演講MP3+雙語文稿:大腦是怎么工作的？你應該如何開發(fā)它？

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【演講者及介紹】Sabine Doebel

薩賓·杜貝爾，認知科學家，對孩子們進行研究，試圖了解大腦的本質，她的大部分工作集中在兒童如何發(fā)展為我們和成年人服務的認知能力，比如控制沖動、提前思考和繼續(xù)工作。

【演講主題】你的大腦執(zhí)行功能是如何工作的——以及如何改善它

【中英文字幕】

翻譯者 Buyun Ping 校對者 Yolanda Zhang

00:13

So I have a confession to make. I onlyrecently learned how to drive. And it was really hard. Now, this wasn't anolder brain thing. Do you remember what it was like when you first learned howto drive? When every decision you made was so conscious and deliberate? I'dcome home from my lessons completely wiped out mentally. Now, as a cognitivescientist I know that this is because I was using a lot of something calledexecutive function. Executive function is our amazing ability to consciouslycontrol our thoughts, emotions and actions in order to achieve goals ... likelearning how to drive. It's what we use when we need to break away from habit,inhibit our impulses and plan ahead. But we can see it most clearly when thingsgo wrong. Like, have you ever accidentally poured orange juice on your cereal?

我要向你們坦白。我最近才學會開車。這對我來說真的很難。這不僅跟大腦老齡化有關。你們還記得剛學會開車時的樣子嗎？你的每一個決定都經(jīng)過了深思熟慮。當我下課回家時，我的腦力完全耗盡。作為一名認知學家，我知道導致這個現(xiàn)象的原因，是我過度使用了執(zhí)行功能。執(zhí)行功能是我們身上一項迷人的能力，它能幫助我們有意識地控制思想、情感和動作，來達成許多目的，例如學會開車。當我們需要改變習慣、抑制沖動和提前計劃時，它就會發(fā)揮作用。但只有在做錯事的時候，我們才會明確感覺到它。例如，你是否曾經(jīng)不小心把橙汁倒入麥片中？

01:09

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

01:11

Or, ever start scrolling on Facebook andsuddenly realize you've missed a meeting?

或者，當你在瀏覽臉書動態(tài)時，突然想起來你錯過了一個會議？

01:15

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

01:16

Or maybe this one's more familiar: Everplan to stop at the store on the way home from work and then drive all the wayhome instead on autopilot?

可能下面這件事聽起來更加耳熟：你計劃下班途中要去商店，但實際上你卻一路開車回了家？

01:24

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

01:26

These things happen to everyone. And weusually call it absentmindedness, but what's really happening is we'reexperiencing a lapse in executive function.

每個人都經(jīng)歷過這些事。我們通常稱之為心不在焉，但事實上，是我們的執(zhí)行功能疏忽了。

01:36

So we use executive function every day inall aspects of our lives. And over the past 30 years, researchers have foundthat it predicts all kinds of good things in childhood and beyond, like socialskills, academic achievement, mental and physical health, making money, savingmoney and even staying out of jail. Sounds great, doesn't it? So it's no surprisethat researchers like me are so interested in understanding it and figuring outways to improve it.

每天，執(zhí)行功能在我們生活的各個方面都發(fā)揮著功能。在過去的30年中，研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)在從孩童階段開始，它就能夠預估一切好的事情，例如社交技能、學術成就、生理及精神健康、掙錢、攢錢，甚至是遵紀守法。聽起來很棒，不是嗎？顯而易見，研究人員，譬如我，都想理解它，想找到方法提升它的能力。

02:07

But lately, executive function has become ahuge self-improvement buzzword. People think you can improve it throughbrain-training iPhone apps and computer games, or by practicing it in aspecific way, like playing chess. And researchers are trying to train it in thelab in the hopes of improving it and other things related to it, likeintelligence. Well, I'm here to tell you that this way of thinking aboutexecutive function is all wrong. Brain training won't improve executivefunction in a broad sense because it involves exercising it in a narrow way,outside of the real-world contexts in which we actually use it. So you canmaster that executive function app on your phone, but that's not going to helpyou stop pouring OJ on your Cheeerios twice a week.

但最近，執(zhí)行功能已經(jīng)成為一個自我提升的熱門詞匯。人們認為可以通過許多方法提高這個能力，例如鍛煉大腦的蘋果應用和電腦游戲，或是特殊一點的方法，例如國際象棋。研究人員嘗試在實驗室中進行訓練，希望能夠提升這個能力，或者是其他與之相關的能力，例如智力。我現(xiàn)在告訴你們，目前對于執(zhí)行功能這些猜想都是錯誤的。總的來說，大腦訓練無法提升執(zhí)行功能，因為大腦訓練只能小幅度讓執(zhí)行功能興奮起來，脫離了它實際發(fā)揮作用的現(xiàn)實環(huán)境。所以即使在手機應用中通關了，你還是會時不時把橙汁倒入麥片中。

02:56

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

02:57

If you really want to improve yourexecutive function in a way that matters for your life, you have to understandhow it's influenced by context.

如果你真的想提升你的執(zhí)行能力，從現(xiàn)實生活層面上來說的提升，你需要理解環(huán)境因素對它的影響。

03:06

Let me show you what I mean. There's agreat test that we use in the lab to measure executive function in youngchildren called the "dimensional change card sort." In this task,kids have to sort cards in one way -- like by shape -- over and over until theybuild up a habit. And then they're asked to switch and sort the same cards inanother way, like by color. Now, really young kids struggle with this. Three-and four-year-olds will usually keep sorting the cards in the old way no matterhow many times you remind them of what they should be doing.

讓我解釋一下。我們做過這樣一個實驗，來測量幼兒的執(zhí)行功能，叫作“維度變化的卡片分類”。在這個任務中，幼兒們需要通過某種標準給卡片分類，例如形狀——不斷重復，直到他們養(yǎng)成一個習慣。然后他們被要求變更標準，以另一個標準分類，例如顏色。年齡太小的幼兒做這個任務有點困難。3-4歲的幼兒通常會按照舊的標準給卡片分類，無論你提醒他們多少次新的標準。

03:42

(Video) Woman: If it's blue, put it here.If it's red, put it here. Here's a blue one.

（視頻）女性：如果是藍色的，放在這里。如果是紅色的，放在那里。這是個藍色的。

03:47

OK, so now we're going to play a differentgame. We're not going to play the color game anymore. Now we're going to playthe shape game, and in the shape game, all the stars go here and all the trucksgo here, OK? Stars go here, trucks go here.

好的，現(xiàn)在我們要玩另一個不同的游戲。我們不玩顏色游戲了。我們現(xiàn)在要玩形狀游戲，在形狀游戲中，星形放這里，汽車形放這里，好嗎？星形放這里，汽車形放這里。

04:00

Where do the stars go?

星形的放在哪？

04:03

And where do the trucks go?

汽車形的放在哪呢？

04:05

Excellent.

非常好

04:06

OK, stars go here, trucks go here. Here's atruck.

星形放這里，汽車形放這里。這是個汽車形的。

04:11

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

04:13

Stars go here, trucks go here. Here's astar.

星形放這里，汽車形放這里。這是個星形的。

04:17

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

04:20

SB: So it's really compelling, and it'sreally obvious when she fails to use her executive function. But here's thething: we could train her on this task and others like it and eventually she'dimprove, but does that mean that she would've improved her executive functionoutside of the lab? No, because in the real world, she'll need to use executivefunction to do a lot more than switching between shape and color. She'll needto switch from adding to multiplying or from playing to tidying up or from thinkingabout her own feelings to thinking about her friend. And success in real-worldsituations depends on things like how motivated you are and what your peers aredoing. And it also depends on the strategies that you execute when you're usingexecutive function in a particular situation. So what I'm saying is thatcontext really matters.

德貝爾：這非常引人注目，很明顯她沒能好好發(fā)揮自己的執(zhí)行功能。但重點是：我們可以通過類似這樣的任務來訓練她，最終她能夠進步，但是否這就意味著在實驗室之外，她的執(zhí)行功能也得到了提升呢？并不是，因為在現(xiàn)實生活中，她需要運用執(zhí)行功能做的事情遠比在形狀和顏色之間轉換更難。她需要從加法變換到乘法，或是從玩樂變換到整理，又或是從只考慮自己的情緒變成體貼朋友。想要在現(xiàn)實生活中成功，取決于你的動力大小，以及你的同伴在做什么。這還取決于特定情況下使用執(zhí)行功能時你采取的策略。我的意思是環(huán)境因素真的很重要。

05:12

Now let me give you an example from myresearch. I recently brought in a bunch of kids to do the classic marshmallowtest, which is a measure of delay of gratification that also likely requires alot of executive function. So you may have heard about this test, butbasically, kids are given a choice. They can have one marshmallow right away,or if they can wait for me to go to the other room and get more marshmallows,they can have two instead. Now, most kids really want that second marshmallow,but the key question is: How long can they wait?

現(xiàn)在，讓我給你們展示一個我研究的例子。最近我對一群兒童進行了經(jīng)典的棉花糖測試，它被用于測量延遲滿足，而延遲滿足也需要運用大量的執(zhí)行功能。你們也許聽說過這項測試，孩子們面臨一項選擇。他們可以馬上獲得一個棉花糖，或者如果他們能耐心等我走到另一個房間，然后拿另一個棉花糖，他們就可以獲得兩個棉花糖。大多數(shù)孩子非常想要第二個棉花糖，但重點是：他們的耐心能持續(xù)多久呢？

05:45

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

05:46

Now, I added a twist to look at the effectsof context. I told each kid that they were in a group, like the green group,and I even gave them a green T-shirt to wear. And I said, "Your groupwaited for two marshmallows, and this other group, the orange group, didnot." Or I said the opposite: "Your group didn't wait for twomarshmallows and this other group did." And then I left the kid alone inthe room and I watched on a webcam to see how long they waited.

我增設了一個環(huán)節(jié)，來研究環(huán)境因素的影響。我告訴每個孩子，他們屬于一個團隊，譬如綠隊，我甚至還發(fā)給他們一件綠色的襯衫來穿。然后我說：“你們這隊等到了第二個棉花糖，還有另一個隊，黃隊，他們沒能做到?！被蛘呶視f相反的話：“你們這隊沒能等到第二個棉花糖，但其他隊做到了?！敝笪译x開，只留孩子們在房間里，然后我會通過攝像頭觀察他們能等多久。

06:18

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

06:22

So what I found was that kids who believedthat their group waited for two marshmallows were themselves more likely towait. So they were influenced by a peer group that they'd never even met.

我的發(fā)現(xiàn)是，那些相信他們隊能夠等到兩個棉花糖的人更傾向于耐心等待。他們會被一群陌生人組成的團隊影響。

06:37

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

06:38

Pretty cool, isn't it? Well, so with thisresult I still didn't know if they were just copying their group or if it wassomething deeper than that. So I brought in some more kids, and after themarshmallow test, I showed them pictures of pairs of kids, and I told them,"One of these kids likes to have things right away, like cookies andstickers. And the other kid likes to wait so that they can have more of thesethings." And then I asked them, "Which one of these two kids do youlike more and who would you want to play with?" And what I found was thatkids who believed that their group waited tended to prefer other kids who likedto wait for things. So learning what their group did made them value waitingmore. And not only that, these kids likely used executive function to generatestrategies to help themselves wait, like sitting on their hands or turning awayfrom the marshmallow or singing a song to distract themselves.

很有趣，不是嗎？但有了這個結果，我依然不知道是從眾心理還是別的更深層的因素導致了這個結果。所以我召集了另一些兒童，在棉花糖測試之后，我展示了一些照片，上面有兩個兒童，我告訴他們：“其中一個喜歡馬上獲得東西，例如曲奇和貼紙。而另外一個喜歡等待，這樣他得到的就更多?！比缓笪覇査麄?，“這兩個人中你更喜歡誰？你想跟誰一起玩？”我發(fā)現(xiàn)，那些相信他們一隊會等待的孩子傾向于喜歡等待的兒童。了解他們的團隊會做什么使他們更傾向于等待。不僅如此，這些孩子可能會運用執(zhí)行功能制定策略，讓自己耐心等待，例如坐在自己的手上，或是扭頭不去看棉花糖，又或是唱歌分散注意力。

07:37

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

07:40

So what this all shows is just how muchcontext matters. It's not that these kids had good executive function or bad,it's that the context helped them use it better.

這些都證明了環(huán)境因素的影響力。這并不是說這些孩子的執(zhí)行功能好或者差，是環(huán)境因素幫助他們更好地運用這個能力。

07:53

So what does this mean for you and for yourkids? Well, let's say that you want to learn Spanish. You could try changingyour context and surrounding yourself with other people who also want to learn,and even better if these are people that you really like. That way you'll bemore motivated to use executive function. Or let's say that you want to helpyour child do better on her math homework. You could teach her strategies touse executive function in that particular context, like putting her phone awaybefore she starts studying or planning to reward herself after studying for anhour.

那么，這對你和你的孩子有什么啟示呢？ 讓我們假設你想學西班牙語。你可以改變你所處的環(huán)境，讓你身邊充滿也想學西語的人，如果你喜歡這些人那就更好了。在這種情況下，你會更加積極地運用執(zhí)行能力。或者假設你想幫你的孩子提高數(shù)學水平。你可以教她在特定環(huán)境下運用執(zhí)行功能，例如在學習之前不要玩手機，或是每學習一小時就獎勵一下自己。

08:29

Now, I don't want to make it sound likecontext is everything. Executive function is really complex, and it's shaped bynumerous factors. But what I want you to remember is if you want to improveyour executive function in some aspect of your life, don't look for quickfixes. Think about the context and how you can make your goals matter more toyou, and how you can use strategies to help yourself in that particularsituation. I think the ancient Greeks said it best when they said, "Knowthyself." And a key part of this is knowing how context shapes yourbehavior and how you can use that knowledge to change for the better.

我并不是說環(huán)境因素能決定一切。執(zhí)行功能非常復雜，由數(shù)不清的因素所組成。但我希望你們記住，如果你想在生活的某些方面提升自己的執(zhí)行能力，不要試圖走捷徑?？紤]環(huán)境因素以及如何加重目標在你心中的價值，還有你要如何運用策略來在特定情況下幫助自己。古希臘有句話說得好：“認清你自己?！毕胝J清自我，關鍵是認清環(huán)境對你行為的影響，以及如何運用這點，朝更好的方向發(fā)展。

09:09

Thank you.

謝謝。

09:10

(Applause)

（掌聲）