雅艾爾:嘿,唐,你在讀什么?唐?唐!
Don: Huh?
唐:哈?
Yael: I asked what book you're reading.
雅艾爾:我問你在看什么書。
Don: Oh, sorry. I guess I was lost in the story.
唐:啊,對(duì)不起。我剛才對(duì)這個(gè)故事太入迷了。
Yael: That's OK. That's what a good story will do,right? In fact, there's a study that explains what'sgoing on the brain when we get caught up in a story.
雅艾爾:沒關(guān)系。好故事總是會(huì)讓人入迷,不是嗎?事實(shí)上,有一項(xiàng)研究解釋了我們被好故事吸引時(shí)大腦的活動(dòng)。
Don: Do tell.
唐:請(qǐng)講。
Yael: Basically, according to the study, when you read a story that engages you, your braincreates detailed and vivid simulations of the details in the story.
雅艾爾:根據(jù)這項(xiàng)研究,基本來(lái)說(shuō)當(dāng)你被一篇故事吸引時(shí),大腦會(huì)詳細(xì)生動(dòng)地模擬故事情節(jié)。
Don: You mean that when I'm reading, my brain is activated as though I'm actually doing thethings I'm reading about?
唐:你是說(shuō)在我讀書時(shí),大腦會(huì)被激活,仿佛我正在做讀到的事情?
Yael: Or observing them, or imagining them. The point is that reading isn't a passive activitywhere the brain is just processing language. It's much more dynamic and active. So if you'rereading a book about baseball, say, the brain reacts in ways similar to how it would if you wereactually playing baseball, or watching a game, or imagining yourself hitting a ball, or whatever.
雅艾爾:或者觀察,想象著你讀到的事情。重點(diǎn)是讀書不是一項(xiàng)被動(dòng)的活動(dòng),而大腦也不只是在單純地處理語(yǔ)言。讀書是更為動(dòng)態(tài)的,積極的。比如說(shuō),當(dāng)你正在讀一本關(guān)于棒球的書時(shí),大腦的反應(yīng)跟你在真正打棒球,看比賽或者想象自己在打球時(shí)的大腦反應(yīng)相似。
Don: Interesting. How was this studied?
唐:很有趣。怎么研究出來(lái)的呢?
Yael: That's interesting, too. The researchers studied readers' brains using an MRI scanner. Butbecause the readers had to remain perfectly still, their heads were immobilized as they read thestory one word at a time on a computer screen.
雅艾爾:那也很有趣。研究人員通過(guò)核磁共振掃描儀來(lái)研究讀者的大腦活動(dòng)。但由于讀者需要保持絕對(duì)靜止,在他們一字一句閱讀電腦屏幕上的故事時(shí),他們的頭就被固定住了。
Don: That's hardly a typical reading experience.
唐:這樣的閱讀經(jīng)歷真是獨(dú)特啊。
Yael: True. But even reading stories in that strange, one-word-at-a-time way, thereaders'brains were still activated to create mental simulations of the story.
雅艾爾:當(dāng)然,但是即使是以這種奇怪的,一字一句的方式閱讀,讀者的腦子仍然被激活,仍然會(huì)從心理上模擬故事情節(jié)。
Don: So what does this mean?
唐:因此這意味著什么呢?
Yael: Maybe that being lost in a good book doesn't mean you're zoned out. It's more like yourbrain is tuned in.
雅艾爾:也許迷失在一本好書里并不意味著你迷糊了??雌饋?lái)更像是大腦在收聽。