EigoPro 準1級読解 — How Memory Works

We tend to picture memory as a kind of internal video recorder, faithfully capturing events and storing them on a shelf to be played back on demand. This intuition is comforting, but neuroscientists now regard it as profoundly misleading. Memory does not preserve a fixed copy of the past. Instead, every act of recollection is an act of reconstruction, in which the brain reassembles fragments—a sound, a smell, an emotion—into a coherent narrative, filling the inevitable gaps with plausible inference. What feels like replaying a recording is closer to retelling a story, and the story can change with each telling. This reconstructive quality has startling consequences. Because a memory is rebuilt rather than retrieved intact, it can be subtly altered every time it is recalled. Decades of experiments have shown that simply asking people leading questions can implant details that were never there: a stop sign becomes a yield sign, a calm witness becomes a frightened one. Such findings unsettle our faith in eyewitness testimony, long treated by courts as the gold standard of evidence. A confident, vivid memory, it turns out, is no guarantee of accuracy; vividness and truth are largely independent. Yet this apparent flaw is, on closer inspection, a feature. A mind that merely archived the past would be poorly equipped for the future. The real purpose of memory may be less to record what happened than to help us anticipate what might happen next—to extract patterns, simulate scenarios, and guide decisions. Reconstruction allows the brain to update old memories with new knowledge and to recombine fragments into novel predictions. Far from being a defect, the malleability that makes memory unreliable as a record is precisely what makes it powerful as a tool for navigating an uncertain world.

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この単元の問題を3問、解説つきで公開しています

準1級 · 読解 · 全5問

問 1

What is the main idea of the passage?

Memory works by reconstructing the past rather than replaying a fixed recording, and this flexibility is ultimately useful.
Eyewitness testimony is the only form of evidence that courts should accept.
Human memory is so unreliable that it should never be trusted for any purpose.
Neuroscientists have proven that the brain stores events as perfect, unchanging copies.

Phrase

every act of recollection is an act of reconstruction

準1級読解神経科学主旨把握

⚡ひとことで

記憶は録画の再生ではなく再構築であり、その柔軟性こそ有用、というのが論旨。

選択肢の解説Choice Analysis

「Memory works by reconstructing the past rather than replaying a fixed recording, and this flexibility is ultimately useful.」

正解

本文は (1) 記憶は『録画機』ではなく毎回の再構築だと述べ→ (2) その結果として誤りが入り込む (誘導尋問・目撃証言)→ (3) しかしその可塑性こそ未来を予測する道具として強力だ、と展開する。第3段の Far from being a defect ... what makes it powerful がこの論旨を要約しており、『記憶は固定録画の再生ではなく過去の再構築で動き、その柔軟性は最終的に有用』が主旨。

「Human memory is so completely unreliable that it ought never to be trusted for any purpose whatsoever.」
= 信頼性が低く決して信用すべきでない ━ 本文は最終段で可塑性を『欠陥どころか道具として強力』と肯定しており、全く信用するなとは言っていない。
「the brain stores events as perfect, unchanging copies」
= 脳は完璧で不変のコピーを保存する ━ 本文はこの直観を profoundly misleading と明確に否定しているので正反対。
「Eyewitness testimony is the only single form of evidence at all that the courts ought ever to accept in trials.」
= 目撃証言だけを採用すべき ━ 本文はむしろ目撃証言への信頼を揺るがしており、唯一の証拠だとは述べていない。

▦Collocation

パターン	意味	例
an act of reconstruction	再構築という行為	Recollection is an act of reconstruction.
on demand	求めに応じて	played back on demand
fill the gaps with ~	~で隙間を埋める	filling the gaps with inference
a coherent narrative	首尾一貫した物語	reassemble fragments into a coherent narrative
far from being ~	~どころか	Far from being a defect, it is a feature.

❝例文

Every act of recollection is an act of reconstruction.
想起の行為はすべて再構築の行為だ。
The brain fills the gaps with plausible inference.
脳はもっともらしい推論で隙間を埋める。
Far from being a flaw, the trait is an advantage.
その特徴は欠点どころか利点だ。

💡Tip · 覚えるコツ

主旨設問は最終段の評価文 (Far from being a defect ... powerful) を探すと速い。本文は『直観の否定→帰結→再評価』の三段構成。

問 2

According to the passage, what does each act of recollection involve?

Retrieving a complete, untouched copy of the original event from storage.
Erasing the original memory so that it can never be recalled again.
Reassembling scattered fragments into a coherent narrative and filling gaps with plausible inference.
Recording new sensory data while the original event is happening.

Phrase

the brain reassembles fragments ... filling the inevitable gaps with plausible inference

準1級読解神経科学詳細把握

⚡ひとことで

想起=断片 (音・匂い・感情) を物語に組み直し、隙間を推論で補う作業。

選択肢の解説Choice Analysis

「Reassembling scattered fragments into a coherent narrative and filling gaps with plausible inference.」

正解

第1段で『the brain reassembles fragments—a sound, a smell, an emotion—into a coherent narrative, filling the inevitable gaps with plausible inference』と明示される。これを言い換えた『散らばった断片を一貫した物語に組み直し、隙間をもっともらしい推論で埋める』が正解。

「Retrieving one complete and wholly untouched copy of the original event out of storage.」
= 完全で無傷のコピーを取り出す ━ 本文は記憶が固定コピーを保存しないと明言しており正反対。
「Erasing the original memory」
= 元の記憶を消去する ━ 消去するとは述べていない。再構築であって削除ではない。
「Recording all of the new sensory data at the very moment the original event is happening.」
= 出来事の最中に新たな感覚データを記録する ━ 想起 (recollection) は出来事の後の作業で、本文の論点とずれている。

▦Collocation

パターン	意味	例
reassemble A into B	AをBに組み直す	reassemble fragments into a narrative
plausible inference	もっともらしい推論	fill gaps with plausible inference
on demand	求めに応じて	play it back on demand
be closer to ~	むしろ~に近い	It is closer to retelling a story.
with each telling	語るたびに	The story changes with each telling.

❝例文

The brain reassembles fragments into a narrative.
脳は断片を物語に組み直す。
Recollection is closer to retelling than replaying.
想起は再生よりむしろ語り直しに近い。
She filled the gaps with plausible inference.
彼女はもっともらしい推論で隙間を埋めた。

💡Tip · 覚えるコツ

detail 設問は本文の動詞句 (reassemble / fill ... with) を別語に置換した選択肢が正解。『完全なコピー』系の肢は本文が否定する直観なので除外。

問 3

What do the experiments mentioned in the second paragraph demonstrate?

Courts have abandoned eyewitness testimony as a form of evidence.
Leading questions can implant false details into a person's memory of an event.
Vivid memories are scientifically proven to be the most truthful.
Witnesses who feel confident are always more accurate than uncertain ones.

Phrase

simply asking people leading questions can implant details that were never there

準1級読解神経科学詳細把握

⚡ひとことで

実験は『誘導尋問が存在しなかった細部を記憶に植え付ける』ことを示した。

選択肢の解説Choice Analysis

「Leading questions can implant false details into a person's memory of an event.」

正解

第2段で『Decades of experiments have shown that simply asking people leading questions can implant details that were never there』と述べ、止まれの標識が譲れの標識に変わる例を挙げる。よって実験が示すのは『誘導尋問が偽の細部を記憶に植え付けうる』こと。

「Witnesses who feel confident are always more accurate than uncertain ones.」
= 自信があれば常により正確 ━ 本文は『鮮明さと真実は概ね独立』と述べており、自信=正確ではない。
「Courts have abandoned eyewitness testimony」
= 裁判所は目撃証言を放棄した ━ 本文は信頼を『揺るがす (unsettle)』とは言うが、放棄したとは述べていない。
「Vivid memories are scientifically proven to be the most truthful」
= 鮮明な記憶が最も真実だと証明された ━ vividness and truth are largely independent と正反対。

▦Collocation

パターン	意味	例
leading question	誘導尋問	ask a leading question
implant a detail	細部を植え付ける	implant details that were never there
the gold standard	最高の基準	treated as the gold standard
be no guarantee of ~	~の保証にならない	Vividness is no guarantee of accuracy.
unsettle one's faith in ~	~への信頼を揺るがす	findings that unsettle our faith

❝例文

Leading questions can implant false memories.
誘導尋問は偽の記憶を植え付けうる。
A vivid memory is no guarantee of accuracy.
鮮明な記憶は正確さの保証にはならない。
The findings unsettle our faith in testimony.
その知見は証言への信頼を揺るがす。

💡Tip · 覚えるコツ

detail 設問で『always / only / proven』を含む肢は言い過ぎ・正反対が多い。本文の『largely independent』『unsettle』のような控えめな語と矛盾しないか確認。

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EigoPro 準1級 読解 — How Memory Works

この単元の問題を3問、解説つきで公開しています

every act of recollection is an act of reconstruction

the brain reassembles fragments ... filling the inevitable gaps with plausible inference

simply asking people leading questions can implant details that were never there

EigoPro 準1級読解 — How Memory Works