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AmishiJha_2017X-_如何驯服神游的大脑_
Consider the following statement : human beings only use 10 percent of their brain capacity . 想想这段陈述: 人类的大脑只开发了 10%。
statement:n.声明;陈述,叙述;报表,清单; capacity:n.能力;容量;资格,地位;生产力;
Well, as a neuroscientist , I can tell you that while Morgan Freeman delivered this line with the gravitas that makes him a great actor, this statement is entirely false. 身为神经科学家,我可以告诉各位, 虽然摩根费里曼在说这句台词时, 是带着让他成为伟大 演员的那份认真严肃, 但这句陈述完全是错的。
neuroscientist:n.神经系统科学家; Freeman:n.自由民;享有市民权的人;荣誉市民; gravitas:n.(拉)庄严;庄重;庄严的举止;
(Laughter) （笑声）
The truth is, human beings use 100 percent of their brain capacity. 事实是,人类用了 100% 的大脑。
The brain is a highly efficient , energy-demanding organ that gets fully utilized and even though it is at full capacity being used, it suffers from a problem of information overload . 大脑是个效率很高 且非常需要能量的器官, 它被充分利用, 而且虽然大脑已经被充分利用了, 仍然要面对资讯过载的问题。
highly:adv.高度地;非常;非常赞许地; efficient:adj.有效率的;有能力的;生效的; organ:n.[生物]器官;机构;风琴;管风琴;嗓音; utilized:adj.被利用的;v.利用(utilize的过去分词); overload:vt.超载,超过负荷;n.超载;负荷过多;
There's far too much in the environment than it can fully process . 环境中有太多资讯, 大脑无法全部处理。
process:v.处理;加工;列队行进;n.过程,进行;方法,adj.经过特殊加工(或处理)的;
So to solve this problem of overload, evolution devised a solution , which is the brain's attention system. 为了要解决过载的问题, 进化就想出了一个解决方案, 那就是大脑的注意力系统。
evolution:n.演变;进化;发展;渐进; devised:v.设计(devise的过去式和过去分词);计划;发明; solution:n.解决方案;溶液;溶解;解答;
Attention allows us to notice, select and direct the brain's computational resources to a subset of all that's available. 注意力让我们 能够注意、选择, 并引导大脑的运算资源, 成为所有可得资源的一个子集。
computational:adj.计算的; resources:n.[计][环境]资源; v.向…提供资金(resource的第三人称单数); subset:n.[数]子集;子设备;小团体;
We can think of attention as the leader of the brain. 我们可以把注意力 想成是大脑的领导人。
Wherever attention goes, the rest of the brain follows. 注意力到哪里, 大脑的其他部分就会跟随。
In some sense, it's your brain's boss. 在某种意义上,它是你大脑的老板。
And over the last 15 years, 在过去十五年间,
I've been studying the human brain's attention system. 我一直在研究大脑的注意力系统。
In all of our studies, I've been very interested in one question. 在我们所有的研究中, 我一直对一个问题非常感兴趣,
If it is indeed the case that our attention is the brain's boss, is it a good boss? 如果我们的注意力 的确是大脑的老板, 它是个好老板吗？
Does it actually guide us well? 它有好好引导我们吗？
And to dig in on this big question, I wanted to know three things. 为了探究这个大哉问, 我想要知道三件事。
First, how does attention control our perception ? 第一,注意力如何控制我们的感知？
perception:n.感知;知觉;看法;洞察力;
Second, why does it fail us, often leaving us feeling foggy and distracted ? 第二,为什么它会让我们失望, 常常会让我们困惑和分心？
foggy:adj.有雾的;模糊的,朦胧的; distracted:adj.心烦意乱; v.转移(注意力); (distract的过去分词和过去式)
And third, can we do anything about this fogginess, can we train our brain to pay better attention? 第三,我们能否处理这种困惑, 我们能否训练大脑有更佳的注意力？
To have more strong and stable attention in the work that we do in our lives. 在我们生活中做事情时 能有更强、更稳的注意力。
stable:n.马厩;牛棚;adj.稳定的;牢固的;坚定的;vi.被关在马厩;赶入马房;
So I wanted to give you a brief glimpse into how we're going to look at this. 我想给大家一个简短概念, 了解我们要如何来看待这件事。
glimpse:v.瞥见;[诗]闪现;n.领悟;概况;见识;一睹;
A very poignant example of how our attention ends up getting utilized. 一个非常切中要害的例子, 说明我们如何使用注意力。
poignant:adj.尖锐的;辛酸的;深刻的;切中要害的;
And I want to do it using the example of somebody that I know quite well. 我想用一个熟人的例子来解释。
He ends up being part of a very large group of people that we work with, for whom attention is a matter of life and death. 他后来成为我们合作的 一个大团体中的一员, 对他来说,注意力攸关生死。
Think of medical professionals or firefighters or soldiers or marines . 想想医疗专業人士, 或消防队员, 或士兵,或海军陆战队。
professionals:n.[管理]专业人员(professional的复数); firefighters:n.消防队员;(firefighter的复数) marines:n.海军陆战队士兵;(marine的复数)
This is the story of a marine captain, Captain Jeff Davis. 这是海军陆战队队长 杰夫戴维斯的故事。
And the scene that I'm going to share with you, as you can see , is not about his time in the battlefield . 各位从这个景可以看出 我要谈的不是他在战场上的事。
as you can see:正如你所看到的;你是知道的; battlefield:n.战场;沙场;斗争的领域;容易引发冲突的情况
He was actually on a bridge, in Florida. 他是在一座桥上,位在佛罗里达。
But instead of looking at the scenery around him, seeing the beautiful vistas and noticing the cool ocean breezes , he was driving fast and contemplating driving off that bridge. 但他没有看他周围的景色, 没有看这漂亮的远景, 没有注意到清凉的海风, 他以非常快的速度, 蓄意开车冲下那座桥。
scenery:n.风景;景色;舞台布景; vistas:n.远景,狭长的街景;展望;回顾; breezes:n.[气象]微风(breeze的复数); v.吹微风(breeze的第三人称单数形式); contemplating:v.考虑;思量;考虑接受;深思熟虑;沉思;(contemplate的现在分词)
And he would later tell me that it took all of everything he had not to do so. 后来他告诉我, 他得使尽全力才能不这么做,
You see, he'd just returned from Iraq. 他刚从伊拉克回来。
And while his body was on that bridge, his mind, his attention, was thousands of miles away. 虽然他的身体在桥上, 他的心、他的注意力 都还在数千英哩外。
He was gripped with suffering. 他因为痛苦而紧握着手。
gripped:vt.紧咬,夹住;紧握(grip过去时形式);
His mind was worried and preoccupied and had stressful memories and, really, dread for his future. 他满脑子担心,所以很出神, 他的记忆让他很有压力, 对未来感到恐惧。
preoccupied:adj.心事重重; v.使日夜思考; (preoccupy的过去分词和过去式) stressful:adj.紧张的;有压力的; dread:n.恐惧;可怕的人(或物);vi.惧怕;担心;vt.惧怕;担心;adj.可怕的;
And I'm really glad that he didn't take his life. 我很高兴他没有夺走自己的生命。
Because he, as a leader, knew that he wasn't the only one that was probably suffering; many of his fellow marines probably were, too. 因为,身为领导人, 他知道他并不是唯一 在受苦的人; 他的海军陆战队 伙伴们可能也是如此。
And in the year 2008, he partnered with me in the first-of-its-kind project that actually allowed us to test and offer something called mindfulness training to active-duty military personnel . 2008 年,他和我搭挡 进行一个前所未有的计画, 让我们测试并提供一种正念训练, 对象是现役军事人员。
first-of-its-kind:史无前例; mindfulness:n.留心,警觉; military:adj.军事的;军人的;适于战争的;n.军队;军人; personnel:n.人事部门;全体人员;adj.人员的;有关人事的;
But before I tell you about what mindfulness training is, or the results of that study, 但在我告诉各位正念训练是什么, 或该研究的结果之前,
I think it's important to understand how attention works in the brain. 我认为很重要的是要了解 在大脑中的注意力是怎么运作的。
So what we do in the laboratory is that many of our studies of attention involve brain-wave recordings. 我们在实验室中, 许多关于注意力的研究 都有用到脑波记录。
laboratory:n.实验室,研究室; involve:v.包含;需要;牵涉;牵连;影响;(使)参加;
In these brain wave recordings, people wear funny-looking caps that are sort of like swimming caps, that have electrodes embedded in them. 在这些脑波记录过程, 受试者要戴很可笑的头罩, 有点像泳帽,有内建电极。
funny-looking:可笑的; electrodes:n.[电]电极(electrode的复数);电焊条; embedded:adj.嵌入式的;植入的;内含的;v.嵌入(embed的过去式和过去分词形式);
These electrodes pick up the ongoing brain electrical activity. 这些电极会取得 正在发生中的脑电活动。
ongoing:n.发展; adj.持续存在的; electrical:adj.有关电的;电气科学的;
And they do it with millisecond temporal precision . 时间上的精准度可以到毫秒。
millisecond:n.毫秒; temporal:adj.暂时的;当时的;现世的;n.世间万物;暂存的事物; precision:n.精度,[数]精密度;精确;adj.精密的,精确的;
So we can see these small yet detectable voltage fluctuations over time. 我们就能看到很小,但能侦测到的 电压波动随着时间变化。
detectable:adj.可检测的;可发觉的; voltage:n.电压;伏特数; fluctuations:n.[物]波动(fluctuation的复数);变动;起伏现象;
And doing this, we can very precisely plot the timing of the brain's activity. 这么做,我们就能非常精确地 画出脑活动的时间图。
plot:n.情节;阴谋;布局;小块土地;v.密谋;暗中策划;(在地图上)标出;绘制(图表);
About 170 milliseconds after we show our research participants a face on the screen, we see a very reliable , detectable brain signature . 在我们给研究受试者在萤幕上 看到一张面孔之后大约 170 毫秒, 我们发现有一个极可靠 且可侦测到的大脑特征。
milliseconds:n.[计量]毫秒(millisecond的复数形式); participants:n.参与者(participant的复数形式); reliable:adj.可信赖的;可依靠的;真实可信的;可靠的; signature:n.署名;签名;信号;
It happens right at the back of the scalp , above the regions of the brain that are involved in face processing . 它就发生在头皮后面。 就在脑中处理面孔的区域上方。
scalp:n.头皮;带发头皮;标志;v.(作为战利品,从被杀的敌人头上)剥下带发头皮; regions:n.地区;地域;行政区;左近;(region的复数) involved:adj.有关的; v.涉及; (involve的过去式和过去分词) processing:v.加工;处理;审核;数据处理;v.列队行进;缓缓前进;(process的现在分词)
Now, this happens so reliably and so on cue , as the brain's face detector , that we've even given this brain-wave component a name. 这个现象的发生非常可靠且准时, 可以当作大脑的面孔侦测器, 我们甚至幫这个脑波要素 取了一个名字,
reliably:adv.可靠地;确实地; cue:n.暗示;提示;信号;(戏剧的)提示;v.给(某人)暗示(或提示); detector:n.探测器;检测器;发现者;侦察器; component:n.成分;部件;组成部分;adj.构成的;
We call it the N170 component. 我们叫它 N170 要素。
And we use this component in many of our studies. 我们在许多研究中都用到这个要素。
It allows us to see the impact that attention may have on our perception. 它让我们能看见注意力可能 对我们的感知造成什么影响。
impact:n.影响;效果;碰撞;冲击力;v.挤入,压紧;撞击;对…产生影响;
I'm going to give you a sense of the kind of experiments that we actually do in the lab. 我想让各位了解一下我们在实验室中 做的是什么实验。
We would show participants images like this one. 我们会给受试者看类似这样的影像。
images:n.印象;声誉;形象;画像;雕像;(image的第三人称单数和复数)
You should see a face and a scene overlaid on each other. 你们应该可以看到一张脸 以及一个景重迭在一起。
overlaid:v.覆盖(overlay的过去分词);
And what we do is we ask our participants as they're viewing a series of these types of overlaid images, to do something with their attention. 我们的做法是要求受试者 在观看一系列这类重迭影像时, 控制他们的注意力。
series:n.系列,连续;[电]串联;级数;丛书;
On some trials, we'll ask them to pay attention to the face. 在一些试验中,我们请他们 把注意力放在脸孔上。
pay attention to:注意
And to make sure they're doing that, we ask them to tell us, by pressing a button, if the face appeared to be male or female . 为了确保他们有做到, 我们请他们透过按钮来告诉我们 这张脸是男性,还是女性。
female:adj.女性的;雌性的;柔弱的,柔和的;n.女人;[动]雌性动物;
On other trials, we ask them to tell what the scene was -- was it indoor or outdoor ? 在其他试验中, 我们问他们,这个景 是在室内,还是室外？
indoor:adj.(在)室内的;在户内进行的;在室内用的; outdoor:adj.户外的;露天的;
And in this way, we can manipulate attention and confirm that the participants were actually doing what we said. 这样,我们就能操控注意力, 并确认受试者是否有 真的照我们说的去做。
manipulate:vt.操纵;操作;巧妙地处理;篡改;
Our hypotheses about attention were as follows: if attention is indeed doing its job and affecting perception, maybe it works like an amplifier . 我们对注意力的假设是: 如果注意力真的有尽到 它的本分并影响到感知, 也许它的作用会类似扩大机。
hypotheses:n.假定;臆测(hypothesis的复数); amplifier:n.[电子]放大器,扩大器;扩音器;
And what I mean by this is that when we direct attention to the face, it becomes clearer and more salient , it's easier to see. 这样说的意思是, 当我们把注意力引导到脸孔时, 脸孔就会变得更清楚且更突出。 比较容易看到它。
salient:adj.显著的;突出的;跳跃的;n.凸角;突出部分;
But when we direct it to the scene, the face becomes barely perceptible as we process the scene information. 但当我们把注意力引导到景时, 面孔就几乎不会被感知到了, 因为我们正在处理景的资讯。
barely:adv.仅仅,勉强;几乎不;公开地;贫乏地; perceptible:adj.可察觉的;可感知的;看得见的;
So what we wanted to do is look at this brain-wave component of face detection , the N170, and see if it changed at all as a function of where our participants were paying attention -- to the scene or the face. 我们想要做的 是去研究面部侦测的 脑波要素,N170, 看看它会不会改变, 是否是受试者注意力目标── 景或脸──的影响。
detection:n.侦查,探测;发觉,发现;察觉;
And here's what we found. 我们的发现如下。
We found that when they paid attention to the face, the N170 was larger. 我们发现,当他们注意脸孔时, N170 会变大。
And when they paid attention to the scene, as you can see in red, it was smaller. 当他们注意景时, 是图上红色的部分,比较小。
And that gap you see between the blue and red lines is pretty powerful. 在蓝线和红线之间的落差, 是很强大的。
gap:n.差距;间隙;缺口;间隔;v.使豁裂;豁开;
What it tells us is that attention, which is really the only thing that changed, since the images they viewed were identical in both cases -- attention changes perception. 它告诉我们注意力── 注意力是实验中唯一有改变的, 因为他们在两种情况下 看的影像都是同一张── 因此是注意力改变了感知。
identical:adj.同一的;完全相同的;n.完全相同的事物;
And it does so very fast. 且它作用的速度很快。
Within 170 milliseconds of actually seeing a face. 看到脸的 170 毫秒内就有反应。
In our follow-up studies, we wanted to see what would happen, how could we perturb or diminish this effect. 在我们的后续研究中, 我们想探究会发生什么状况、 我们要如何扰乱或减少那效应。
follow-up:adj.后续的;增补的;n.随访;跟进;后续行动; perturb:vt.扰乱;使…混乱;使…心绪不宁; diminish:vt.使减少;使变小;vi.减少,缩小;变小;
And our hunch was that if you put people in a very stressful environment, if you distract them with disturbing , negative images, images of suffering and violence -- 我们的预感是,如果把人 放到一个很有压力的环境中, 如果用很让人不舒服、 负面的影像来让他们分心, 比如受苦或暴力的影像──
hunch:n.预感;大块;肉峰;v.耸肩;预感到;弯腰驼背;隆起; disturbing:adj.引起烦恼的;令人不安的;v.打扰;干扰;搅乱;使不安;(disturb的现在分词) negative:adj.[数]负的;消极的;否定的;阴性的;n.否定;负数;[摄]底片;v.否定;拒绝; violence:n.暴力;侵犯;激烈;歪曲;
sort of like what you might see on the news, unfortunately -- that doing this might actually affect their attention. 很不幸,就像在新闻上 会看到的那些── 这么做可能会影响他们的注意力。
unfortunately:adv.不幸地;
And that's indeed what we found. 而我们发现结果的确如此。
If we present stressful images while they're doing this experiment, this gap of attention shrinks , its power diminishes . 如果受试者在进行实验时, 我们展示很有压力的影像, 这个注意力落差会缩小, 它的力量会减少。
shrinks:v.缩水,收缩,缩小;n.精神病学家;心理学家;(shrink的第三人称单数和复数) diminishes:(使)减少,缩小;减损(diminish的第三人称单数);
So in some of our other studies, we wanted to see, OK, great -- not great, actually, bad news that stress does this to the brain -- but if it is the case that stress has this powerful influence on attention through external distraction , what if we don't need external distraction , what if we distract ourselves? 在我们的一些其他研究中, 我们想要探究的是,很好── 其实不好,压力对大脑会有 这种影响,不是好消息── 但如果压力真的能透过 外在的分心来对注意力 产生这么强大的影响, 那要是我们不需要外在的分心, 而是让自己分心呢？
influence:n.影响;势力;感化;有影响的人或事;v.影响;改变; external:n.外部;外观;形式;外部情况;adj.外部的;外面的;外界的;外来的; distraction:n.注意力分散;消遣;心烦意乱; what if:如果…怎么办?
And to do this, we had to basically come up with an experiment in which we could have people generate their own mind-wandering. 要做到这一点, 基本上,我们得要想出一种实验, 在实验中受试者要能 产生出他们自己的神游。
basically:adv.主要地,基本上; come up with:提出;想出;赶上; generate:v.产生;引起;
This is having off-task thoughts while we're engaged in an ongoing task of some sort. 也就是当我们正在进行某种任务时, 产生和任务无关的想法。
engaged in:从事于;忙于;
And the trick to mind-wandering is that essentially , you bore people. 而要让人神游的诀窍, 其实就是要让他们很无聊。
essentially:adv.本质上;本来; bore:v.钻孔;使烦扰;n.孔;令人讨厌的人;
So hopefully there's not a lot of mind-wandering happening right now. 所以,希望现在这里 没有很多人正在神游。
When we bore people, people happily generate all kinds of internal content to occupy themselves. 当人感到无聊时, 他们就会很乐意产生出 各种内容来让自己忙着想。
internal:n.内脏;本质;adj.内部的;里面的;体内的;(机构)内部的; content:n.内容,目录;满足;容量;adj.满意的;vt.使满足; occupy:v.占据,占领;居住;使忙碌;
So we devised what might be considered one of the world's most boring experiments. 所以我们发明出一种可能是 世界上最无聊的实验之一。
boring:adj.无聊的;令人厌烦的;n.钻孔;v.使厌烦;钻孔;(bore的现在分词)
All the participants saw were a series of faces on the screen, one after another . 所有的受试者要在 萤幕上看一系列的脸孔, 一张接着一张。
one after another:adv.接连地;一个接一个地;
They pressed the button every time they saw the face. 他们看到脸的时候就要按钮。
That was pretty much it. 大致上就这样。
Well, one trick was that sometimes, the face would be upside down , and it would happen very infrequently . 诡计在于,有时脸孔会上下顛倒, 发生的频率非常低。
upside down:adj.颠倒的;乱七八糟的; infrequently:adv.很少发生地;稀少地;
On those trials they were told just to withhold the response . 他们被告知在这种情况下不要回应。
withhold:v.保留;隐瞒;抑制;忍住;克制; response:n.响应;反应;回答;
Pretty soon, we could tell that they were successfully mind-wandering, because they pressed the button when that face was upside down. 很快我们就能辨别出 他们是否成功在神游了, 因为连脸孔顛倒时 他们也会按下按钮。
Even though it's quite plain to see that it was upside down. 即使脸孔顛倒是很容易看出来的。
So we wanted to know what happens when people have mind-wandering. 所以我们想要知道 人在神游时会发生什么事。
And what we found was that, very similar to external stress and external distraction in the environment, internal distraction, our own mind wandering, also shrinks the gap of attention. 我们的发现是, 和环境中的外在压力 以及外在分心很相似, 内在分心,也就是我们的神游, 也会让注意力的落差缩小。
It diminishes attention's power. 它会减少注意力的力量。
So what do all of these studies tell us? 所有这些研究,告诉了我们什么？
They tell us that attention is very powerful in terms of affecting our perception. 它们告诉我们,注意力在影响 我们的感知上是很强大的,
Even though it's so powerful, it's also fragile and vulnerable . 虽然它很强大,它也很脆弱。
fragile:adj.脆的;易碎的; vulnerable:adj.易受攻击的,易受…的攻击;易受伤害的;有弱点的;
And things like stress and mind-wandering diminish its power. 像压力以及神游, 都能减少它的力量。
But that's all in the context of these very controlled laboratory settings. 但那些都是在非常 受控制的实验室环境中。
context:n.环境;上下文;来龙去脉;
What about in the real world? 在真实世界呢？
What about in our actual day-to-day life? 在我们的日常生活中呢？
day-to-day:adj.日常的;逐日的;
What about now? 现在呢？
Where is your attention right now? 现在你的注意力在哪里？
To kind of bring it back, 为了要把它带回来,
I'd like to make a prediction about your attention for the remainder of my talk. 我想做个预测,预测你们在这场演说 剩下时间中的注意力。
prediction:n.预报;预言; remainder:n.[数]余数,残余; adj.剩余的; vt.廉价出售; vi.廉价出售;
Are you up for it? 你们准备好了吗？
Here's the prediction. 预测如下。
You will be unaware of what I'm saying for four out of the next eight minutes. 接下来的八分钟,会有四分钟 你都不会意识到我在说什么。
unaware:adj.不知道的,无意的;未察觉到的;adv.意外地;不知不觉地;
(Laughter) （笑声）
It's a challenge, so pay attention, please. 这是个挑战,请保持注意力。
Now, why am I saying this? 为什么我会这么说？
I'm surely going to assume that you're going to remain seated and, you know, graciously keep your eyes on me as I speak. 我肯定会假设你们 接下来都会一直坐着, 在我说话时,很亲切地注视着我。
assume:v.承担;假定;采取;呈现; graciously:adv.和蔼地;仁慈地;雅致地;
But a growing body of literature suggests that we mind-wander, we take our mind away from the task at hand, about 50 percent of our waking moments. 但越来越多研究指出,我们会神游, 我们不会把心留在手边的工作上, 我们清醒的时候, 有 50% 的时间都是如此。
literature:n.文学;文献;文艺;著作;
These might be small, little trips that we take away, private thoughts that we have. 有可能只是小小地神游一下, 有些私人的想法。
And when this mind-wandering happens, it can be problematic . 当神游发生时, 可能会造成问题。
problematic:adj.问题的;有疑问的;不确定的;
Now I don't think there will be any dire consequences with you all sitting here today, but imagine a military leader missing four minutes of a military briefing, or a judge missing four minutes of testimony . 各位今天坐在这里,神游可能不会 有任何可怕的后果, 但想像一下,军事领导人 在军事简报时错过了四分钟, 或法官在证词时错过了四分钟。
dire:adj.可怕的;悲惨的;极端的; consequences:n.后果,结果;影响(consequence的复数); testimony:n.[法]证词,证言;证据;
Or a surgeon or firefighter missing any time. 或外科医生或消防队员 错过任何时间。
surgeon:n.外科医生;
The consequences in those cases could be dire. 这些情况的后果可能很可怕。
So we might ask why do we do this? 我们可能会问,为何我们要这样做？
Why do we mind-wander so much? 我们为什么这么常神游？
Well, part of the answer is that our mind is an exquisite time-traveling master. 部分答案是,我们的大脑 是个灵敏的时间旅行大师。
exquisite:adj.精致的;细腻的;优美的,高雅的;异常的;剧烈的;n.服饰过于讲究的男子;
It can actually time travel very easily. 它很容易就能做时间旅行。
If we think of the mind as the metaphor of the music player, we see this. 如果把大脑比喻成音乐 播放器,我们会看到这个。
metaphor:n.暗喻,隐喻;比喻说法;
We can rewind the mind to the past to reflect on events that have already happened, right? 我们可以把大脑倒带回到过去, 去回想已经发生过的事件,对吧？
rewind:n.重绕;倒带器;vt.倒回;重绕;vi.倒回;重绕; reflect on:仔细考虑,思考;反省;回想,回顾;怀疑;
Or we can go and fast-future, to plan for the next thing that we want to do. 我们也可以快转到未来, 去计画我们接下来要做什么。
And we land in this mental time-travel mode of the past or the future very frequently. 我们经常会进入这种过去或未来的 心理旅行模式。
mental:adj.精神的;脑力的;疯的;n.精神病患者;
And we land there often without our awareness , most times without our awareness , even if we want to be paying attention. 我们常常进入了也不自觉。 多数时候都不自觉, 即使在想保持注意力时也一样。
awareness:n.意识,认识;明白,知道;
Think of just the last time you were trying to read a book, got to the bottom of the page with no idea what the words were saying. 想想看上回你想要读一本书的时候, 看完了一页却不知道 那些字在说什么。
This happens to us. 我们会碰到这种情况。
And when this happens, when we mind-wander without an awareness that we're doing it, there are consequences. 碰到我们无意识地神游时, 就会产生后果。
We make errors. 我们会犯错。
We miss critical information, sometimes. 有时我们会错失关键资讯。
critical:adj.鉴定的;[核]临界的;批评的,爱挑剔的;危险的;决定性的;评论的;
And we have difficulty making decisions. 且我们会很难做决策。
What's worse is when we experience stress. 更糟的是在我们碰到压力的时候,
When we're in a moment of overwhelm . 当我们无法招架的时候。
in a moment:立刻; overwhelm:v.压倒;难以禁受;击败;征服;淹没;
We don't just reflect on the past when we rewind, we end up being in the past ruminating , reliving or regretting events that have already happened. 在我们倒带时, 我们不仅是在想着过去, 我们会陷入过去中, 反覆思考、重新经历,或后悔 已经发生的事件。
ruminating:vt.反刍;沉思;反复思考;vi.沉思,反刍; reliving:v.再次体验,重温;回味;(relive的现在分词)
Or under stress, we fast-forward the mind. 或是在压力之下, 我们会让大脑快转。
fast-forward:n.快进功能;adj.进展迅速的;vi.快进;vt.使快进;
Not just to productively plan. 不只是很有生产力地在做计画。
productively:adv.有结果地;有成果地;
But we end up catastrophizing or worrying about events that haven't happened yet and frankly may never happen. 我们甚至会担心还没有发生的事件, 或是将它们给灾难化, 而且它们可能根本不会发生。
catastrophizing:小题大做;灾难化(catastrophize的现在分词);
So at this point, you might be thinking to yourself, OK, mind-wandering's happening a lot. 所以这个时候,你可能会想,好, 神游经常发生。
Often, it happens without our awareness. 通常,它发生时,我们没有意识。
And under stress, it's even worse -- we mind-wander more powerfully and more often. 在压力下,它会更糟── 我们会更常以更强大的方式神游。
powerfully:adv.强大地;强烈地;非常;
Is there anything we can possibly do about this? 我们能不能做点什么来改善？
And I'm happy to say the answer is yes. 我很高兴能告诉各位,答案是:能。
From our work, we're learning that the opposite of a stressed and wandering mind is a mindful one. 从我们的研究中,我们学到, 和受压力且在神游的大脑 相反的,就是正念的大脑。
Mindfulness has to do with paying attention to our present-moment experience with awareness. 正念是要有意识地把注意力 保持在我们当下的经验上。
And without any kind of emotional reactivity of what's happening. 且对于发生的事没有任何情绪反应。
emotional:adj.情绪的;易激动的;感动人的; reactivity:n.反应;反动;
It's about keeping that button right on play to experience the moment-to-moment unfolding of our lives. 正念就是要一直按着播放键, 经历我们人生中的每一个时刻。
unfolding:v.(使)展开;打开;展示;透露;(unfold的现在分词)
And mindfulness is not just a concept. 正念并不是一个概念。
It's more like practice, you have to embody this mindful mode of being to have any benefits. 它比较像是个练习, 你必须要体现正念模式 才能得到益处。
embody:v.具体表现,体现,代表(思想或品质);包括;
And a lot of the work that we're doing, we're offering people programs that give our participants a suite of exercises that they should do daily in order to cultivate more moments of mindfulness in their life. 我们的工作,有很大一部分 是在提供方案给大家, 给予我们的受试者一组练习, 他们要每天做, 才能在人生中培养更多的正念时刻。
suite:n.套房;一套家具;组曲(由三个或更多相关部分组成);套装软件; cultivate:vt.培养;陶冶;耕作;
And for many of the groups that we work with, high-stress groups, like I said -- soldiers, medical professionals -- for them, as we know, mind-wandering can be really dire. 对于许多我们合作过的团体, 受到高度压力的团体, 就像前面说的士兵、医疗专業人士, 对这些人,我们知道神游 可能会有可怕的后果。
So we want to make sure we offer them very accessible , low time constraints to optimize the training, so they can benefit from it. 我们要确保能提供 给他们非常容易取得、 很少时间限制、训练效果最好的, 让他们能够从中受益。
accessible:adj.易接近的;可进入的;可理解的; constraints:n.[数]约束;限制;约束条件(constraint的复数形式); optimize:vt.使最优化,使完善;vi.优化;持乐观态度;
And when we do this, what we can do is track to see what happens, not just in their regular lives but in the most demanding circumstances that they may have. 当我们做这些事时,我们会做追踪, 不只追踪他们的日常生活, 还有在他们所遇到最吃力的 情况下会发生什么事。
track:n.小道;足迹;车辙;轨道;v.追踪;跟踪; circumstances:n.情况;环境;情形;(circumstance的复数)
Why do we want to do this? 为什么要这样做？
Well, we want to, for example, give it to students right around finals season. 比如,我们想要在期末考季 提供这类的训练给学生。
Or we want to give the training to accountants during tax season. 或是在纳税季提供训练给会计师。
accountants:n.会计;会计师;(accountant的复数)
Or soldiers and marines while they're deploying . 或是正在被部署出去的 士兵或海军陆战队。
deploying:v.部署,调度(军队或武器);有效地利用;调动;(deploy的现在分词)
Why is that? 为什么？
Because those are the moments in which their attention is most likely to be vulnerable, because of stress and mind-wandering. 因为在那些时刻, 他们的注意力最有可能是脆弱的, 因为他们有压力、会神游。
And those are also the moments in which we want their attention to be in peak shape so they can perform well. 同时,在这些时刻中, 我们希望他们的注意力 是在最佳状态, 他们的表现才会好。
peak:n.高峰; v.达到高峰; adj.最高度的; perform:v.表演;执行;履行;演出;工作,运转(好/不好);
So what we do in our research is we have them take a series of attention tests. 在我们的研究中, 我们会让他们做 一系列的注意力测验。
We track their attention at the beginning of some kind of high-stress interval , and then two months later, we track them again, and we want to see if there's a difference. 我们会在他们开始有高压力的时候 追踪他们的注意力, 两个月后,再次追踪他们, 我们想知道是否有差异。
at the beginning of:在…的开始; interval:n.间歇;音程;休息时间;(其他事情)穿插出现的间隙;
Is there any benefit of offering them mindfulness training? 提供他们正念训练是否有益处？
Can we protect against the lapses in attention that might arise over high stress? 我们能否保护他们在高压力下 也不失去注意力？
protect against:使免受; lapses:n.失效;流逝;过失;vi.失效;流逝;背离,失检;陷入; arise:v.出现;发生;产生;起身;
So here's what we find. 我们的发现如下。
Over a high-stress interval, unfortunately, the reality is if we don't do anything at all, attention declines , people are worse at the end of this high-stress interval than before. 在高压力时间区间中, 很不幸现实就是, 若我们袖手旁观, 注意力会下降, 在这段高压力时间区间结束时, 状况比以前更糟。
declines:vi.下降;衰退;拒绝(decline的第三人称单数);
But if we offer mindfulness training, we can protect against this. 但如果我们提供正念训练, 我们能改善这点。
They stay stable, even though just like the other groups, they were experiencing high stress. 即使和其他团体一样 在经历高度压力, 他们仍会保持稳定。
And perhaps even more impressive is that if people take our training programs over, let's say, eight weeks, and they fully commit to doing the daily mindfulness exercises 更让人印象深刻的是, 如果大家采用我们的训练方案, 做了比如八周的时间, 且他们每天都很投入去做正念练习,
impressive:adj.感人的;令人钦佩的;给人以深刻印象的; commit:v.犯(罪等);干(坏事等);[法]提(审);判处;
that allow them to learn how to be in the present moment, well, they actually get better over time, even though they're in high stress. 去学习如何处在当下, 结果,他们会变得越来越好, 即使在高度压力下也一样。
And this last point is actually important to realize, because of what it suggests to us is that mindfulness exercises are very much like physical exercise: if you don't do it, you don't benefit. 了解最后的这一点很重要, 因为它给我们的暗示是, 正念练习很像是做运动: 如果你不做,就不会受益。
physical:adj.[物]物理的;身体的;物质的;符合自然法则的;n.体格检查;
But if you do engage in mindfulness practice, the more you do, the more you benefit. 但如果你能进行正念练习, 你做得越多,受益就越多。
And I want to just bring it back to Captain Jeff Davis. 我想再回来谈杰夫戴维斯队长。
As I mentioned to you at the beginning, his marines were involved in the very first project that we ever did, offering mindfulness training. 我在一开始提到, 他的海军陆战队员参与了 我们最早的正念训练方案。
And they showed this exact pattern, which was very heartening . 他们所展现出来的 模式,很振奋人心。
heartening:v.激励;鼓励;(hearten的现在分词)
We had offered them the mindfulness training right before they were deployed to Iraq. 我们在他们被部署到伊拉克之前 提供正念训练给他们。
deployed:v.部署(deploy的过去式);展开;
And upon their return, Captain Davis shared with us what he was feeling was the benefit of this program. 在他们返回时, 戴维斯队长和我们分享了 他对于这个方案的益处有什么感受。
He said that unlike last time, after this deployment , they were much more present. 他说,不像上次, 在这次部署之后, 他们更能处在当下。
deployment:n.调度,部署;
They were discerning . 他们能分辨出来,
discerning:adj.敏锐的;有识别力的;v.识别;觉察出;了解;(discern的现在分词)
They were not as reactive . 他们不会那么有反应。
reactive:adj.反应的;电抗的;反动的;
And in some cases, they were really more compassionate with the people they were engaging with and each other. 在一些个案中,他们更能同理 他们互动的对象和彼此。
compassionate:adj.慈悲的;富于同情心的;vt.同情;怜悯; engaging:adj.有趣的; v.吸引住(注意力、兴趣); (engage的现在分词)
He said in many ways, he felt that the mindfulness training program we offered gave them a really important tool to protect against developing post-traumatic stress disorder and even allowing it to turn into post-traumatic growth. 他说,在许多意义上, 他觉得我们提供的正念训练方案 给了他们很重要的工具, 能保护他们, 不会罹患创伤后压力症, 甚至能转变成创伤后成长。
post-traumatic stress disorder:n.创伤后精神紧张性障碍;
To us, this was very compelling . 对我们而言,这非常棒。
compelling:adj.引人入胜的; v.强迫; (compel的现在分词)
And it ended up that Captain Davis and I -- you know, this was about a decade ago, in 2008 -- we've kept in touch all these years. 最后,戴维斯队长和我── 这约是十年前的事,2008 年, 我们这些年来一直保持联络。
And he himself has gone on to continue practicing mindfulness in a daily way. 他自己持续做正念练习, 每天都做。
He was promoted to major, he actually then ended up retiring from the Marine Corps . 他获得升迁成为少校, 最后从海军陆战队退休。
promoted:v.促进:促销:提升:(promote的过去分词和过去式) Corps:n.兵团;(陆军)特种部队;(从事某工作或活动的)一群人;
He went on to get a divorce , to get remarried , to have a child, to get an MBA. 他接着办了离婚,然后再婚, 生了个孩子,取得企管硕士。
divorce:n.离婚;分离;v.与某人离婚;使分离; remarried:v.再婚;(remarry的过去式和过去分词)
And through all of these challenges and transitions and joys of his life, he kept up with his mindfulness practice. 在他人生中所有这些 挑战、转变,以及喜悦中, 他都持续做正念练习。
transitions:n.过渡,转变(transition的复数形式);转场效果;转换滤镜;
And as fate would have it, just a few months ago, 命运的安排,几个月前,
Captain Davis suffered a massive heart attack , at the age of 46. 戴维斯队长严重 心脏病发作,他 46 岁。
massive:adj.大量的;巨大的,厚重的;魁伟的; heart attack:n.[医]心肌梗塞
And he ended up calling me a few weeks ago. 几周前他打电话给我。
And he said, "I want to tell you something. 他说:「我想告诉你一件事。
I know that the doctors who worked on me, they saved my heart, but mindfulness saved my life. 我知道治疗我的医生们 救了我的心脏, 但正念却救了我的命。
The presence of mind I had to stop the ambulance that ended up taking me to the hospital," -- himself, the clarity of mind he had to notice when there was fear and anxiety happening but not be gripped by it -- he said, "For me, these were the gifts of mindfulness." 我因为当下的注意力, 拦下了救护车, 最后是这台救护车送我 到医院。」──他自己, 当恐惧和焦虑发生时,他有 清楚的大脑能保持注意力, 没被它们控制住── 他说:「对我而言, 这些是正念带来的礼物。」
presence of mind:n.镇定;处变不惊;遇事不慌; ambulance:n.救护车; clarity:n.清楚,明晰;透明; anxiety:n.焦虑;渴望;挂念;令人焦虑的事;
And I was so relieved to hear that he was OK. 知道他没事,我鬆了一口气。
relieved:adj.释然的; v.缓解;
But really heartened to see that he had transformed his own attention. 但看到他能转变他自己的 注意力,让我感到很振奋。
heartened:v.激励;鼓励;(hearten的过去分词和过去式) transformed:v.使改变形态;使改变外观(或性质);(transform的过去分词和过去式)
He went from having a really bad boss -- an attention system that nearly drove him off a bridge -- to one that was an exquisite leader and guide, and saved his life. 他从有一个很糟的老板── 几乎让他开车冲下桥的 注意力系统── 变成有个灵敏的领导人和指导者, 救了他一命。
So I want to actually end by sharing my call to action to all of you. 所以最后我想要分享 我对各位的行动呼吁。
And here it is. 如下。
Pay attention to your attention. 对你的注意力保持注意力。
Alright? 好吗？
Pay attention to your attention and incorporate mindfulness training as part of your daily wellness toolkit , in order to tame your own wandering mind and to allow your attention to be a trusted guide in your own life. 对你的注意力保持注意力, 把正念训练纳入你每日的 健康工具包当中, 才能驯服你自己的神游大脑, 让你的注意力成为你人生中 值得信任的指导者。
incorporate:vt.包含,吸收; vi.合并; adj.合并的; wellness:n.健康; toolkit:n.工具包,工具箱; tame:adj.养驯的;驯服的;平淡无奇的;枯燥乏味的;v.驯化;驯服;使易于控制;
Thank you. 谢谢。
(Applause) （掌声）