雙語美文欣賞：“快樂”也有基因

“快樂”也有基因

Positive people may owe their optimism to a gene variant that helps them dwell on the good and ignore the bad.

永持樂觀心態(tài)的人或許是因?yàn)樗麄儞碛心軒椭麄兎彩露枷蚝玫姆矫婵辞易詣?dòng)忽略消極影響的變異基因。

That's the conclusion from a study examining people's subliminal preferences for happy, neutral, and threatening images.

這個(gè)結(jié)論是從接受檢測的人在看到愉悅、中立和有威脅性的圖像時(shí)所做出的潛意識(shí)選擇的實(shí)驗(yàn)中得出來的。

Volunteers who had inherited two copies of the "long”variant of 5-HTTLPR, a gene that controls transport of the mood-affecting neurotransmitter serotonin showed clear avoidance of negative images, such as fierce animals, and a clear preference for positive ones, such as puppies. People with this variant combination are dubbed "LL" carriers.

擁有兩對(duì)“長”變異5-HTTLPR基因(5-HTTLPR基因能夠控制影響人情緒的神經(jīng)遞質(zhì)血清素的傳遞)的志愿者表現(xiàn)出對(duì)消極圖像的明顯排斥，如兇猛的動(dòng)物，和對(duì)積極圖像的明顯偏愛，如小狗。帶有這種變異基因組合的人被稱為“LL"攜帶者。

The effect wasn't seen in volunteers with at least one version of the "short"variant of the same gene these people showed no strong preference whatever the content of the images.

這種趨“利”避“害”的特性在遺傳了至少一條“短”變異5-HTTLPR基因的志愿者身上則看不到，這樣的人對(duì)不同圖片并沒有明顯的喜好。

Time lapse

慢速拍攝

In repeated tests, the 97 volunteers had less than a second to identify dots hidden in one or other of a pair of adjacent images. Each pair contained a neutral image alongside one that was either positive or negative.

在重復(fù)實(shí)驗(yàn)中，97名志愿者需在不超過一秒的時(shí)間里分辨出隱藏在一對(duì)相鄰圖像中任意一張里的黑點(diǎn)。每一對(duì)圖像都是一張中立的和一張或積極或消極的圖像。

The researchers found that LL volunteers took 18.3 milliseconds longer on average to spot the dots in a negative rather than neutral image, suggesting a subliminal aversion to bad images.

研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，攜帶LL基因的志愿者找出消極圖像中的黑點(diǎn)要比在中立圖像中找到黑點(diǎn)多用時(shí)I 8.3毫秒，這就表明這部分志愿者在潛意識(shí)里不喜歡看到負(fù)面的圖像。

Conversely, they noticed the dots 23.5 milliseconds sooner in the positive images, such as cuddly puppies, than in the neutral ones, suggesting they were subliminally drawn to them."It sounds very small, but in terms of attentional time,it's consistent,”says team leader Elaine Fox of the University of Essex in Colchester, UK.

相反地，這些志愿者在積極的圖像—如可愛的小狗—中找到黑點(diǎn)比找出中立圖像中的黑點(diǎn)用時(shí)短23.5毫秒，這意味著他們潛意識(shí)里被正面圖像吸引。對(duì)此，英國科爾切斯特市埃塞克斯大學(xué)的研究小組組長伊萊恩·福克斯說道:“聽起來差別很小，但說到集中注意力的時(shí)間，這個(gè)研究結(jié)果前后則是一致的。”

Optimistic streak

樂觀的記號(hào)

Fox and her colleagues conclude that the LL volunteers may be primed to seek out positive events and ignore negative events.

?？怂购退耐聜冏鞒鼋Y(jié)論:攜帶LL基因的志愿者也許天生就能尋找積極向上的事情，而忽略所有有負(fù)面影響的事件。

Earlier studies had revealed a tendency for negativity and anxiety among individuals with at least one short variant of the gene, but the study is the first to reveal an optimistic streak in LL individuals.

早期有研究顯示擁有至少一條短變異5-HTTLPR基因的個(gè)體在性格上有消極和抑郁的趨勢，不過這次的研究第一次揭示了樂觀個(gè)性和LI基因攜帶者之間的關(guān)系。

"A number of mechanisms may contribute to this difference, and the authors have provided good evidence that attentional bias in the processing of emotional stimuli may be one of those mechanisms,”says Turban Canli, who has studied the same phenomenon at Stony Brook University in New York.

“有許多運(yùn)行機(jī)制都可能造成這種個(gè)性上的差異，作者為我們提供了切實(shí)的證據(jù)來說明，情緒刺激過程中出現(xiàn)的的注意力偏見也許是其中一種運(yùn)行機(jī)制。”紐約斯托尼布魯克大學(xué)的圖漢·參利，一位同樣研究這一現(xiàn)象的學(xué)者如是說。