Most of us can lose our train of thought midway through a sentence but when you're a stand-up comic, it can spell disaster - as comedian¹ Billy Connolly knows. The 70-year-old Scot admitted last week he now suffers from worrying bouts² of memory loss on stage and sometimes cannot ?remember his punch lines for gags.

很多人都会说话说到一半短路，但如果你是一名喜剧演员，那就糟糕了--喜剧演员比利·康诺利就知道这个道理。上周，这位70岁的苏格兰演员承认：他现在开始担心记忆力会在上台时下降，有时会忘记让人捧腹大笑的妙语。

His wife Pamela Stephenson puts it down to years of drinking in his early career. But absent-mindedness is not just about "senior moments", says neuropsychologist Dr Joanna Iddon, co-author of Memory Boosters. "In a recent study of healthy adults, the average number of memory slips, like putting the coffee jar in the fridge, was around six per week, irrespective of age, gender³ and intelligence," says Dr Iddon.

他的妻子帕米拉·斯蒂芬森将其归因于早年饮酒过多。但健忘不仅仅是"老年失忆症"，神经心理学家乔安娜·伊登医生说，她是Memory Boosters一书的合著作者。"近期一项有关健康成年人的研究中，人们一时记不起某事（比如把咖啡壶放到冰箱）的平均数量大概是每周六次，无关年龄、性别和智力，"伊登医生说道。

"In fact, it was the younger, busier people that were the most absent-minded. Remembering is an active process and making the most of your memory involves paying better attention, planning and organising. Luckily, there are some tricks and strategies to help you banish⁴ those thingumabob moments."

"事实上，更年轻、更忙的人是最健忘的。记忆是一个积极的过程，最大化的利用自己的记忆包括注意力更集中、筹划和组织能力更好。幸运的是，有些方法和策略能够帮助我们度过这些难关。"

1. Associate the memory with the environment

1. 将记忆与环境联系在一起

So if, for example, a joke is learned in the presence of a particular smell, that same aroma⁵ may cue the memory for that joke.

比如，如果你在特殊气味中学到了一个笑话，那同样的气味可能会提醒你有关这一笑话的记忆。

"More simply, when in an exam, I advise my students to visualise the place in which they were revising as a cue to memory," says Andrew Johnson, memory specialist and lecturer in psychology⁶ at Bournemouth University.

"更简单地说，考试时我建议我的学生将考场当作他们复习的地方，以提醒他们的记忆，"记忆专家、伯恩莫斯大学的心理学老师安德鲁·约翰逊说道。

2. Clench⁷ your fist

2. 握紧拳头

Research suggests that balling up your right hand and squeezing it tightly actually makes it easier to memorise⁸ phone numbers or shopping lists. "Later, when you want to retrieve⁹ the information, clench the left fist. Researchers think the movements activate¹⁰ brain regions key to the storing and recall of memories.

研究表明：将右手紧紧地握成拳头实际上能够更容易的记住电话号码或购物清单。"以后，当你打算回想信息时，先紧握左拳、研究员们认为这一动作能够激活大脑存储和回忆的区域。"

3. Learn something before bed

3. 睡前学点知识

"The best way to 'consolidate¹¹ a memory' is to go through the information just before going to sleep," explains Dr Johnson. "This is because there are fewer 'new' interfering¹² memories so you will remember it better the next day."

"'巩固记忆'的最佳方法就是睡前再看一遍，"约翰逊医生解释道。"这是因为睡前新的干扰信息较少，因此第二天就能记得更好。"

4. Drink more milk

4. 多喝牛奶

Scientists asked 972 people to fill in detailed¹³ surveys on their diets and to complete eight rigorous tests to check their concentration, memory and learning abilities.

科学家要求972人填写一份有关饮食的详细调查并完成8项严格的测试，以研究他们的注意力、记忆力和学习能力。