科学美国人60秒 你的大脑不用舌头也能品尝味道

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Back in ancient times, philosophers like Aristotle were already speculating about the origins of taste, and how the tongue sensed elemental tastes like sweet, bitter, salty and sour. "What we discovered just a few years ago is that there are regions of the brain—regions of the cortex—where particular fields of neurons represent these different tastes again, so there's a sweet field, a bitter field, a salty field, etcetera." Nick Ryba, a sensory¹ neuroscientist at the National Institutes of Health

在古代的时候，亚里士多德等思想家曾经猜测味道的起源，以及舌头如何感知到酸、甜、苦、咸、辣等味道。“就在几年以前，我们曾经讨论大脑区域——大脑皮层——特定领域的神经元代表着不同的味道吗，这样，就会有负责甜味的区域、苦味的区域、咸味的区域等等。”尼克·里巴美国国立卫生研究院的感官神经科学家，讲述了上述言论。

Ryba and his colleagues found that you can actually taste without a tongue at all, simply by stimulating² the "taste" part of the brain—the insular³ cortex. They ran the experiment in mice with a special sort of brain implant—a fiber-optic cable that turns neurons on with a pulse of laser light. And by switching on the "bitter" sensing part of the brain, they were able to make mice pucker⁴ up, as if they were tasting something bitter—even though absolutely nothing bitter was touching⁵ the tongues of the mice.

里巴和他的同事研究发现，实际上，即使没有舌头，你也可是尝出味道，而这仅需要通过刺激大脑中的“味觉”部分——岛叶皮层即可。他们在老鼠身上做了实验，老鼠植入了特殊的大脑结构——光纤电缆，通过激光束，此光纤电缆可以“刺激”神经元。研究人员通过刺激大脑中的“苦味”感官部分，而使老鼠脾气暴躁，仿佛老鼠品尝到了苦味的东西——而老鼠没有尝到任何苦的东西。

In another experiment, the researchers fed the mice a bitter flavoring on their tongues—but then made it more palatable⁶ by switching on the "sweet" zone of the brain. "What we were doing here was adding the sweetness, but only adding it in the brain, not in what we were giving to the mouse." Think adding sugar to your coffee—but doing it only in your mind. The findings appear in the journal Nature.

在另外一个实验里，研究人员老鼠吃苦味的东西——但是研究人员又刺激老鼠大脑中的“甜味”区，而让苦味变得更加的可口。“我们做的是增加甜蜜，但仅仅是通过刺激老鼠大脑中的甜味区域，而不是喂老鼠吃填的东西。”想想在咖啡里面加糖——而这次仅仅是在大脑里面加糖。该研究结果发表在《自然》杂志上。

Ryba says the study suggests that a lot of our basic judgments⁷ about taste—sweet means good, bitter means bad—are actually hard-wired at the level of the brain. As for that virtual-sugar-in-your-coffee idea? "I think it's basically science fiction to think that this would be something that would be applied⁸ to humans." But today’s science fiction might be tomorrow’s artificial sweetener.

里巴称研究表明，我们关于味道的许多基本的判断——甜味意味着好，苦涩意味着坏，这实际上都是与大脑相关的。至于把那个在脑海中给咖啡加糖的想法?我认为，这是科幻小说的观点，认为将来这将会适用于人类。但是今天的科幻小说，可能是未来人类虚拟的甜味剂。

1 sensory   

adj.知觉的，感觉的，知觉器官的

参考例句：

• Human powers of sensory discrimination are limited.人类感官分辨能力有限。
• The sensory system may undergo long-term adaptation in alien environments.感觉系统对陌生的环境可能经过长时期才能适应。

2 stimulating   

adj.有启发性的，能激发人思考的

参考例句：

• shower gel containing plant extracts that have a stimulating effect on the skin 含有对皮肤有益的植物精华的沐浴凝胶
• This is a drug for stimulating nerves. 这是一种兴奋剂。

3 insular   

adj.岛屿的，心胸狭窄的

参考例句：

• A continental climate is different from an insular one.大陆性气候不同于岛屿气候。
• Having lived in one place all his life,his views are insular.他一辈子住在一个地方，所以思想狭隘。

4 pucker   

v.撅起，使起皱；n.（衣服上的）皱纹，褶子

参考例句：

• She puckered her lips into a rosebud and kissed him on the nose.她双唇努起犹如一朵玫瑰花蕾，在他的鼻子上吻了一下。
• Toby's face puckered.托比的脸皱了起来。

5 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。

6 palatable   

adj.可口的，美味的；惬意的

参考例句：

• The truth is not always very palatable.事实真相并非尽如人意。
• This wine is palatable and not very expensive.这种酒味道不错，价钱也不算贵。

7 judgments   

判断( judgment的名词复数 )； 鉴定； 评价； 审判

参考例句：

• A peculiar austerity marked his judgments of modern life. 他对现代生活的批评带着一种特殊的苛刻。
• He is swift with his judgments. 他判断迅速。

8 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。