別人的電話聊天為何會讓你抓狂？

If you have just read the same paragraph 12 times because the person sitting next to you on the bus is chatting on her cellphone, feel free to show her this: scientists have found another piece of evidence that overheard cellphone conversations are far more distracting and annoying than a dialogue between two people nearby.

如果你坐在公交車上，將同一段文字反復(fù)閱讀了12遍，全因為身旁的那位乘客一直在打電話，你可以將這篇文章給她看：科學(xué)家們發(fā)現(xiàn)了一項新證據(jù)，證明無意間聽到別人用電話聊天，遠比聽到旁邊兩人的對話要更讓人心緒不寧。

In a study published Wednesday in the journal PLoS One, college students who were asked to complete anagrams while a nearby researcher talked on her cellphone were more irritated and distracted — and far more likely to remember the contents of the conversation — than students who worked on the same puzzles while the same conversation was conducted by two people in the room.

這項周三發(fā)表在《公共科學(xué)圖書館》(PLoS ONE)的研究安排大學(xué)生解字謎，結(jié)果參試者認為，如果旁邊安排一位研究人員打電話，會比旁邊有兩個人聊天更讓人心煩意亂，也更有可能記住談話的內(nèi)容——雖然無論是打電話還是對話，聊天的內(nèi)容都是一樣的。

The study is the latest in a growing body of research on why cellphones rank so high on the list of modern irritants. Mounting evidence suggests that the habits encouraged by mobile technology — namely, talking in public to someone who is not there — are tailor made for hijacking the cognitive functions of bystanders.

有越來越多的研究開始探討為何手機在現(xiàn)代化的刺激物品中排名如此靠前，這項研究就是其中最新的成果。層出不窮的證據(jù)表明，由移動技術(shù)催生的習(xí)慣——也就是在大庭廣眾之下，對著一個不在現(xiàn)場的人講話——簡直可謂量身定做，用來劫持旁觀者的認知能力。

One reason, said Veronica V. Galván, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of San Diego and the lead author of the study, is the brain’s desire to fill in the blanks.

這項研究的第一作者、圣迭戈大學(xué)(University of San Diego)心理學(xué)助理教授維羅尼卡·V·加爾萬(Veronica V. Galván)說，其中一個原因在于大腦填充空白的欲望。

“If you only hear one person speaking, you’re constantly trying to place that part of the conversation in context,” Dr. Galván said. “That’s naturally going to draw your attention away from whatever else you’re trying to do.”

“如果你只聽到一個人在說話，你會不斷想要將這部分談話內(nèi)容置入到談話語境中去，”加爾萬博士說，“不管你想要做些什么，這都會自然而然將你的注意力給吸引過去。”

It is also a control thing, Dr. Galván and her colleagues said. When people are trapped next to a one-sided conversation — known nowadays as a “halfalogue” — their anger rises in the same way it does in other situations where they are not free to leave, like waiting for a train.

加爾萬和她的同事們說，這個問題還跟控制力有關(guān)。當人們墜入一場單方談話的陷阱邊時——現(xiàn)在人們稱之為“半邊對話”(halfalogue)——就會跟身處無法自由脫身的其他情況，比如等候火車一樣，心中的怒火雄雄燃起。

“If you’re waiting in line and someone behind you is talking on a cellphone, you’re kind of stuck there,” she said, “and you can have a psychological stress response.”

“假如你正排著隊，身后有人在打電話，你就等于是被綁在那兒了，”她說，“因此會出現(xiàn)精神壓力反應(yīng)。”

Not that you have to feel stressed to find cellphones disruptive. Students in a 2010 Cornell study had trouble completing modest tasks, like tracking a dot on a screen with a cursor, while listening to a tape of a one-sided conversation, even though they knew the conversation was the focus of the study.

并不是說只有在感受到壓力的情況下，才會覺得手機聊天會帶來破壞力。2010年康奈爾(Cornell)大學(xué)的一項研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，受試的學(xué)生在聆聽單方談話時，甚至難以完成簡單的任務(wù)，比如用手中鼠標追蹤顯示器上的小點，盡管他們知道這項研究的核心就是聊天的影響。

The 149 students in Dr. Galván’s study did not know the side conversations were part of the research; 15 students who did figure it out were not counted in the results. And while their ability to solve the anagrams was not noticeably impeded, the students listening to the halfalogues scored higher when rating themselves on a “distractibility scale.” They also said that they remembered more specifics from the conversation, which was the same script in both cases (a theater professor was enlisted to facilitate the deception).

在加爾萬的研究中，參試的149名學(xué)生并不知道單方談話是研究的一部分內(nèi)容;猜出了試驗意圖的15名學(xué)生最后未被統(tǒng)計到結(jié)果中去。一些學(xué)生解字謎的能力并未出現(xiàn)顯著降低，但這些聆聽半邊對話的學(xué)生在“注意力分散量表”時，給自己評的分數(shù)更高。他們還表示自己記住了旁人談話的更多細節(jié)，在電話聊天和雙人對談中，談話者都使用了同樣的腳本(一位戲劇學(xué)教授友情參與了這場小小的騙局)。

The brain simply can’t ignore a stream of desultory new information, said Lauren Emberson, the postdoctoral associate at the University of Rochester, New York, who led the Cornell study when she was working there.

勞倫·埃姆伯森(Lauren Emberson)是紐約羅切斯特大學(xué)(University of Rochester)的博士后研究員，當年在康奈爾大學(xué)工作時，是那項手機聊天研究的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者，她說，大腦就是無法忽略一串斷斷續(xù)續(xù)的新信息。

“Our brains are set up to focus on things that are novel or unexpected,” Ms. Emberson said. “When you’re listening to one half of a conversation, every new utterance is a surprise, so you’re forced to constantly predict what’s going to happen next.”

“我們的大腦原本就會把焦點放在新奇或出乎意料的事物上，”埃姆伯森說，“當你聆聽到半邊對話時，旁邊人發(fā)出的每一個新詞都構(gòu)成了一個意外，所以你要被迫不斷預(yù)測接下來對方會說什么。”

Because it is next to impossible to tune out a nearby cellphone conversation, people subjected to them often believe — incorrectly — that the talker is being abnormally loud, according to findings from a 2004 study from the University of York, England. Sixty-four commuters were exposed to the same conversation at different volume levels, half as a cellphone call and half as a face-to-face talk. On average, the commuters thought the mobile phone talkers were louder, even when they were not.

兀自不聽旁邊人打電話是個近乎于不可能的任務(wù)，因此，被迫“聽墻角”的人往往會認為打電話的人聲音大得出奇——而這種想法往往都是錯誤的。這項研究是在2004年，由英國的約克大學(xué)(University of York)進行的，64名乘客被迫聽了同一段對話，半數(shù)聽的是電話聊天，半數(shù)是面對面談話，音量大小各不相同。總體來說，乘客們認為打電話的人聲音更響，但當時的情況并非如此。

“When you stare at a light, it seems brighter,” said Dr. Emberson. “And when you can’t not pay attention to a noise, it seems louder.”

“當你凝視燈光時，它看起來會更加明亮，”埃姆伯森博士說，“而在你無法擺脫一種噪音時，它也會顯得更嘈雜。”

That sense of being subjected to something unavoidable and unpleasant has turned public cellphone conversations into a flash point.

在公眾場合拿手機聊天，會帶給旁人無法逃遁的不悅感，這種行為因此成為了引爆點。

“When you are overhearing some stranger’s inane cellphone conversation, your brain has to work a lot harder at what you’re doing, and it interferes with your ability to focus on other things,” said Amy Alkon, a syndicated columnist who wrote a book about manners called “I See Rude People.” “It gives you what I call a ‘neural itching.’ ”

“當你無意中聽到陌生人正在講著無聊的電話時，你的大腦必須要更努力地運轉(zhuǎn)，而這會干擾你專注于其他事物的能力，”專欄作家艾米·阿爾肯(Amy Alkon)說。她曾著有一本關(guān)于禮儀的書，名為《我看到了粗魯?shù)娜恕?I See Rude People)。“這會給你一種感覺，我稱之為‘神經(jīng)瘙癢’。”

Though surveys have repeatedly placed public cellphone conversations at the top of Americans’ pet peeves, there are indications that the problem is easing — or, perhaps, that people are starting to accept that all this yakking is the new reality. In 2006, 82 percent of Americans said they were at least occasionally annoyed by cellphone conversations in public. In 2012, that number dropped to 74 percent.

盡管民意調(diào)查不斷將在公共場合打電話列為美國人最不能忍受的事情，不過有跡象顯示，這個問題開始漸漸緩解了——又或者是人們開始接受了這個現(xiàn)象，視其為新的現(xiàn)實。2006年，82%的美國人說，他們感到受到了公共場合電話閑聊的騷擾，至少偶爾有這種感覺。2012年，這個數(shù)字降到了74%。

Ms. Alkon attributes the drop to a rising rejection of the behavior. “People are starting to recognize that it’s really rude to force other people to listen to your conversation,” she said, “especially in places where you’re trapped, like a train or a doctor’s office.”

阿爾肯女士認為，數(shù)字降低跟越來越多的人開始避免這種行為有關(guān)。“人們開始意識到，強迫別人聽你的對話內(nèi)容，這樣做非常不禮貌，”她說，“在那種無處逃避的地方，比如火車或醫(yī)生的診室里，情況尤其如此。”

It is a feeling familiar to anyone who has tried to read, work or even just relax on public transportation. Geoff Huntting, a marketing executive from New Canaan, Conn., says his hour-plus commute to Manhattan is often tarnished by a cellphone talker.

對于想要在公共交通工具上閱讀、工作或僅僅是放松的人來說，這種感覺似曾相識。杰夫·亨廷(Geoff Huntting)是一位市場主管，家住康涅狄格州新迦南市，每天要坐一個多小時車去曼哈頓工作，他說在路上，他的情緒常常受煲電話粥的人影響。

Like the students in Dr. Galván’s study, he said he could still remember the details of an annoying halfalogue he overheard more than a month ago. “This girl in her late 20s was complaining to her boyfriend or significant other — at full volume for the entire ride — about this other girl at work who was trying to score points with the boss or something,” said Mr. Huntting, 38

跟加爾萬博士研究中的學(xué)生一樣，亨廷說，他也能記起一個多月前無意間聽到了半邊對話的內(nèi)容細節(jié)。“那個年紀應(yīng)該奔三的女人在跟她的男友或者其他什么重要的人抱怨——聲音大到整個車廂的人都能聽到——她念叨的是她的同事，對方好像想要在老板跟前搶功，”38歲的亨廷說。

To be fair, he said, the train is also frequently filled with loud, intoxicated Yankee fans heading home after a game. But he somehow finds it easier to tune out those conversations.

他說，說句公道話，這班車也常常擠滿了大聲嚷嚷、灌多了酒的揚基隊酒迷，看完比賽坐車回家。但他不知何故，總覺得自己能更輕易地將這些說話的聲音給隔絕出去。

“It’s loud, but it’s less annoying than hearing this on-and-off complaining about something you can’t put into context,” he said. “It’s not even a conversation — it’s prattle, it’s just noise.”

“他們的聲音很大，但比起聽到旁邊的人斷斷續(xù)續(xù)抱怨著什么你沒法弄清楚究竟的事情，倒是不那么惹人厭了，”他說，“這甚至算不上聊天——就是扯淡，就是噪音。”