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How good is your memory? Like, try to remember this list of words:
你的记忆力有多好？比如，试着记住这个单词表里的单词：
weather, snacks, cousin, cherry, floor, boats.
天气、小吃、表弟、樱桃，地板、船。
Okay, can you repeat that back to me?
好的，你能再说一遍吗？
Whether you're generally good at memorizing things or not, if you're pregnant or recently had a baby, this task might be a little trickier.
无论你是否善于记忆，如果你怀孕或最近生完孩子，这项任务可能会有点棘手。
That's because many pregnant people experience a foggy memory that can last for years after the pregnancy ends.
这是因为许多人怀孕后记忆会模糊，这种情况在怀孕结束后可能会持续数年。
This phenomenon has a number of names: "momnesia," "mom brain," "baby brain," "pregnancy brain".
这种现象有许多叫法：“失忆症”、“妈妈大脑”、“婴儿大脑”、“怀孕大脑”。
And memory loss only scratches the surface of what's going on.
记忆丧失只是表面现象。
Turns out, to prepare for a baby, pregnancy actually remodels the human brain.
事实证明，为了备孕，怀孕实际上改造了人类大脑。
Pregnancy brain is best known for causing memory loss,
人们通常认为，怀孕大脑会导致记忆力下降，
but studies show that it can also involve sleepiness or fatigue, dips in attention, and slower processing speeds.
但研究表明，它还可能引起嗜睡或疲劳、注意力下降和处理速度较慢。
Pinning down the symptoms has been a challenge, partly because pregnancy can vary so much between people.
这些症状的确定一直是一项挑战，部分原因是因为人们怀孕的差异较大。
For instance, those behavioral symptoms of pregnancy brain can start as early as the second trimester and last as long as two years after the baby's born.
例如，怀孕大脑的这些行为症状可以从妊娠中期开始，并且一直持续到婴儿出生后的两年。
Or they can start as late as the third trimester and end just a few days after childbirth.
或者从妊娠晚期开始，并在分娩后几天结束。
Or there might be no symptoms at all!
或者根本没有任何症状！
These variations can make it hard to get consistent experimental results.
这些差异造成试验的结果很难一致。
But a 2012 study compared 19 years of research and found that pregnancy brain is a real,
但2012年的一项研究对比了之前19年的研究，发现怀孕大脑是真实、
measurable phenomenon that affects memory in a very specific way.
可测的现象，它以一种非常具体的方式影响记忆。
With other kinds of memory loss, like amnesia, people have a complete inability to form new memories.
在记忆丧失的情况下，比如健忘症，人们无法完全形成新的记忆。
But with pregnancy brain, it's harder to form certain types of memories.
但在怀孕大脑的作用下，形成某种记忆更加困难。
Specifically, memories that require effortful processing—like when you're actively trying to memorize information.
具体而言，需要努力处理的记忆 ——比如当你努力积极记忆信息的时候，
So this includes memory tasks like free recall, where you remember a list of items or words, one at a time.
包括记忆任务，比如自由记忆，一次记住项目列表或单词表。
There's also delayed free recall, where you can remember information after some time or after a distraction.
还有延迟自由记忆，你可以在一段时间或分心后记住信息。
Like whether you can remember the list from the beginning of this video—I know I can't!
就像你是否能记住这段视频开头的单词一样 —— 我知道我不能！
None of them. Boats? Was boat one of them? And then there's prospective memory, where you remember to do something in the future—
都不是。船？船是其中一个吗？然后是前瞻记忆，你记得未来要做的事儿——
like deciding to make mashed potatoes for dinner, and then you remember to stop at the store on the way home from work.
比如决定晚餐做土豆泥，然后记得下班回家的路上去商店看看。
It's unclear why these specific types of memory are affected, but we have some ideas as to how memory loss can happen,
目前还不清楚为什么这些特定的记忆会受到影响，但我们对记忆丧失的产生有一些想法，
because there are measurable changes in the brain.
因为大脑中有可测变化的存在。
During pregnancy, brain changes are ultimately driven by sex hormones like estrogen, progesterone, and prolactin.
怀孕期间，大脑变化基本上受雌激素、黄体酮和催乳素等性激素的影响。
These hormone levels rise to super high concentrations during pregnancy, and fluctuate a lot during the third trimester.
怀孕期间，性激素浓度升至超高水平，并且在妊娠晚期波动幅度较大。
As this happens, the amount of some neurotransmitters also changes—
这种情况发生时，神经递质的数量也会发生变化——
including a decrease in serotonin and dopamine, and an increase in norepinephrine.
包括血清素和多巴胺降低，去甲肾上腺素上升。
That norepinephrine boost, which signals the fight-or-flight response, is also linked to an increased memory loss.
指示战斗或逃跑反应的去甲肾上腺素上升也与记忆丧失的增加有关。
And all these chemical brain changes play a role in physical changes during pregnancy—
怀孕期间的所有这些化学脑变化都影响着身体变化——
although scientists aren't entirely sure how everything's connected.
虽然科学家并不完全确定它们之间的关系怎样。
See, researchers have found that pregnancy causes significant changes in gray matter—
研究发现，怀孕造成脑灰质发生重大变化
the regions where most neurons connect and talk to each other.
这个区域中大多数神经细胞连接互通。
An increase in gray matter volume can mean that an area needs to make more connections,
脑灰质体积的增加可能意味着一个区域需要建立更多的连接，
while a decrease can mean there's some fine-tuning going on, or a loss of information processing.
然而脑灰质体积的减少可能意味着某些微调正在发生，或者信息处理丢失。
But basically, changes in volume generally mean a shift in how the brain handles information.
但基本上来说，体积的变化通常意味着大脑处理信息方式的转变。
A 2016 study published in Nature Neuroscience looked at the brains of 25 women who got pregnant for the first time, before and after they gave birth.
2016年发表在《自然神经科学》（Nature Neuroscience）杂志上的一项研究调查了25名首次怀孕女性分娩前后大脑的情况。
And they compared this MRI data to some scans of the brains of their male partners,
他们将这些核磁共振成像数据与其男性伴侣、
and the brains of women and men who didn't become new parents as controls.
以及那些还没有做父母大脑的扫描结果进行了比较，
The researchers found that, during pregnancy, the cortical midline, hippocampus,
研究发现，怀孕期间，皮质中线、海马体，
and areas of the prefrontal and temporal cortices had a significant loss of gray matter.
前额皮质和颞皮质区的脑灰质损失严重。
And this decrease in volume had a correlation with memory loss.
体积减少与记忆丧失有关。
But it was also linked to an increase in sensitivity to emotional cues from the baby and emotional attachment.
但也与婴儿情绪暗示和情绪依恋敏感性的增加有关。
Specifically, there was a correlation between gray matter loss and higher marks on the Maternal Postnatal Attachment Scale—
具体而言，母体产后依附量表的较高分数与脑灰质损失之间存在相关性，
a 19-point questionnaire used to measure how well a biological mother bonds with her child.
该量表总分是19分，用于衡量生母与孩子之间的关系，
They also did a follow-up MRI scan on 11 of those new mothers,
他们还对其中11位新妈妈后续进行了核磁共振成像扫描，
and found that those brain changes can last at least two years after childbirth.
发现分娩后大脑的那些变化至少持续两年。
And we're not sure how long it takes to get back to pre-pregnancy volumes of gray matter.
我们不确定需要多久才能恢复孕前脑灰质的体积。
But overall, pregnancy brain seems to be an evolutionary thing that helps the baby survive—
但总体而言，怀孕大脑似乎是一种进化，可以帮助宝宝生存——
kind of like how morning sickness is annoying but it can offer protection from toxins.
有点像晨吐，虽然很讨厌，但可以保护孕妇免受毒素的侵害。
So meeting the demands of parenthood requires energy, time, patience, luck… and a little bit of brain remodeling.
因此，父母需要能量、时间、耐心、运气......以及少许大脑重构。
Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow Psych!
感谢收看本期心理科学秀学!
If you want to learn more about how new babies seriously affect your brain after they're born, check our our video about that very thing!
如果您想了解更多关于新生儿出生后对大脑的影响，看看我们的视频节目吧!
