Unless you are teetotal, we've all had a morning after when we are forced to wonder why on earth we did that hugely embarrassing thing while drunk the previous night.
除非滴酒不沾,不然我們每個(gè)人都會(huì)碰到這樣的時(shí)候,即在酒醒后拼命想知道前一天晚上為什么要做那些令人尷尬的事情。
Whether it's as simple as an embarrassing text message sent, a drunken confession of love or something a little bit more bizarre, it's usually the sort of thing we wouldn't do while sober.
不管是酒醉后發(fā)出的一條尷尬短信,還是表白,抑或是更瘋狂的事,這些都是我們?cè)谇逍训臅r(shí)候不敢做的。
But a series of detailed brain scans has now revealed that alcohol doesn't cause us to behave badly, it just stops us from caring about embarrassing ourselves.
目前,一系列的腦部詳細(xì)掃描顯示,酒精并不會(huì)讓人舉止反常,它只是讓人忘記了尷尬。
Research from a team at the University of Missouri has shown that drunken people are still aware they're making a mistake, but the alcohol reduces brain signals telling us to worry.
密蘇里大學(xué)團(tuán)隊(duì)的研究表明,喝醉的人依然知道他們?cè)诜稿e(cuò),但酒精使他們擔(dān)心這種(過(guò)失)的信號(hào)減少了。
Professor Bruce Bartholow, who led the study, said: "When we make mistakes, activity in a part of the brain responsible for monitoring behavior increases. This sends an alarm signal to other parts of the brain indicating that something went wrong. Our study shows that alcohol doesn't reduce your awareness of mistakes - it reduces how much you care about making those mistakes.
負(fù)責(zé)該研究的布魯斯 巴塞洛說(shuō):“當(dāng)我們做錯(cuò)事時(shí),負(fù)責(zé)監(jiān)控我們行為的大腦區(qū)域的活動(dòng)就會(huì)增加。而這種活動(dòng)能向大腦的其他區(qū)域發(fā)出警報(bào),提醒有錯(cuò)誤出現(xiàn)。我們的研究表明,酒精并非減少了人對(duì)錯(cuò)誤的覺(jué)察力,而是讓人不再關(guān)心錯(cuò)誤造成的影響。”
During the study, Prof Bartholow's team of psychologists measured the brain activity of people aged between 21 and 35 as they completed a tricky computer task.
在研究過(guò)程中,巴塞洛教授領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的心理學(xué)家團(tuán)隊(duì)對(duì)21到35歲之間的人在完成一項(xiàng)棘手計(jì)算機(jī)任務(wù)時(shí)的大腦活動(dòng)進(jìn)行了測(cè)評(píng)。
One third of them were given alcoholic drinks, while the rest were given no alcohol.
研究人員讓1/3的人喝酒,剩下的人則沒(méi)有喝酒。
In addition to monitoring their brain activity, the researchers also measured changes in participants' mood, their accuracy in the computer task and their perceived accuracy.
除了監(jiān)控他們的大腦活動(dòng),研究者們還測(cè)評(píng)了被測(cè)者的情緒變化、執(zhí)行計(jì)算機(jī)任務(wù)和感知的精確度。
The findings showed the brain's "alarm signal" in response to errors was much less pronounced in those who had drunk alcohol.
結(jié)果發(fā)現(xiàn),攝入酒精的人的大腦對(duì)于錯(cuò)誤的警報(bào)信號(hào)明顯減弱。
However, they were no less likely to realize when they had made a mistake - they just didn't care as much.
盡管如此,他們并不是不知道自己犯了錯(cuò),只是他們不在意。
"In certain circumstances reducing the brain's alarm signal could be seen as a good thing, because some people, like those with anxiety disorders, are hyper-sensitive to things going wrong. In some people, a small amount of alcohol can take the edge off those anxious feelings," added Prof Bartholow.
“在某些情況下,減少大腦的警報(bào)信號(hào)是件好事,比如那些患有焦慮癥的人,他們對(duì)錯(cuò)誤會(huì)異常敏感。對(duì)這些人來(lái)說(shuō),少量的酒精有助于其減少焦躁情緒,” 巴塞洛教授補(bǔ)充說(shuō)。