When Lauren Conrad looked Heidi Montag straight in the eye and said "I want to forgive you, and then I want to forget you" on a tension-filled episode of The Hills, that was the linear definition of a mood if I've ever seen one. I remember watching the scene unfold, thinking about how Los Angeles had probably never been so cold than it was in that very moment, and admiring Conrad for doing, at least to me, the unthinkable. To this day, I've never been able to figure out how to really forgive and forget, and wipe my life clean of a specific person or memory. I can't imagine it's an easy skill to master, but according to new research, it's definitely possible, so at least there's that shred of comfort. 

记得在《希尔山》里情感迸发的一个情节，当劳伦·康拉德深情注视着海蒂·蒙塔格，并说“我想要原谅你，如此我才能忘记你。” 这个情节成了我心中最直接的情感的定义。看着情节一步步发展，只觉得那一刻洛杉矶变得格外冰冷。我羡慕康拉德，至少对我来说，是不敢做出像她那样直接的举动的。 直到今天，我仍不明白怎样才能真正地原谅和忘却，才能把一个人从我的记忆中抹去。我不敢相信忘记是一件轻而易举的事情，但最新的研究表明，这的确是可能的，至少给了我些许宽慰。 

The ironic thing about forgiving and forgetting is that actively trying not to remember someone or something, actually takes more effort than remembering does. At least, that's the story that researchers from the University of Texas at Austin are rolling with as a result of their most recent study, which explored how to intentionally forget certain memories. 

具有讽刺意味的是，积极地试图忘记某人或某事，实际上比记忆他们要付出更多的努力。 至少，这是德克萨斯州大学奥斯汀分校的研究人员在他们最近的研究中得出的结论，这项研究探索了如何有意识地忘记某些记忆。

According to UT Austin's official press release on the study, researchers were looking to demonstrate that humans are capable of making themselves forget a memory beyond the natural elimination process that happens in the brain over time. They found that consciously forgetting requires "moderate levels" of brain activity, compared to moments when you're trying to put two and two together until the lightbulb goes off. Fascinating, right? 

根据德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校关于这项研究的官方新闻稿，研究人员希望证明，人类能够使自己忘记一段记忆，而不是使之随着时间的推移在大脑中发生自然排除。他们发现，与试图把两个灯泡放在一起，直到灯泡熄灭相比，有意识的遗忘需要"适度的"大脑活动，很吸引人，对吧？ 

For their experiment, researchers recruited a group of healthy young adults who were individually shown of a series of images, and for each picture, the participants were instructed to either remember or forget what they were seeing. Per UT Austin's press release, the researchers used neuroimaging in order to keep track of participants' brain activity throughout the study, and according to the results published in the Journal of Neuroscience, there's a fine line between how much brain power is necessary to strengthen or forget a memory. 

在他们的实验中，研究人员招募了一组健康的年轻人，他们被单独展示了一系列图片，对于每张图片，参与者被要求记住或者忘记他们所看到的。 根据 UT 奥斯汀的新闻稿，研究人员在整个研究过程中使用了神经成像技术来跟踪参与者的大脑活动，根据发表在《神经科学杂志》上的结果，在加强或忘记记忆所需的大脑能量之间有一条细微的界限。

More specifically, according to lead author of the study, Tracy Wang, a "moderate level of brain activity is critical to this forgetting mechanism." In other words, if you put too much effort into forgetting a memory, you'll likely end up painting a clearer picture of the scenario in your head. But if you make too little of an effort to wipe your memory clean, the memory will likely stay put, according to Wang and her team's findings. 

更具体地说，根据该研究的主要作者Tracy Wang的说法，“中等水平的大脑活动对于这种遗忘机制至关重要。”换句话说，如果你付出太多努力忘记记忆，你可能最终会在你头脑中画出更清晰的情景画面。但根据wang和她的团队的研究结果，如果你没有尽力消除记忆，那么反而记忆可能会留下来。 

"It's the intention to forget that increases the activation of the memory," Wang explained. "When this activation hits the 'moderate level' sweet spot, that's when it leads to later forgetting of that experience." 

"遗忘的意图增加了记忆的激活,"王教授解释说。 "当这种激活达到'中等水平'的最佳点时，就会导致以后忘记那种体验。” 

So what does this all mean in terms of forgiving and forgetting a person? Well, it's important to note that while, clearly, intentionally forgetting is a skill you can learn and use at will, the researchers in this study did point out that their participants had an easier time forgetting images of scenes than they did images of human faces. But don't let that discourage you from trying, friends. If Lauren Conrad can forget Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt, then you can certainly say buh-bye to toxic people in your life once and for all, too. 

那么，这一切对于原谅和忘记一个人意味着什么呢？ 值得注意的是，虽然有意识地遗忘是一种你可以随意学习和使用的技能，但研究人员在这项研究中指出，他们的参与者更容易忘记场景图像，而不是人脸图像。 但是朋友们，不要因此而放弃尝试。 如果劳伦•康拉德可以忘记海蒂•蒙塔格和斯宾塞•普拉特，那么你当然也可以永远地和你生活中的坏人说再见。 

That being said, memories do have a tendency to kind of sneak up on you from time to time, which brings up an important question that this particular study hasn't answered: Are humans able to forgive and permanently forget? Michael Alcee, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist based in Tarrytown, New York (who was not involved in the study), is skeptical. 

也就是说，记忆确实有一种时不时偷偷靠近你的倾向，这就带来了一个重要的问题，这个特殊的研究还没有回答: 人类能够原谅并且永久忘记吗？ 来自塔里敦的临床心理学家迈克尔·阿尔塞博士(他没有参与这项研究)对此表示怀疑。

"Although it can be possible with a certain degree of processing or psychotherapy to take down the intensity and volume of certain memories, there is also some research to suggest that memories sometimes and often autonomously spring up," Alcee tells Elite Daily over email. When memories come up out of the blue, he explains, scientists have actually linked this to a protein structure in the brain called prions, which are apparently responsible for the "seemingly random and whimsical nature of memory," he says. 

"虽然通过一定程度的处理或心理治疗可以降低某些记忆的强度和容量，但也有一些研究表明，记忆有时候会自动产生,"阿尔茜在电子邮件中告诉《精英日报》。 他解释说，当记忆突然出现时，科学家实际上已经将其与大脑中一种叫做朊病毒的蛋白质结构联系起来，这种蛋白质结构显然可以解释“看似随机和异想天开的记忆本质"，他说。