读者文摘:幽默能让我们更聪明(3)

To test their hypothesis, Amir and Biederman recruited 15 students to view 200 simple line drawings during an fMRI scan.

为了验证他们的假设，阿米尔和比德曼找了15个学生，让他们在核磁扫描时观看200幅简单的线条画。

Each drawing came with two captions²: an "obvious" description and an "interpretive" one.

每幅画都有两个题注：一个“显而易见的”描述和一个“解释性的”描述。

For a picture with three T's in a row, the obvious caption¹ read "thick T-shaped junctions³."

有连续三个T的图片，显而易见的描述为“厚的T形连接。”

An interpretive caption might read "trumpet⁴ valves," because the three T's resemble the finger buttons on a trumpet.

一个解释性的描述可能写作“小号阀门”，因为T代表了小号上的按钮。

Some of the interpretive captions were designed to be funny.

有些解释性的描述设定的很搞笑。

On a drawing of two horizontal ovals wedged inside a vertical⁵ one, the obvious caption read "two smaller horizontal ellipses⁶ in a larger vertical ellipse."

在一幅画中，两个水平的椭圆嵌在一个垂直的椭圆里，显而易见的标题是“一个较大的垂直椭圆里有两个较小的水平椭圆”。

The interpretive/ funny description: "Close-up of a pig looking at book titles in a library." Think about it.

解释性/有趣的描述：“一只猪在图书馆里看书名的特写。”想一想。

For another drawing, "a plethora⁷ of dots surrounded concentrically around a single dot" could be just that,

在另一幅画中，“大量的点围绕着一个点”，可能就是这样，

or it could be "germs avoiding a friend who caught antibiotics⁸."

也可能是“细菌在躲避感染了抗生素的朋友”。

The subjects were asked to rate each caption as "not funny," "a little funny," or "funny."

受试者被要求给每个题注打分，分别是“不搞笑”、“有点搞笑”或“搞笑”。

As expected, the interpretive captions lit up more areas of the brain than their obvious counterparts—

不出所料，这些解释性的说明文字比显而易见的对应文字更能激活大脑的某些区域-

in line with the cognitive⁹ theory that insight in and of itself is pleasurable.

这与洞察力本身是令人愉悦的认知理论是一致的。

But the scans revealed that humorous insights activated¹⁰ the most regions of all.

但是扫描显示，幽默的思考能活跃最多的区域。

The funnier the subjects rated a caption, the more neurons were fired.

测试者对题注的评价越有趣，被激发的神经元越多。

It is this extra burst of brain activation¹¹ at the moment we "get" a joke that transforms "aha" into "haha," Amir and Biederman concluded.

阿米尔和比德曼总结道，在这种脑神经元大量活跃的时刻，我们领会到的笑话将恍然大悟转变为哈哈一笑。

What's more, the opioid receptors they were studying are located in the higher-level processing areas of the temporal lobes¹²,

而且，他们研究的阿片样受体位于高级处理区域颞叶，

a patch of neural¹³ real estate running from roughly behind the ears up to the eyes,

颞叶是一块从耳朵后面一直延伸到眼睛的神经区域，

where we store the memories and associations we use to make sense of the world.

在那里，我们储存用来理解世界的记忆和联想。

They also have connections to neurons in the basal ganglia, the reward center of the brain.

它们还与基底神经节的神经元有联系，基底神经节是大脑的奖赏中枢。

"We had come to think of these perceptual systems as relatively¹⁴ mundane¹⁵ structures meant simply to passively get us information," Biederman says.

比德曼说，“我们之前认为这些感知系统仅仅是让我们被动获取信息的相对一般的结构，

"But it turns out that getting new information is actually pleasurable."

但是结果是，获取新信息是令人愉快的。

From there, the researchers took their analysis one step further.

在此基础上，研究人员又进一步进行了分析。

In a follow-up study, Amir recruited people to compose captions for a series of cartoons while he scanned their brains.

在一项后续研究中，阿米尔招募了一些人为一系列卡通片撰写字幕，同时扫描他们的大脑。

When they came up with a joke, the same regions of the brain that light up when people appreciate humor were activated.

当他们看到笑话时，当人们欣赏幽默时，大脑中被激活的区域是相同的。

And, as in the first study, the funnier the jokes (as rated by independent observers), the more neurons fired in the jokers' brains.

和第一个研究一样，笑话越好笑（被独立的观察着评级），参与人员的大脑活跃的神经元越多。

But the firing of the brain cells occurred on a different timeline, enhancing the process and making it all the more powerful.

但是大脑神经元的活跃时间是不同的，这会增强这个过程，使它更有能量。

When we "get" a joke, the neurons are activated in a quick burst.

我们领会到一个笑话时，神经元会在一瞬间活跃起来。

When we construct a joke, activity in the same brain regions increases slowly as we rack our brains for dissimilar elements that we can link.

当我们构想一个笑话时，在同一片大脑区域的活动会缓慢增强，因为我们绞尽脑汁地寻找可以联系的不同元素。

1 caption   

n.说明，字幕，标题；v.加上标题，加上说明

参考例句：

• I didn't understand the drawing until I read the caption.直到我看到这幅画的说明才弄懂其意思。
• There is a caption under the picture.图片下边附有说明。

2 captions   

n.标题，说明文字，字幕( caption的名词复数 )v.给（图片、照片等）加说明文字( caption的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• I stared, trying to grasp the point of the picture and the captions. 我目不转睛地看着漫画，想弄清楚漫画和解说词的意思。 来自辞典例句
• Indicates whether the user or the system paints the captions. 指示是由用户还是由系统来绘制标题。 来自互联网

3 junctions   

联结点( junction的名词复数 )； 会合点； （公路或铁路的）交叉路口； （电缆等的）主结点

参考例句：

• Metals which were mutually soluble would tend to give strong junctions. 可互溶的金属趋向于产生牢固的结合点。
• Some adhering junctions are present as narrow bands connecting two cells. 有些粘附连接以一窄带的形式连接两个细胞。

4 trumpet   

n.喇叭，喇叭声；v.吹喇叭，吹嘘

参考例句：

• He plays the violin, but I play the trumpet.他拉提琴，我吹喇叭。
• The trumpet sounded for battle.战斗的号角吹响了。

5 vertical   

adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置

参考例句：

• The northern side of the mountain is almost vertical.这座山的北坡几乎是垂直的。
• Vertical air motions are not measured by this system.垂直气流的运动不用这种系统来测量。

6 ellipses   

n.椭园，省略号；椭圆( ellipse的名词复数 )；（语法结构上的）省略( ellipsis的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The planets move around the sun in ellipses. 各行星围绕太阳按椭圆形运转。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Summations are almost invariably indicated ellipses instead of the more prevalent sigma notation. 在表示“连加”的式子中，几乎一成不变地使用省略号来代替更为流行的“∑”符号。 来自辞典例句

7 plethora   

n.过量，过剩

参考例句：

• Java comes with a plethora of ready-made types.Java配套提供了数量众多的现成类型。
• A plethora of new operators will be allowed to enter the market.大批新的运营商将获准进入该市场。

8 antibiotics   

n.（用作复数）抗生素；（用作单数）抗生物质的研究；抗生素，抗菌素( antibiotic的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the discovery of antibiotics in the 20th century 20世纪抗生素的发现
• The doctor gave me a prescription for antibiotics. 医生给我开了抗生素。

9 cognitive   

adj.认知的，认识的，有感知的

参考例句：

• As children grow older,their cognitive processes become sharper.孩子们越长越大，他们的认知过程变得更为敏锐。
• The cognitive psychologist is like the tinker who wants to know how a clock works.认知心理学者倒很像一个需要通晓钟表如何运转的钟表修理匠。

10 activated   

adj. 激活的 动词activate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The canister is filled with activated charcoal.蒸气回收罐中充满了活性炭。

11 activation   

n. 激活，催化作用

参考例句：

• A computer controls the activation of an air bag.电脑控制着气囊的启动。

12 lobes   

n.耳垂( lobe的名词复数 )；（器官的）叶；肺叶；脑叶

参考例句：

• The rotor has recesses in its three faces between the lobes. 转子在其凸角之间的三个面上有凹槽。 来自辞典例句
• The chalazal parts of the endosperm containing free nuclei forms several lobes. 包含游离核的合点端胚乳部分形成几个裂片。 来自辞典例句

13 neural   

adj.神经的，神经系统的

参考例句：

• The neural network can preferably solve the non- linear problem.利用神经网络建模可以较好地解决非线性问题。
• The information transmission in neural system depends on neurotransmitters.信息传递的神经途径有赖于神经递质。

14 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

15 mundane   

adj.平凡的；尘世的；宇宙的

参考例句：

• I hope I can get an interesting job and not something mundane.我希望我可以得到的是一份有趣的工作，而不是一份平凡无奇的。
• I find it humorous sometimes that even the most mundane occurrences can have an impact on our awareness.我发现生活有时挺诙谐的，即使是最平凡的事情也能影响我们的感知。