(单词翻译:单击)
Let's say it's getting late, you're studying with a group of friends around a table,
假设现在已经很晚了,你和一群朋友围坐在桌子旁学习,
and you see one of them stretch and yawn.
这时,你看到一个人伸腰打了个哈欠 。
You don't feel especially tired, but soon enough, without even realizing it, you yawn too.
你感觉不是特别累,但不久,也不知不觉得打了个哈欠 。
Then, the yawn spreads around the table,
然后,哈欠在桌子四周的人群中扩散开来,
with more and more of your friends picking it up unconsciously.
越来越多的朋友开始不自觉得打哈欠 。
This sort of contagion can happen with other things, like sniffing or laughter,
这种传染可以发生在其他事情上,比如吸气或大笑,
and it has baffled psychologists for a while.
这让心理学家困惑了一段时间 。
Most scientists agree that these so-called echophenomena exist,
大多数科学家都同意所谓的模仿现象存在,
but there are a couple different hypotheses about why they happen.
但是关于它们的起因有几个不同假设 。
Several clues come from studies looking at what kinds of animals and people actually catch yawns.
对什么样的动物与人类能传染哈欠的观察研究得出了几条线索 。
We've only seen contagious yawning in certain species,
我们只发现传染性哈欠在特定物种中出现,
like humans, chimpanzees, baboons, and in response to us, dogs.
比如人类、 黑猩猩、狒狒以及回应我们的狗 。
These are all very social animals, creatures whose survival depends on working together
它们都是群居动物,通过共同工作来生存,
and being sensitive to each other's needs.
对彼此的需求很敏感 。
And that might not be a coincidence.
这可能不是巧合 。
One idea is that contagious yawning is related to empathy,
一个观点是传染性哈欠与同理心
or the ability to put yourself into someone else's shoes.
或者是设身处地为别人着想的能力有关 。
Various studies have repeatedly shown that people who have impaired social skills,
各种研究一再表明,社会技能受损的人
including those with autism and schizophrenia,
包括那些患有自闭症和精神分裂症的人,
are less likely to yawn sympathetically than their peers.
与同龄人相比,打哈欠的可能性更小 。
And kids below the age of four are also much less susceptible to contagious yawning than older children or adults.
4岁以下的儿童比大孩子或成人更不易受传染性哈欠的影响 。
Psychologists also point to experiments that find yawning is more contagious
心理学家还指出,实验发现,如果最初打哈欠的人离你较近,
if the original yawner is someone close to you.
你会更容易传染打哈欠 。
Both chimpanzees and humans are more likely to yawn if they see someone familiar yawn, versus a stranger.
黑猩猩和人类如果看到熟悉的同类打哈欠,会比看到陌生同类更容易传染打哈欠 。
Since we tend to be more empathetic to members of our own group,
因为我们对自己群体的成员更有同感,
this bias suggests that contagious yawning could be rooted in empathy.
这种偏见表明,传染性哈欠可能根植于同理心 。
That being said, a more recent study in autistic children found that their inability to catch a yawn
话虽如此,最近一项针对自闭症儿童的研究发现,他们没有能力去传染呵欠,
might be because they're not looking at people's faces, rather than a lack of empathy.
这可能是因为他们不看别人的脸,而不是缺乏同理心 。
In two sets of experiments with about two dozen children with autism,
在针对24名自闭症患儿的两组实验中,
about 30% yawned contagiously, the same rate as developmentally normal children
如果患儿被告知要数一下打哈欠人的胡子或眼镜,
if they were told to count the beards or glasses of the people yawning.
那么大约30%的人会传染性地打哈欠,这一概率与发育正常的儿童相同,
In other words, if the kids were directed to look at the faces, they became just as likely to yawn.
换句话说,如果孩子们被引导着去看脸,他们很可能会打哈欠 。
But for scientists who think that empathy plays at least some part in contagious yawning,
科学家认为同理心至少在传染性哈欠方面有些作用,对他们来说,
one hypothesis is that mirror neurons are involved in the brain.
有种假设是镜像神经元与大脑有关 。
These neurons form networks
这些神经元形成网络
and are thought to fire if a person is doing a task or watching someone else do the same task.
如果一个人在做一项任务或者看别人做同样的任务时,它们会被激活 。
This way, the thinking goes, the neurons "mirror" those actions and can help with mimicry, and maybe empathy.
这种思维方式是,神经元“反映”这些行为,并能帮助模仿它们,或许还能感同身受 。
In support of this, a handful of small fMRI studies have found
为了支持这一点,几个小型功能磁共振成像(fMRI)研究发现,
that mirror neurons light up when volunteers watch videos or listen to sound recordings of other people yawning.
当志愿者观看视频或听其他人打哈欠的录音时,镜像神经元会激活 。
But as appealing as this idea is, some scientists aren't so sure that mirror neurons are responsible.
尽管这个想法很吸引人,但一些科学家仍不确定镜像神经元是否有责任 。
Other fMRI studies of contagious yawning haven't seen any mirror neuron activation.
其他关于传染性哈欠的fMRI研究还没有发现任何镜像神经元的激活现象 。
And neuroscientists are still debating the function and location of mirror neurons in the human brain.
神经科学家们还在讨论镜像神经元在人脑中的功能和位置 。
A different way scientists explain contagious yawning is simply that motor areas of the brain,
科学家对传染性哈欠的另一种解释是大脑的运动区域
like the ones that control your facial movements, are easily excitable.
比如控制你面部运动的区域,很容易兴奋 。
A study published this past summer measured the excitability of motor neurons in three dozen people
去年夏天发表的一项研究测量了30多人
while they watched videos of others yawning.
在看其他人打哈欠视频时的运动神经元的兴奋性,
They used a technique called transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS,
他们使用了一种叫做经颅磁刺激(TMS)的技术,
in which a coil that's generating a magnetic field is passed across the head.
它的线圈产生的磁场能穿过头部 。
And this magnetic field can be used to stimulate and measure electrical signals in neurons.
这个磁场可以用来刺激和测量神经元中的电信号 。
The researchers found that people with more natural activity in those neurons were more likely to yawn.
研究人员发现,这些神经元中有更多自然活动的人更容易打哈欠 。
In fact, differences in neuronal activity explained about half of the variation in whether a person yawned or not.
事实上,神经元活动的差异解释了一个人打哈欠与否的一半变化 。
And when some other scientists tested for correlations between empathy test scores and catching yawns,
当其他一些科学家测验同理心测试得分和传染哈欠之间的相关性时,
they also found that different people might just have inherently different susceptibility.
还发现不同的人可能天生就有不同的易感性 。
In one study of more than 300 adults,
在一项针对300多名成年人的研究中,
researchers showed participants a 3-minute video of other people yawning.
研究人员让参与者看了一段其他人打哈欠的3分钟视频 。
How likely a person was to yawn in response didn't have anything to do with how empathetic they were.
一个人打哈欠的可能性与他们的同理心没有任何关系 。
Instead, it was more related to age, with younger adults yawning more than middle-aged or older adults.
相反,它与年龄更相关,年轻人的哈欠超过了中年或老年人 。
Also, the scientists noticed that each person seemed to have a hardwired level of sensitivity to contagious yawning.
此外,科学家们注意到,每个人似乎对传染性哈欠都有一种天生的敏感度 。
Some people yawned a lot over multiple sessions,
有些人在多次会议上打了很多哈欠,
and others never opened their mouths at all.
有些人根本就没开口 。
These results jive well with the motor neuron excitability idea,
这些结果支持运动神经元兴奋性的观点
although they still leave a lot of questions unanswered,
尽管仍有许多悬而未决的问题,
like why we've evolved this reaction in the first place.
比如为什么我们一开始就进化了这个反应 。
In any case, for a lot of us, it doesn't take much to yawn if we see someone else do it.
无论如何,对于我们很多人来说,它对我们看到其他人打哈欠没有多大影响 。
There's even a good chance a lot of you automatically yawned just while watching this video.
在观看这段视频的时候,很多人会自动打哈欠 。
And if you haven't yet, I'll give you one more reason.
如果你还没有,我再给你一个理由 。
Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow Psych!
感谢您收看本期的心理科学秀!
If you want to learn more about this kind of stuff,
如果你想了解更多这方面的内容,
check out our video where Hank talks about a phenomenon called groupthink,
看看我们的视频,汉克谈到了一种叫做群体思维的现象,
which is basically how your friends can affect your opinions.
它基本上讲得是你的朋友如何影响你的意见 。
And don't forget to go to youtube.com/scishowpsych and subscribe!
不要忘了登录youtube.com/scishowpsych点击订阅哦!