songs on the radio, some people must still be enjoying them and requesting them even after hearing them a lot. But a lot of other people are really sick of those same songs."
The difference, the researchers posited, might have to do with memories of past consumption. For example, studies show that people push away from the dinner table sooner when they're asked to describe in detail what they ate earlier for lunch.
So the researchers tested the memory capacity of undergraduates. The students then viewed a repeating series of three classic paintings...like The Starry Night, American Gothic, and The Scream...or listened and re-listened to a series of three pop songs...or three pieces of classical music. Throughout the test, the participants were intermittently asked to rate their experience on a scale of zero to ten.
And the better a participant scored in the memory test, the faster they got bored. "So remembering more details actually made the participants feel like they'd experienced the music or art more often."
The findings suggest that marketers could manipulate our desire for their products by figuring out ways to distract us and keep us from fully remembering our experiences. We could also trick ourselves into eating less junk food by immersing ourselves in the memory of a previous snack.
As for kids easily bored, just tell them to forget about it - it might help them have more fun.
For Scientific American - 60-Second Science. I'm Karen Hopkin.
Adapted from http://www.kekenet.com/broadcast/201710/527158.shtml
◆VOCABULARY
1. awesome adj. very impressive or very difficult and perhaps rather frightening 令人惊叹的；使人惊惧的；很困难的；难得吓人的。例如：
○an awesome sight惊人的奇观
○awesome beauty/power天仙之美；大得吓人的权力
○They had an awesome task ahead. 他们就要有十分艰巨的任务。
2. consolation n. a person or thing that makes you feel better when you are unhappy or disappointed 使感到安慰的人（或事）；安慰；慰藉。例如：
○a few words of consolation几句安慰的话
○If it's any consolation, she didn't get the job, either. 不知道这算不算得上安慰，她也没有得到那份工作。
○The children were a great consolation to him when his wife died. 他妻子去世后，几个孩子就是他极大的安慰。
3. rapid-onset 快速起效
4. sated adj. sated (with sth.) (formal) having had so much of sth. that you do not need any more 餍足；餍腻。例如：sated with pleasure倦于享乐
5. posit v. (formal) to suggest or accept that sth. is true so that it can be used as the basis for an argument or discussion 假设；认定；认为…为实。例如：Most religions posit the existence of life after death. 大多数宗教都假定人死后生命仍存在。
6. manipulate v. manipulate (sb. into sth./into doing sth.) (disapproving) to control or influence sb./sth., often in a dishonest way so that they do not realize it （暗中）控制，操纵，影响。例如：
○She uses her charm to manipulate people. 她利用自身的魅力来摆布别人。
○As a politician, he knows how to manipulate public opinion. 身为一位政客，他知道如何左右公众舆论。
○They managed to manipulate us into agreeing to help. 他们设法促使我们答应了提供帮助。
◆QUESTIONS
Read the statements. Then listen to the news and check (√) the true or (×) false statements.
1. A new study shows that the better your short-term memory, the faster you feel tired and decide you've had enough.
2. Studies show that people push away from the dinner table sooner when they're asked to describe in detail what they ate earlier for lunch.
3. The researchers tested the memory capacity of postgraduates.
4. The better a participant scored in the memory test, the faster they got relaxed.
5. The findings suggest that marketers could manipulate our desire for their products by figuring out ways to distract us and keep us from fully remembering our experiences.
◆KEY
√1. A new study shows that the better your short-term memory, the faster you feel tired and decide you've had enough.
√2. Studies show that people push away from the dinner table sooner when they're asked to describe in detail what they ate earlier for lunch.
×3. The researchers tested the memory capacity of postgraduates. 正确表达：The researchers tested the memory capacity of undergraduates.
×4. The better a participant scored in the memory test, the faster they got relaxed. 正确表达：The better a participant scored in the memory test, the faster they got bored.
√5. The findings suggest that marketers could manipulate our desire for their products by figuring out ways to distract us and keep us from fully remembering our experiences.