讓你控制大腦的9個小技巧

We may be biased, but we think the human brain is pretty special. From relieving pain to winning games, these 9 tricks have got you covered.

我們覺得人類的大腦真的非常特別，也許這是一種偏見吧。從減輕痛苦到贏得游戲，這9種方法能幫到你。

1. COUGH WHEN YOU GET A SHOT.

1、打針的時候咳嗽能讓你不那么痛

The doctor’s office, the needle, the pain … nobody likes getting shots. We can’t do anything about the needle or the doctor, but there is a really easy way to reduce the pain: just cough. Scientists in Germany administered two rounds of shots to a group of 20 people. The first time, the test subjects just sat there. The second time, they were instructed to cough as they got the shot. Nineteen out of 20 test subjects reported feeling less pain during the second shot.

醫(yī)生的辦公室、針頭、痛苦……沒有人喜歡打針。但我們對針頭或者醫(yī)生束手無策，畢竟病還是要治，但現(xiàn)在有一種簡單的方法能減輕痛苦：只要咳嗽就行。德國科學家們給20個人打了兩次針。第一次，實驗參與者們靜靜地坐著等待科學家們給他們打針。第二次他們在打針的時候被指導著咳嗽。在第二次打針的時候，20名參與者中有19名表示他們覺得打針時咳嗽感覺到的疼痛變少。

2. SMELL GOOD TO LOOK GOOD.

2、味道好聞能讓你變得更加吸引人

Wearing perfume or cologne makes you more attractive to the opposite sex—even when they can’t smell it. Researchers asked women to rate the attractiveness of men in photos and on video. The guys in one group had sprayed themselves with a super-manly scented deodorant, and the other guys were unscented. In still images, the results were as you might expect: those with more attractive features were rated as more attractive. But once the women saw the guys moving around on videotape, they consistently rated the men wearing body spray as hotter. What’s behind this? Attitude. The men who thought they smelled good behaved more confidently, which made them more attractive.

噴香水或者古龍水能讓異性更加被你吸引，即便有時候他們聞不到你身上的味道。研究人員們要求女性給照片和視頻里的男性打分。第一組男性噴了香水，另外一組男性身上沒有味道。在靜態(tài)圖片中，外表看上去吸引人的男性得分更高。可一旦女性看到視頻中的男性，她們會認為噴了香水的男性更加吸引人。這是為什么?態(tài)度原因。認為自己身上好聞的男性表現(xiàn)更加自信，這使得他們變得更加迷人。

3. ON A BUDGET? STOP TOUCHING STUFF.

3、錢不夠用?別再亂摸東西了。

Our brains may be incredibly complex, but in many ways, we’re all just overgrown toddlers. When we see something we like, we want to touch it, but touching things just makes us want them more. Stores and salespeople know this; it’s why display models and test-drives exist. But the problem runs even deeper: once we’ve got something in our paws, we’re even willing to pay more for it. So if your wallet has seemed a little emptier these days, try practicing what we teach preschoolers: keep your hands to yourself.

我們的大腦非常復雜，但在許多方面，我們所有人不過是長得太快的嬰幼兒而已。當我們看到我們喜歡的東西時，我們會想要觸摸它，但觸摸這些東西會令我們更加想要它們。商店和銷售員深知這一點，這也是為何展示模特和試用品會存在。但問題不止于此：一旦我們手里拿到了我們想要的東西，我們甚至會變得更加愿意為它付錢。因此如果你的錢包這幾天看上去更空了，試著做到我們教導學齡前兒童的那樣：不要亂摸東西。

4. BOOST YOUR NIGHT VISION WITH A ‘HAND’-MADE EYE PATCH.

4、用一只手遮眼能增強你的夜間視覺

Did you ever wonder why olde-tymey European pirates wore eye patches? It’s not just because they look cool (although they do). Sailors move between a ship’s decks many times a day. Each time they go below deck, their eyes have to adjust to the dark, and vice versa. This can take a while, and we all know pirates were on a tight schedule. Historians believe they made do with a brain hack that you can use today: keep one eye in the dark by covering it with an eye patch or your hand. By the time you move below deck (or into the dark bathroom at night), you’ll have one eye ready.

你是否曾想過為何過去歐洲海盜會戴著眼罩?其中的原因并不僅僅是酷而已。水手們一天要在甲板上下穿梭多次。每次他們下去的時候，他們的眼睛都要重新適應黑暗，反之亦然。這很花時間，而海盜沒有那么多時間可以浪費。遮住一只眼能讓你在甲板上下穿梭的時候，隨時留著一只不必適應光線的眼睛。

5. KEEP A LID ON YOUR TEMPER BY USING YOUR WEAK HAND.

5、利用不常用的手控制你的脾氣

Everybody gets angry, and once in a while, everybody snaps. But some people snap a lot more than others. Scientists say the difference between frequent exploders and everyone else isn’t that the exploders have more anger; it’s that they have less self-control. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Researchers found that simply by using their nondominant hands for mundane tasks (eating cereal, opening doors, etc.) for two weeks, their self-control improved. The theory is that self-control is like a muscle. It can be strong or weak, energized or tired. And just like a muscle, it can be strengthened. Each time a person has to deal with the aggravation of pouring a drink with the wrong hand, it strengthens their self-control. Like any exercise, the process can be painful at first, but over time, the work pays off.

每個人都會生氣，有些人在控制不住脾氣的時候會怒氣沖沖地說一堆話。科學家們表示爆發(fā)者和其他人之間的差別并不是因為爆發(fā)者脾氣更大，而是因為他們的自制力不夠?，F(xiàn)在研究人員們發(fā)現(xiàn)脾氣火爆者只需連續(xù)兩周利用不常用的手做日常任務(吃東西和開門等)，他們的自制力就會增強。這一理論源于自制力就像肌肉一樣，它能變強或者變弱。每次某個人不得不用不常用的手進行倒水等任務，他們的自制力就會增強。和鍛煉一樣，這一過程剛開始非常痛苦，但隨著時間的流逝，你會發(fā)現(xiàn)這些付出都很值得。

6. WANT TO WIN? WEAR RED.

6、想要贏就穿大紅色的衣服

Whether it’s love or war (or sports, anyway), wearing red will increase your chances of victory. Both men and women are consistently rated as sexier when they’re wearing red. In close matches, athletes wearing red are far more likely to beat their opponents. The advantage is so marked that some researchers have suggested a ban on red uniforms, which may give one side an unfair advantage. The reason for these phenomena may be embarrassingly simple. In many primate species, certain relevant body parts flush red when an animal is ready to mate. In other species, redness is a sign of dominance or aggression. Humans are primates too, so it’s not too surprising the signals have translated.

不論是戰(zhàn)爭還是運動，穿大紅色能增加你贏的幾率。男性和女性穿大紅色的時候都會被認為變得更性感了。而穿大紅色運動服的運動員們打敗對手的幾率更高。這一優(yōu)勢過于明顯以至于某些研究人員們建議禁止大紅色制服，因為這不公平。背后的原因也比較簡單。在許多靈長類動物中，當它們準備交配的時候它們身體的特定部位會變紅。而在其它物種里，紅色是權勢或者侵略的信號。人類也是靈長類動物，所以受到紅色的影響并不稀奇。

7. POWER UP YOUR POWER NAP WITH COFFEE.

7、喝完咖啡小憩更提神

There are two surefire ways to deal with drowsiness or flagging energy. The first is coffee, and the second is a power nap. But what if you combined them? It sounds like a really bad idea, but if you do it right, it can put your afternoon sleepies to bed. The trick is to have a cup of coffee or other caffeinated beverage, then go straight to sleep for no more than 15 minutes. Scientists who tested the method say the one-two punch of caffeine and power nap completely eliminated test subjects’ sleepiness. Why? Well, caffeine takes a little while to start kicking in—about 15 minutes, in fact. You can squeeze in a little bit of shut-eye and wake up just in time to maximize your power-up.

當睡意來襲時我們有兩種應對方法，第一種是咖啡，第二種是小憩。但如果將二者結合會發(fā)生什么事情呢?這聽起來不是什么好主意，但如果你做對了，它能讓你一下午都保持精神抖擻的狀態(tài)。正確方法是喝一杯咖啡或者含咖啡因的飲料，接著睡十五分鐘左右。試過這種方法的科學家們表示它能完全趕走實驗對象的睡意。怎么會這樣呢?因為咖啡因進入你體內十五分鐘后才會起效。睡一會兒才能將提神效果達到最大。

8. RELIEVE PAIN WITH (A LITTLE) SWEARING.

8、爆粗口能止痛

What’s the first thing you say when you stub your toe? If you’re like most people, it’s not something we can say here. From an early age, we’re taught that obscenities are inappropriate. But what if they serve a physiological purpose? Scientists instructed test subjects to plunge their hands into buckets of ice water. As the pain took hold, the participants were told to say one of two words: a neutral word, or the F-word. The results were pretty clear: “Swearing increased pain tolerance, increased heart rate and decreased perceived pain compared with not swearing.” There’s a catch, though: it didn’t work for potty mouths. Swearing every day lessened the effect of swearing in a painful situation. The researchers concluded that like any other treatment for pain, cussing is most effective when used in moderation.

不小心踢到腳趾你的第一反應是什么?如果你和大多數(shù)人一樣，那么我們就不必多說了?？茖W家們做實驗將參與者們的手放到冰水中，當疼痛來襲的時候，參與者們被要求爆粗口。結果很明顯：爆粗口能增加人們的對疼痛的忍耐力，加快心率并減少疼痛感(與不爆粗口相比)。不過這對經常爆粗口的人來說不起作用。平時經常爆粗口會減輕在疼痛情況下爆粗口的作用。

9. FEELING ANXIOUS? BLOW ON YOUR THUMB.

9、覺得緊張?吹涼大拇指吧。

It’s super weird, but it works. Your thumb has its own heartbeat. When you’re anxious, stressed out, or hyped up, your heart rate will speed up, which makes you feel even more wired. Slowly blowing air over the pad of your thumb does two things. First, it helps cool your hot hands, which should encourage your heart to slow down. Second, it forces you to take slow, deep breaths, which tells your nervous system that the danger has passed.

這很奇怪，但很有用。你的大拇指擁有它自己的心跳。當你緊張和激動的時候，你的心跳會加快，這讓你感覺更加不適。緩緩地將空氣吹向你的大拇指有兩個作用。第一，它能幫助你冷卻你的熱手，幫助你穩(wěn)定心跳。其次，它能迫使你緩慢地進行深呼吸，告訴你的神經系統(tǒng)危險已經過去。