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This is Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Lucy Huang.

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学。我是露西·黄。

About 1.5 billion people speak English around the world. But for more than 1.1 billion of them, English is their second language — often with a noticeable accent.

全球有约15亿人说英语。但其中有超过11亿人的母语并不是英语，因此他们说英语时往往带有明显的口音。

"Your accent really reveals a lot about who you are and your identity. It will tell people what your native language is, be able to tell you probably where you come from." Marc Pell, a communications professor at McGill University in Montreal. And according to Pell, one reaction to a different accent can be a bias¹ against that person.

“你的口音的确会透露有关你本身和身份的大量信息。口音能告诉他人你的母语是什么，可能也会让别人知道你来自哪里。”位于蒙特利尔的麦吉尔大学的传播学教授马克·佩尔说到。佩尔表示，对不同口音产生反应可能是对这个人的偏见。

"Previous research that has been done elsewhere showed that people who have an accent tend to be trusted less, simply because they have an accent. But the idea that we would have a bias against anyone who sort of doesn't sound like us I think probably relates to some sort of evolutionary² or long-standing suspicion we have of outsiders or strangers. So this might be sort of an ingrained response that we have to the accent."

“其他地区做的早前研究表明，有口音的人往往可信度会降低，仅仅是因为他们说英语有口音。但我们会对口音和我们不同的人产生偏见，可能与某种进化有关，或可能与我们长期以来对外来者或陌生人抱有的怀疑态度有关。因此，这可能是我们对口音的某种根深蒂固的反应。”

But accents aren't the only thing we listen for when we have to decide if we trust another person. Tone of voice also plays a role. Pell and his team wanted to know if people would trust a confident tone, even if it came from someone with an accent.

但在判定是否信任另一个人时，口音并非我们留心听的唯一因素。语气也在发挥作用。佩尔及其团队想知道，人们是否会相信说话自信的人，即使这个人说话有口音。

The researchers had Canadian English speakers listen to different versions of people saying neutral statements like she has access to the building" while they were getting a brain scan in an MRI machine. Subjects heard someone say it with a confident neutral tone with a Canadian English accent, an Australian accent or a French accent. Participants also heard the sentence with the three accents spoken in a doubtful or neutral tone.

研究人员让说加拿大英语的人听不同口音版本的中立陈述句，比如“她走进了大楼”这种句子，同时用核磁共振成像扫描听录音者的大脑。实验对象听到的是语气自信的中立句，分别带有加拿大英语、澳大利亚或法国口音。参与者还会听到带有这三种口音的人以怀疑或中立语气所说的话。

The MRI scans showed that the participants had to use more brain power to decide if they could trust the statements said with the non-native accents. When the study participants heard the Australian or French accents, blood flow increased to the to the temporal lobe³, part of the brain that we use to process sound.

核磁共振扫描结果显示，参与者不得不用更多脑力来决定是否可以相信那些用非本地口音说的陈述句。当研究参与者听到澳大利亚或法国口音时，他们颞叶处的血流明显增多，颞叶是大脑处理声音的区域。

MP: "They seem to have to analyze⁴ that perhaps more intensively or, or for a longer period of time to make this decision about whether they truly believed the speaker."

马克·佩尔：“他们似乎不得不进行更集中或更长时间的分析，才能决定是否真正相信说话者。”

The work is in the journal NeuroImage.

这项研究发表在《神经图像》期刊上。

When asked, the participants reported not trusting either Australian or French accents — except for when the statements were said confidently. Seems that confidence speaks for itself.

在被询问时，参与者反馈说他们不信任带有澳大利亚或法国口音的人，除非说话者在陈述时充满自信。看起来自信本身不言自明。

Thanks for listening for Scientific American — 60-Second Science Science. I'm Lucy Huang.

谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学。我是露西·黄。