英语听力文摘 English Digest 499、教育孩子影响大脑？（在线收听）

How Parenting Affects the Brain
教育孩子影响大脑

If you’re one of those parents that constantly worries about their kids, you’re not alone. In fact, a study out of Yale University suggested that having a child may actually affect your brain function.

In the study, researchers monitored parents’ brain activity when they heard their child crying, or saw their child’s picture. Interestingly, it turned out that some of the brain areas that were activated are the same as the brain areas that are overactive in patients with obsessive-compulsivedisorder.

Of course, it’s only normal to worry about your baby. The study suggests that obsessive-compulsivedisorder may happen when the same parts of the brain that help us be good parents become overactive.

The study is also part of a growing body of research about the physiological changes that happen to people once they become parents. The question is whether people are, in some sense, pre-programmed for their roles as parents.

你是否和很多家长一样，经常为孩子担心？其实，最近耶鲁大学的一项研究表明有小孩可能会影响家长的大脑功能。

研究者监测家长听到孩子哭或看到孩子时的大脑活动。有趣的是，结果发现他们大脑的某些区域被激活，而这些区域正是那些患有强迫症的人过于活跃的大脑区域。

当然，担心自己的孩子是很正常的事。研究表明强迫症会出现的情况是，当大脑帮助我们成为好家长的区域太过活跃。

这项调查同时也是另外一个研究的一部分，即当我们成为家长后会发生那些生理上的变化。这个课题，在某种意义上是为我们作为家长做准备。