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

Y: Retrieval cues?

D: A retrieval cue is a coincidence in the real world that triggers a dream memory which otherwise would have gone unnoticed.For example, did you know you dreamed about a little dog before the real dog showed up?

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

D: Really?

Y: Welll, I think so.

D: 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?

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

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

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

D: 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.

D:许多人都做过一些好像可以预知未来的梦。心理学家把这种现象归因于“提取线索”。

Y:提取线索?

D:提取是一种巧合：现生活中的某个场景让你回忆起一个不被注意梦境。比如，你知道你梦到的那只小狗出现在真实的狗之前吗?

D:是的。我整个早上都在想这个梦。

Y:真的吗?

Y:我想是吧。

D:也许吧，有或许是真实事件让你回忆起某个梦境，而这个梦境不一定一直都在你的脑海中。顺便问一下，你昨天晚上还做了其它没有实现的梦吗?

Y:嗯，其他做过的梦都不记得了。

D:为什么不记得了呢?有研究称我们每天晚上要做数百个梦。

Y:好，我知道了。也许梦见未来这种事更像是从成千上百个梦的中挑选一个碰巧合适情景的。

D:所以，巧合就发生了。如果巧合作为提取线索，你能预测未来就相当有说服力，尽管那只是一个梦。

Notes：

提取线索的心理学概念，是指当你搜索一个特定的记忆时，可以利用的刺激。可以是外部提供的，比如试卷上的选择题题目;也可以是内部提供，比如看到一个人时，自己问自己，“我在哪儿见过她?”