Chapter 1 THE SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE DEALING WITH THE PROBLEMS OF DREAMS

第一章?有關(guān)夢(mèng)的問(wèn)題的科學(xué)文獻(xiàn)

(D) Why Dreams are Forgotten after Waking

Ⅳ 為何醒來(lái)后會(huì)忘記夢(mèng)

It is a proverbial fact that dreams melt away in the morning. They can, of course, be remembered; for we only know dreams from our memory of them after we are awake. But we very often have a feeling that we have only remembered a dream in part and that there was more of it during the night; we can observe, too, how the recollection of a dream, which was still lively in the morning, will melt away, except for a few small fragments, in the course of the day; we often know we have dreamt, without knowing what we have dreamt; and we are so familiar with the fact of dreams being liable to be forgotten, that we see no absurdity in the possibility of someone having had a dream in the night and of his not being aware in the morning either of what he has dreamt or even of the fact that he has dreamt at all. On the other hand, it sometimes happens that dreams show an extraordinary penistence in the memory. I have analysed dreams in my patients which occurred twenty five and more ycan earlier; and I can remember a dream of my own separated by at least thirty-seven ycan from to-day and yet as fresh as ever in my memory. All of this is very remarkable and not immediately intelligible.

眾所周知，夢(mèng)在早晨就會(huì)“消失”本辐。當(dāng)然，夢(mèng)是可以回憶起來(lái)的悠轩，因?yàn)槲覀冎缐?mèng)，正是通過(guò)醒后的回憶值漫。不過(guò)物舒，我們通常認(rèn)為，回憶起來(lái)的夢(mèng)并不完整贞言，夜里真實(shí)發(fā)生的夢(mèng)內(nèi)容更豐富。我們還可以觀察到阀蒂，清晨回憶的夢(mèng)還栩栩如生该窗，白天就會(huì)慢慢消失弟蚀，最后就只剩下零星的片段了。我們經(jīng)常知道自己做了夢(mèng)酗失，但不記得夢(mèng)到了什么义钉。夢(mèng)是很容易忘記的，對(duì)此我們已經(jīng)習(xí)慣了规肴。一個(gè)人夜里做了夢(mèng)捶闸，次日清晨不僅忘了夢(mèng)的內(nèi)容，而且也不清楚自己究竟是否做了夢(mèng)拖刃，這種情況我們并不覺得荒謬鉴嗤。另一方面，夢(mèng)又能夠長(zhǎng)時(shí)間地保存在記憶中序调。我給自己的病人分析過(guò)他們二十五年前及更早前做的夢(mèng)，我也能回憶起自己做過(guò)的某個(gè)夢(mèng)兔簇，它距今至少已有三十七年发绢，依然歷歷在目。這一切非常奇特垄琐，初看起來(lái)難以理解边酒。

...

In the fint place, all the causes that lead to forgetting in waking life are operative for dreams as well. When we are awake we regularly forget countless sensations and perceptions at once, because they were too weak or because the mental excitation attaching to them was too slight. The same holds good of many dream-images: they are forgotten because they are too weak, while stronger images adjacent to them are remembered. The factor of intensity, however, is certainly not in itself enough to determine whether a dream-image shall be recollected. Strtimpell [ 1877, 82] admits, as well as other writers (e.g. Calkins, 1893, 312), that we often forget dream-images?which we know were very vivid, while a very large number which are shadowy and lacking in sensory force are among those retained in the memory. Moreover when we are awake we tend easily to forget an event which occurs only once and more readily to notice what can be perceived repeatedly. Now most dream-images are unique experiences; 1 and that fact will contribute impartially towards making us forget all dreams. Far more importance attaches to a third cause of forgetting. If sensations, ideas, thoughts, and so on, arc to attain a certain degree of susceptibility to being remembered, it is essential that they should not remain isolated but should be arranged in appropriate concatenations and groupings. If a short line of verse is divided up into its component words and these arc mixed up, it becomes very hard to remember. 'If words are properly arranged and put into the relevant order, one word will help another, and the whole, being charged with meaning, will be easily taken up by the memory and retained for a long time. It is in general as difficult and unusual to retain what is nonsensical as it is to retain what is confused and disordered.' [Strumpcll, 1877, 83.) Now dreams arc in most cases lacking in intelligibility and orderliness. The compositions which con? stitute dreams arc barren of the qualities which would make it possible to remember them, and they arc forgotten because as a rule they fall to pieces a moment later. Radestock (1879, 168 ), however, claims to have observed that it is the most peculiar dreams that are best remembered, and this, it must be admitted, would scarcely tally with what has just been said.

首先，導(dǎo)致我們?cè)谇逍焉钪羞z忘事情的所有因素狸窘，對(duì)夢(mèng)也同樣有效墩朦。在清醒時(shí)，我們通常會(huì)很快忘掉許多感覺翻擒、知覺氓涣，因?yàn)樗鼈兲⑷趿耍c它們相連的精神刺激強(qiáng)度太低了陋气。這個(gè)道理也適用于許多夢(mèng)中形象劳吠，它們被遺忘也是因?yàn)樗鼈兲⑷趿耍切┹^強(qiáng)烈的形象就會(huì)被記起來(lái)巩趁。不過(guò)痒玩，強(qiáng)度本身肯定不是能否記住夢(mèng)中形象的決定性因素。斯特倫佩爾和其他一些學(xué)者都承認(rèn)议慰，我們經(jīng)常會(huì)很快忘記一些非常生動(dòng)的夢(mèng)中形象蠢古，但記憶中卻保留了許多模模糊糊、感覺微弱的形象别凹。此外草讶，我們清醒時(shí)很容易忘記只發(fā)生過(guò)一次的事情，而可以反復(fù)感知的內(nèi)容會(huì)更容易記住番川。大部分的夢(mèng)中形象都是一次性的體驗(yàn)到涂，這一特點(diǎn)也會(huì)導(dǎo)致夢(mèng)逐漸被遺忘脊框。第三個(gè)原因的意義則重要得多——感覺、想象践啄、觀念等要想在某種程度上被回憶起來(lái)浇雹，就不可分散獨(dú)存，而要適當(dāng)?shù)叵嗷ヂ?lián)系屿讽、結(jié)合在一起昭灵。如果將一行短詩(shī)分解成孤立的詞語(yǔ)，再將它們胡亂拼在一起伐谈，就很難再記住了烂完。“有序诵棵、恰當(dāng)排列的詞語(yǔ)之間會(huì)有互助效果抠蚣，從而組成一個(gè)有意義的整體，就容易長(zhǎng)久保存在記憶中履澳。一般說(shuō)來(lái)嘶窄，我們很難或很少記住不合情理的內(nèi)容，雜亂距贷、無(wú)序的東西也是如此柄冲。”大部分的夢(mèng)恰恰都是難以理解忠蝗、沒(méi)有秩序的现横，夢(mèng)的結(jié)構(gòu)本身就不利于記憶，它們通常隨即就會(huì)瓦解阁最，從而被忘記戒祠。而拉德斯托克卻認(rèn)為，我們記得最清楚的恰恰是那些最離奇的夢(mèng)速种，這觀點(diǎn)與上面的說(shuō)法并不那么合拍得哆。