Ever walk into a room and forget what you were doing? - Gabriel Radvansky · TED-Ed
探索‘门廊效应’现象，了解为何进入新空间会让人忘记当前任务。适合练习注意力与记忆保持。
You enter your living room, then pause.
你走进客厅，然后停了下来。
You feel your mission’s momentum— but its aim is suddenly lost.
你感受到自己所肩负使命的推进势头……然而，其目标却突然变得模糊不清（或：你无法再明确这一使命的具体目标了）。
So, what just happened?
那么，刚才到底发生了什么？
And why does it keep happening?
为什么这种情况会一直重复发生呢？
Well, you’re not alone; this is actually a common phenomenon scientists have termed the doorway effect.
其实，你并不孤单——这种现象非常普遍，科学家们将其称为“门槛效应”（doorway effect）。
According to psychological models, our brains parse life’s continuous flow of time and activity into distinct events.
根据心理学模型，我们的大脑会将生活中连续不断的时间流逝与各种活动分解成一个个独立的事件。
As a situation unfolds, the brain develops a working model of the event.
随着事情的发展，大脑会逐渐形成对该事件的一种“工作模型”（即对事件运作方式的认知结构）。
It likely does this by employing its default mode network, the brain regions that work together to accomplish many resting thought processes.
它很可能是通过激活自身的“默认模式网络”（即那些协同工作以完成多种静息状态下的思维活动的脑区）来实现这一功能的。
Then, when there's a big enough change, the brain is thought to identify an event boundary, at which point it stores the prior event model,
然后，当变化足够显著时，大脑会被认为能够识别出一个“事件边界”；在这一点上，大脑会存储之前所建立的“事件模型”（即对相关事件的认知结构）。
and begins developing a new working model.
并开始开发一种新的工作模式。
During this switch, called an event update, parts of the default mode network seem to interact with the memory-storing hippocampus,
在这个被称为“事件更新”的过程中，默认模式网络（default mode network）的某些部分似乎会与负责存储记忆的海马体（hippocampus）发生相互作用。
perhaps transporting the experience into longer-term memory.
也许这种体验会被转移到长期记忆中。
In the process, the brain clears its short-term memory, making room for the new information that’s already pouring in.
在这个过程中，大脑会清除自身的短期记忆内容，为不断涌入的新信息腾出空间。
But sometimes that can be stuff you weren't quite done with.
但有时候，那些内容可能还没有完全处理完毕（或者说，你还没有完全完成对它们的处理）。
It’s still not fully clear if the doorway effect, also called the location updating effect, befalls some people more than others.
目前仍不清楚这种被称为“门口效应”（或“位置更新效应”）的现象是否在某些人身上表现得更为明显。
But one study found that age had very little bearing.
但有一项研究发现，年龄对结果的影响非常小（或者说几乎没有影响）。
Scientists are working to better understand the phenomenon by pinpointing the conditions that trigger it, which, yes, includes doorways,
科学家们正在努力通过确定引发这一现象的具体条件来更好地理解它。没错，这些条件中确实包括“门道”（即门本身）。
both physical and virtual.
既包括实体的形式，也包括虚拟的形式。
In one study, college students in real and virtual spaces were asked to pick up objects, walk set distances carrying them out of view,
在一项研究中，研究人员要求身处现实空间和虚拟空间中的大学生去拾取物品，并将这些物品携带到视线之外的指定位置。
then try to recall what they were holding.
然后试着回忆一下他们当时手里拿着什么。
Time and distance remained constant, but some traveled through a doorway.
时间和距离保持不变，但有些人却穿过了某个“门道”（即某种特殊的通道或入口）。
Those who did tended to respond slower and be more likely to forget.
那些确实参与其中的人往往反应较慢，也更容易忘记事情。
And passing through multiple doorways seems to worsen the memory-thwarting effect.
而且，穿过多个门道似乎会加剧这种阻碍记忆形成的负面效应。
It's also not helped by multitasking.
同时进行多项任务（即多任务处理）也无助于改善这种情况。
In another VR experiment, participants were first asked to memorize the colors and shapes of different objects.
在另一个虚拟现实（VR）实验中，参与者首先被要求记住不同物体的颜色和形状。
Then, some moved across the same room while others entered another.
接着，一些人穿过了同一个房间，而另一些人则进入了另一个房间。
When they were asked to also complete a counting task, those who traveled through the doorway had a harder time recalling the original objects.
当他们被要求完成一项计数任务时，那些曾经穿过那扇门的人在回忆最初看到的物品时遇到了更大的困难。
Moving through the doorway distracted seemed to somehow overload their memory.
当他们心不在焉地穿过门口时，似乎他们的记忆系统因此受到了某种“过载”（即无法正常处理大量信息）。
But the effect plagues people beyond literal doorways.
但这种影响并不仅限于人们的居住场所（即“家门”之内），它还会困扰到那些生活在其他地方的人。
Looking through clear walls into adjacent rooms also appears to do the trick.
透过透明的墙壁看到相邻的房间，似乎也能达到同样的效果（即让房间看起来更宽敞）。
And really, whatever triggers an event update is thought to do the same: an alarm ringing; a friend changing the subject;
实际上，无论是什么触发了事件更新，其效果都应该是一样的：可能是警报声响起，也可能是朋友改变了谈话的主题。
or a shift in location, time, motivation, or computer tab.
或者是在位置、时间、动机，或是所使用的电脑页面（即“电脑标签页”）等方面的变化。
Likewise, when people come upon an event boundary while reading stories, like a sentence describing a considerable time jump,
同样地，当人们在阅读故事时遇到某个事件边界（比如描述时间跳跃的句子）时，
researchers have observed that their reading speed may slow,
研究人员发现，他们的阅读速度可能会变慢。
their neural activity increases, and they have more difficulty answering questions about what a character was just doing.
他们的神经活动增强，因此在回答有关某个角色刚刚做了什么的问题时变得更加困难。
But this isn't always the case with event updating.
但在事件更新方面，情况并不总是如此。
In certain circumstances, doorways actually seem to aid memory.
在某些情况下，门道实际上有助于增强人们的记忆力。
In one study, participants were given lists of words, and in between them, they either moved spots within one room or walked into another.
在一项研究中，参与者被提供了单词列表；在完成这些任务的过程中，他们要么在同一个房间内移动物品的位置，要么走到另一个房间去。
Those who switched rooms wound up recalling the words more faithfully.
那些换房间的人后来能够更准确地回忆起那些词语的内容。
The key difference in a doorway’s ability to strengthen versus muddle memory might be the act of separating information into discrete events
在 doorway（此处可能指某种特定的结构或装置，具体含义需结合上下文确定）增强记忆或混淆记忆的能力方面，关键的区别可能在于它是否能够将信息分解为独立的、相互独立的事件。