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2018年12月06日

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People kiss for the simple reason that it feels good. Our lips are full of sensitive nerve endings, which activate sensory areas in the brain. Kissing boosts the levels of neurotransmitter substances such as dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin. Dopamine triggers craving and desire, serotonin elevates a person’s mood, and oxytocin is involved in forming emotional attachments.

Besides humans, the only animals that scientists have ever seen kissing are our closest ape relatives, chimpanzees, and bonobos, and even then it is a rare occurrence. So scientist think there must be a better explanation for it.

Kiss and Tell

Some scientists have theorized that kissing might help us assess a partner’s immune system. When people kiss, they come close enough to sample the scent of each other’s bodies. And that scent may contain clues to immune system compatibility.

Parents with complementary immune systems have children with a stronger ability to resist disease. Children that are better at resisting disease are more likely to survive to have their own children. Evolution will favor those who choose partners with compatible immune systems over those who don’t, even if they don’t even know that they are doing it.

Exchanging saliva may provide other chemical clues to genetic compatibility too. So, kissing really is all about chemistry!

PS：牛津大學的拉斐爾·烏洛達斯基(Rafael Wlodarski)指出：接吻幾乎存在于世界上的所有文化環(huán)境之中。在包括印度教的吠陀和古埃及壁畫在內(nèi)的人類最古老的記錄中，都有對接吻的描繪。烏洛達斯基說：“鑒于接吻這么常見，它也許是為了完成某種目的而形成的。”他在研究中發(fā)現(xiàn)，相較于男性，女性對戀愛關(guān)系更為挑剔，也更加注重戀愛初期的親吻行為——接吻也許能夠幫助她們淘汰掉不中用的對象。此外，接近排卵期的女性對接吻的重要性尤其敏感。

為什么接吻那么重要?有三種假說給出了不同的解釋。

一些人相信接吻是為了對潛在伴侶進行評估，這種評估過程可能通過信息素或化學信號的傳遞完成。這些化學信號也許包含著對方的健康或免疫能力方面的信息。烏洛達斯基說：“也許接吻只是個借口，好讓兩個互有好感的人接近得能夠聞到對方。”目前，還沒有任何一種化合物被確認為人類信息素。不過，的確有證據(jù)表明我們的氣味中攜帶著信息。一項今年4月發(fā)表的研究就指出，女性更喜歡睪酮水平更高的男性所散發(fā)的氣味。

另外兩種理論分別認為接吻是為了讓情侶保持親密、或是為了增加性愛前的性喚起而演化出的行為。為了檢驗這些理論，烏洛達斯基和他的同事們召集了902位來自美國和英國的成年人，并就他們對接吻的態(tài)度進行了調(diào)查。這些受試者評價了接吻在戀愛關(guān)系的不同階段中對他們的重要性。此外，大約一半的受試者也給出了他們與伴侶接吻的數(shù)量，并對他們對戀愛的滿足程度給出了評價。這些研究結(jié)果表明，接吻具有維系情侶感情的作用，能幫助戀人們表達愛意和承諾。然而，接吻似乎也能夠起到評估戀愛關(guān)系的作用。