时差N小时 养宠物可以减压?(下)（在线收听）

The researchers divided around 130 students into two groups and assigned each a task.

研究者们将130名左右的学生分成两组，每组分配一项任务。

One group played an Operation like game that involved removing small objects from a hole without touching the sides.

其中一组进行一种操作类的游戏，在不接触孔洞侧面的条件下将小物件从洞中移出。

A second group was tasked with finding a number in a random sequence.

另一组则是要求在随机序列中找到一个数字。

Within each group, participants were shown pictures either of puppies and kittens or of grown cats and dogs.

在每一组里，研究者给参与者展示小狗小猫或是成年猫狗的照片。

A subset of participants in one of the groups was also shown pictures of appealing foods.

而在其中一个实验组里的一小组参与者面前展示的是诱人食物的图片。

The participants that saw the puppies and kittens consistently performed better than the others.

结果是，看到小狗小猫图片的参与者们一致表现得优于其他人。

As for why viewing these cute images resulted in improved performance, the study doesn't say.

至于为何观看这些可爱的图像能够得到更好的表现，这项研究并没有给出原因。

It seems reasonable to speculate, though, that feelings of happiness or warmth elicited by cute pictures helps relieve stress,

尽管如此，我们可以合理地猜测，由可爱的图片所激发的开心和温暖的感觉有助于舒缓压力，

thereby enabling the brain to focus and concentrate with greater power.

由此使得大脑以更高的效率集中精神。