从眼睛里得知他的秘密

 从眼睛里得知他的秘密

Our pupils, the black holes which let light into the eyes, don't just help us see, they also signal what's going on in our minds.

瞳孔，那个控制光亮入眼的小黑洞，不仅能帮助我们看见世界，还同样能反映出心理活动。

Here are 10 pieces of psychological research which show how changes in pupil size reveal many aspects of thought.

心理学研究列出了10项瞳孔变化与心理活动的关系。

1. I'm thinking hard

1.我在努力思考

Look into my eyes and ask me to name the cigar-smoking founder¹ of psychoanalysis and you won't see much change in my pupil size. The name Sigmund Freud comes easily to my lips.

假如你盯着我的眼睛问道：那个爱抽雪茄的心理分析奠基人叫啥？我会不假思索地答道：弗洛伊德。与此同时，我的瞳孔和先前相比，不会有太大变化。

But ask me to explain the laws of cricket and watch my pupils expand.

但假如你问的是：板球规则是什么？与此同时，你会看到：我的瞳孔扩大了。

That's because research has shown that the harder your brain works, the more your pupils dilate². When Hess and Polt gave participants more and more difficult tasks to complete, their pupils got bigger and bigger.

这是因为：研究表明，当人思考得越努力，瞳孔就会变得越大。当Hess和Polt(译注：1960年研究瞳孔大小与心智历程的两位主要研究者)接连给出受试者越来越难的任务时，他们观察到，受试者的瞳孔变得越来越大了。

My brain is overloaded³

2.我的脑子负荷太大了

Keep watching my eyes closely and you'll spot the point when explaining the laws of cricket gets too much.

仔细看着我的眼睛，你会注意到，在和我详细解释板球规则的某个时刻，我的瞳孔有了变化，它正在向你传递这样一个信息：我脑子不够用了。

Poock reported that when participants' minds were loaded to 125% of their capacity, their pupils constricted⁴.

Poock的研究显示：当人们接受的信息达到了最大负荷的125%时，他们的瞳孔会缩小。

It'll be trying to explain a googly that will do it. (Don't ask).

估计话题换成曲棍球规则后，结果也一样。（所以还是别问了吧）

3. I'm brain damaged

3.脑损伤

The reason doctors and paramedics flash a light in patients' eyes is to check their brains are working normally (and because it's such an easy test to do). They use the acronym⁵ PERRL: the Pupils should be Equal, Round and Reactive to Light.

为什么医生和护理人员们会用一个手电筒照眼睛？为了检查脑功能是否正常。它操作起来非常简便易行。他们用PERRL的缩写来表示：即，瞳孔(Pupil)应该双侧等大(Equal)，等圆(Round)，对光反射存在(Reactive to Light)。

If my brain is broken, say, because I've had a bump on the noggin, you won't see PERRL. There may well be other extremely subtle clues, like the blood pouring from my head.

若大脑受到损伤，比如我醉酒后脑子被撞了一下，那么我的PERRL便不存在了。其他的征象也能提示脑损伤，比如头部出血。

4. You're holding my interest

4. 你激起了我的兴趣

The size of my pupils can also signal whether I'm interested in what you're saying.

瞳孔的大小同样能提示我对你的言论是否有兴趣。

White and Maltzman had participants listening to excerpts⁶ from three books: one was erotic, another involved mutilation while a third was neutral.

White和Maltzman让受试者聆听三本不同的书本章节：分别为色情、伤残和不痛不痒的三种内容。

Their pupils widened at first for all three. But they only remained wide for the passages that were erotic or involved mutilation.

受试者的瞳孔起初都放大了。但只有聆听色情和伤残部分的受试者瞳孔持续在扩大状态。

1 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

2 dilate   

vt.使膨胀，使扩大

参考例句：

• At night,the pupils dilate to allow in more light.到了晚上，瞳孔就会扩大以接收更多光线。
• Exercise dilates blood vessels on the surface of the brain.运动会使大脑表层的血管扩张。

3 overloaded   

a.超载的，超负荷的

参考例句：

• He's overloaded with responsibilities. 他担负的责任过多。
• She has overloaded her schedule with work, study, and family responsibilities. 她的日程表上排满了工作、学习、家务等，使自己负担过重。

4 constricted   

adj.抑制的，约束的

参考例句：

• Her throat constricted and she swallowed hard. 她喉咙发紧，使劲地咽了一下唾沫。
• The tight collar constricted his neck. 紧领子勒着他的脖子。

5 acronym   

n.首字母简略词，简称

参考例句：

• That's a mouthful of an acronym for a very simple technology.对于一项非常简单的技术来说，这是一个很绕口的缩写词。
• TSDF is an acronym for Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities.TSDF是处理，储存和处置设施的一个缩写。

6 excerpts   

n.摘录，摘要( excerpt的名词复数 )；节选（音乐，电影）片段

参考例句：

• Some excerpts from a Renaissance mass are spatchcocked into Gluck's pallid Don Juan music. 一些文艺复光时期的弥撒的选节被不适当地加入到了格鲁克平淡无味的唐璜音乐中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He is editing together excerpts of some of his films. 他正在将自己制作的一些电影的片断进行剪辑合成。 来自辞典例句