时差N小时 数学伤大脑

It's time to go again to the A Moment of Science mailbag. Alistener writes:

又到了科学一刻听众的来信时间。一位听众写道：

Dear A Moment of Science,

亲爱的《科学一刻》，

I'm not a math person. In fact, anytime I have to deal with numbers, let alone solve an actualmath problem which, thankfully, is not often it's almost painful.

我不是很擅长数学。事实上，每次我跟数字一打交道就觉得痛苦不堪，跟别提解决单纯的数学问题了，不过谢天谢地，这种事不常有。

First, you should know that you're certainly not alone.

首先，你要知道你绝不孤单。

Lots of people suffer from what's known asmath anxiety.

许多人都遭受数学焦虑症的折磨。

And what's most interesting is that, according to one study, people with very highlevels of math anxiety actually experience pain when confronted¹ with a math challenge.

最有趣的是，有一项研究表明，严重数学焦虑症患者当面对数学挑战时会实实在在经历疼痛。

Notmetaphorical pain actual, real pain.

这种疼痛不是一种想象出来的感觉，而是真实的痛感。

OK, but what does that mean? How can math cause pain?

好的，这意味着什么呢？数学怎么可能造成疼痛呢？

It's all in the brain, of course.

当然，这与大脑有关。

The researchers compared fourteen people with high math anxietyto fourteen people with low math anxiety.

研究人员将14名严重数学焦虑症患者与14名轻度数学焦虑症患者进行对比。

Each group was given a series of word and mathproblems while an MRI machine scanned² their brain activity.

每组人员都拿到一系列的文字与数学问题，同时使用核磁共振成像机器对他们的大脑活动进行扫描。

Before each problem, either a yellowcircle would appear to indicate that they were about to solve a math problem, or a blue squarewould pop up to signal a word problem.

在每一个问题出现前，会有一个黄圈出现，指明他们即将解决一个数学问题，或是出现一个蓝色方框，这是表明弹出的是文字问题。

When people with high math anxiety saw the dreaded³ yellow circle, theparts of their brain linkedto pain perception⁴ lit up like a pinball machine.

当严重数学焦虑症患者看到令人惧怕的黄圈时，他们脑部连接痛感的部分立刻如弹球机一般活跃起来。

People with low math anxiety didn't show much orany activity in thatpart of the brain.

轻度数学焦虑症患者的那部分大脑则没出现太多这种情况，甚至都没有任何反应。

So doing math problems caused real pain.

因此，解决数学难题真导致真实的疼痛。

Not exactly. It's the anticipation⁵ of doing math that litup the pain sensors⁶.

并非如此。当得知要解决数学难题时，疼痛感知神经即被激活。

Actually doing math didn't cause any pain related brain activity.

事实上在做数学题的过程中并没有触动任何让人感知疼痛的脑部活动。

1 confronted   

面对( confront的过去式和过去分词 )； 使面对； 使对质； 处理

参考例句：

• When we confronted him, he denied everything. 我们与他当面对质时，他什么都不承认。
• The writer confronted his pile of work with determination. 那作家下决心面对成堆的工作。

2 scanned   

经（擦伤仪）仔细检查的

参考例句：

• He scanned the horizon for any sign of land. 他仔细眺望地平线，找寻陆地的踪影。
• She scanned his face to see if he was telling the truth. 她审视着他的脸，看他讲的是否是真话。

3 dreaded   

adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The dreaded moment had finally arrived. 可怕的时刻终于来到了。
• He dreaded having to spend Christmas in hospital. 他害怕非得在医院过圣诞节不可。 来自《用法词典》

4 perception   

n.感知，感觉，觉察(力)；认识，观念，看法

参考例句：

• What's your perception of the matter?你对此事有什么看法？
• He was a man of keen perception.他是一个感觉敏锐的人。

5 anticipation   

n.预期，预料，期望

参考例句：

• We waited at the station in anticipation of her arrival.我们在车站等着，期待她的到来。
• The animals grew restless as if in anticipation of an earthquake.各种动物都变得焦躁不安，像是感到了地震即将发生。

6 sensors   

n.传感器，灵敏元件( sensor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were more than 2000 sensors here. 这里装有两千多个灵敏元件。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Significant changes have been noted where sensors were exposed to trichloride. 当传感器暴露在三氯化物中时，有很大变化。 来自辞典例句