Lots of people have had dreams that seem to foretell the future. Some psychologists attribute this to “retrieval cues.”

很多人都曾做过似乎能预示未来的梦。一些心理学家把这种现象归因于“复得线索”。

"Retrieval cues?"

“复得线索？”

A retrieval cue is a coincidence in the real world that triggers a dream memory which otherwise would have gone unnoticed.

所谓的复得线索是指，发生在现实生活中的一些事恰巧触发了梦中的记忆，而这些梦中的记忆若不被触发，则会被人在不觉中抛进遗忘的角落。

For example, did you know you dreamed about a little dog before the real dog showed up?

比如，在见到现实中的一条小狗之前，你知道你曾梦到过它吗？

Oh, yes, I was thinking about it all morning.

能啊，我整个早上都在想着它。

Really?

真是这样的吗？

Well, I think so.

呃，我想是这样的吧。

Maybe, or maybe the real event triggered a recollection of a dream, which not seems like it must have been in your thoughts all along. By the way, did you have any other dreams last night that didn't come true?

也许吧。或者可能是真实发生的事唤起了你对梦的回忆，而你梦到的事物似乎并不一定是你日思夜想的。顺便问问，你昨天晚上做的梦有哪些没成真吗？

Hmm, I don't remember what other else I dreamed.

嗯，我记不得我还做过哪些梦了。

Why not? Some studies suggest we have literally hundreds of dreams each night.

为什么记不得了呢？一些研究表明，我们每晚要做上百个梦呢。

Ok, I get the point. Maybe this dreaming the future stuff is more like picking and choosing dreams when they happen to fit.

噢，我懂了。所谓的“梦预示未来”的过程更像是一个从现实发生的事情中去挑选那些恰巧与之相符的梦的过程吧。

Coincidences are bound to come up. And if the coincidence acts as retrieval cue, the sense that you predicted something can be pretty convincing… even if it’s just a dream.

肯定会有恰合发生的。如果这些巧合充当了“复得线索”，那觉得自己预测中了什么事就显得十分合情合理了，即使你只做了个梦。