朋友变得不善解人意？可能是健康有问题

英语自学网

        　　An uncle starts believing all your sarcastic comments. Or a kindhearted friend never understands anymore how you feel. These people may not just be momentarily off. Recent research indicates they may be exhibiting early signals that something is going awry in their brains.
        　　一位叔叔开始将你所有的讽刺调侃都当了真，或是一位心地善良的朋友再也不能了解你的内心感受，这些人可能不仅仅只是一时失常。新近的研究表明，他们可能正在发出这样的早期信号：他们头脑中的有些东西开始变得不对劲了。
        　　Changes in social behavior, such as difficulty detecting insincere comments or feeling empathy, can be a window into our neurological health, scientists say. That is because how we interact with other people is one of the more complex functions the brain must perform. It requires a symphony of neurons firing throughout the brain and working together in networks so that we can detect, decode and interpret social signals. Deterioration in social functioning can begin even while executive functions like planning and organizing remain intact during the early stages of mental disorders.
        　　科学家称，社会行为的改变，比如难以察觉出虚言假语或是很难设身处地地理解他人，这类动向都是窥探我们神经健康的一个窗口。这是因为我们如何与他人互动是大脑必须运行的更复杂的功能之一。这就要求遍布于大脑中的诸多神经元协调合作、连成网络来一起工作，这样我们才能接收、译出和解读社会信号。即使在精神障碍出现的早期阶段──当像计划和组织这样的执行功能仍完好无损的时候──社会功能也会开始退化。
        　　Recognizing social changes that previously might have been shrugged off could allow for earlier diagnosis of a disorder and treatment, doctors say. It also could give families more time to prepare for long-term care.
        　　医生说，之前人们对这些社会行为功能变化可能都熟视无睹，但意识到这些变化可能会使医生对一种疾病进行更早的诊断和治疗，也能让家庭有更充裕的时间为长期护理做准备。
        　　With some childhood conditions, like autism or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, social problems are one of the primary characteristics of the disorder. In other conditions in which social problems aren't the main symptoms, including dementia, depression and schizophrenia, early clues may come from changes to a person's normal personality, such as becoming less friendly, understanding or attentive, or more paranoid.
        　　像自闭症或注意缺陷多动障碍这些孩童时期的疾病，它们的主要病症之一就是存在社会功能问题。而在包括痴呆症、抑郁症和精神分裂症等其他一些疾病中，社会功能问题并非其主要症状。从一个人的正常人格变化中可以窥到早期的一些蛛丝马迹，比如说变得越来越不友好、不那么体贴或善解人意，或者变得更为偏执。
            
            

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        　　'Whenever we see someone with an emotional or social symptom we always say, 'What's going on in the brain?'' says Katherine Rankin, a neurology professor at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Rankin and other scientists at UCSF, Stanford University and other institutions are studying the underlying neurobiology of social behavior. They are seeking to understand how these neural networks function normally and how changes in the anatomical structures and functioning can shed light on the progression of disease.
        　　加利福尼亚大学旧金山分校(University of California, San Francisco)神经学教授凯瑟琳•兰金(Katherine Rankin)说：“不论何时当我们看到某个人的情感或社会症状时，我们总会说，'他们头脑中在想什么?'”兰金同该校、斯坦福大学(Stanford University)及其他一些机构的科学家正在研究社会行为的基础神经生物学。他们正在寻求理解这些神经网络是如何正常运行的，并试图弄清解剖结构和机能的变化能够如何揭示病情发展。
        　　Social peculiarities can be subtle or drastic, ranging from a lack of interest in spending time with other people to problems reading social etiquette and emotionally inappropriate behaviors. Other social deficits that could signal a problem include the inabilities to focus attention on what other people are noticing or to imagine what another person is thinking.
        　　社交上的奇症特点可轻可重，从不愿花时间与他人相处到解读社交礼仪存在问题再到作出情绪不当的举动，可能会释放出问题信号的其他社会功能缺陷还包括无法集中注意力顾他人之所念或思他人之所想。
        　　Researchers believe there are several networks made up of different brain parts communicating with one another that are critical to social behavior. Some networks act as emotional brakes and others as the gas. Everyone has a different balance of these networks, which contributes to our personalities, emotions and behaviors. But with disease, the parts of the brain or how they communicate with other areas can be dramatically disrupted.
        　　研究人员相信，由相互联系着的不同大脑部位构成的一些网络对社交行为至关重要。其中一些网络充当了情感刹车的角色，另一些则扮演了情感燃油的角色。每个人在平衡头脑中的这些网络关系时表现得都不一样，而正是这些造就了我们迥异的性格，情感和行为。但患病以后，大脑中的这些部位或这些部位与其他区域如何交流就会受到极大的干扰。
        　　People are unlikely to observe social changes in themselves. So it is often up to family members to report their concerns to a doctor, says Dr. Rankin. She recommends people over the age of 40 or 50 see a neurologist if they experience changes in social or emotional functioning, or language or memory problems. An evaluation for an adult might include a physical examination, questions about changes in mood and activity levels, and assessments of cognitive functioning. For a child, there may also be questions about developmental milestones.
        　　兰金说，人们不大可能会觉察到自己身上的社会功能变化，所以常常是由家庭成员来向医生道出他们的担忧。兰金建议年逾40或50岁的人如果正在经历社会或情感机能的变化，或者产生了语言、记忆方面的问题，就应该去看看神经病学家。对一个成年人的评估可能包括体格检查，有关情绪变化和活动水平变化的问题以及认知功能的测评。对一个儿童而言，这类评估还可能包括关于发育标志的问题。
        　　Dr. Rankin says the family of an older man she treated recently brought him in for an evaluation after watching him eat. During meals, the man would finish all the food on his plate, then pick it up and begin licking. It turned out the man had frontotemporal dementia, damage to the frontal lobe of the brain, for which he is now taking medication to treat symptoms, she says.
        　　兰金说，最近由她治疗的一位老人就是由其家人带来的，他们在观察老人吃饭后就送他过来检查了。在吃饭的时候，这名男子会先将自己盘中的食物全部吃光，然后就举起盘子开始舔。这表明，老人患有额颞痴呆──这是一种大脑额叶萎缩疾病。目前，患者正在接受针对该病症的药物治疗。
        　　One critical brain pathway is called the ventral-salience network, which filters incoming information for that which is personally important. The network appears to be significant in helping determine people's emotional awareness. It also helps them evaluate the potential for social punishment. Then, the task-control network tells the brain to pay attention to the important information and to process it. The semantic-appraisal network adds our emotional interpretation to the situation. Together, these networks and others help us understand the context for social or emotional situations, say researchers.
        　　一个关键的大脑路径叫做腹侧突出网络，它是负责过滤那些对个人而言比较重要的传入信息的。该网络在帮助决定人们的情感认知时意义重大。它还能帮助人们评估社会惩罚的可能性。接着，任务控制网络会告诉大脑要注意那些重要信息并作出相应的处理。而语义评估网络则会将我们的情感解读加入到当时的社会情境中去。研究人员说，所有这些及其他一些网络都在帮助我们理解当时的社会场合或情感状况的情境。
            
            

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        　　When one or more of the networks go awry, we often lose the ability to empathize, which is one of the most complex social behaviors, says Dr. Rankin, who treats and studies dementia patients. To truly empathize, we need to correctly read meaningful emotional information and to figure out what an appropriate response is, which sometimes might not match what the other person is feeling, she says.
        　　对痴呆病患进行治疗和研究的兰金说，当上述的一个或多个网络出了岔子时，我们常常就会丧失同理心，而这正是最复杂的社会行为之一。她还称，为了能够真正地了解体会他人的情感，我们需要正确解读有意义的情感信息并想出恰当的回应。但有些时候，我们的反应可能与他人的心境并不匹配。
        　　People with autism and schizophrenia tend to have difficulty with empathy. Stanford University researchers have suggested that a lack of response to emotionally meaningful information in the insula, a brain region at the hub of the salience network, can lead to a cascade of effects that result in inappropriate emotional displays.
        　　患有自闭症和精神分裂症的人一般在同理心方面存在问题。斯坦福大学研究人员已表明，对脑岛这片位于突出网络中心的脑域内有情感意义的信息缺乏回应会引发一连串的效应，这又将导致不恰当的情绪表露。
        　　Lucina Uddin, a cognitive neuroscientist at Stanford, and her colleagues are now studying whether brain imaging of this network can serve as a biological marker of autism in kids. 'The answer looks like yes,' says Dr. Uddin, who plans to publish the research soon
        　　斯坦福大学认知神经科学家鲁西娜•乌德丁(Lucina Uddin)和同事目前正在研究，是否能把该网络的脑成像当作儿童自闭症的一个生物标志物来看待。乌德丁说：“答案看来是肯定的。”她计划不久就发表这一研究成果。
        　　The salience detection network also may go awry in anxiety, schizophrenia and other conditions, says Dr. Uddin. In anxiety, too much environmental stimuli registers in the brain as important and thus becomes overwhelming. People with schizophrenia may have difficulty figuring out what to attend to.
        　　乌德丁说，在焦虑症、精神分裂症和其他疾病患者身上，这个突出探测网络可能也出了问题。焦虑症的产生就是因为有太多的环境刺激都以重要信息的形式涌入大脑，使大脑不堪重负。而精神分裂症患者则难以弄清该对什么事情上心。
        　　The ability to detect and understand insincerity is another basic social deficit that can occur with disease. In a study published last year in the journal Cortex, Dr. Rankin and her colleagues studied the ability to detect sarcasm in 102 patients who had been diagnosed with four progressive diseases that lead to memory loss: frontotemporal dementia, Alzheimer's disease, progressive supranuclear palsy and vascular-cognitive impairment. They compared the results with those of 77 healthy older people. Detecting such insincere forms of communication require many brain functions, including the ability to read emotion, see the world from another person's perspective and understand others' intentions.
        　　会与疾病相伴而生的另一种基本社交困难是缺乏识别、理解虚假言行的能力。去年发表在《大脑皮层》(Cortex)期刊上的一项研究表明，兰金和同事一起研究了102名患者识别讽刺言行的能力。这些人都曾被诊断出患有致使记忆力丧失的四种进展性疾病，包括额颞痴呆、 老年痴呆症(又称阿兹海默症)、进行性核上性麻痹和血管性认知障碍。他们将这些患者与77名健康老人的检测结果进行了比较，发现要察觉出这类虚假交流方式需动用诸多大脑功能，包括解读情绪、从别人的角度立场看问题以及了解他人动机的能力。
        　　In the study, participants viewed 16 videos in which they watched clips of people interacting in which some lied and others were sarcastic. All participants were able to understand sincere comments, but patients with frontotemporal dementia had trouble understanding lies and sarcasm. The other patients' ability to understand depended on the severity of their disease.
        　　在这项研究中，参与者一共观看了16段有关人们互动活动的视频。有些人在互动过程中撒了谎，另一些人则挖苦讥讽。所有的参与者都能够理解那些真心实意的言论，但额颞痴呆病患在识破谎言和嘲讽时就有困难。其他患者的理解能力则取决于所患疾病的轻重程度。
        　　Bradford Dickerson, a neurology professor at Harvard Medical School, and colleagues have shown in studies that the size of certain parts of the brain important to emotional processing is associated with how many friends we have. 'More connected individuals might be better equipped to perceive social cues like facial expression' and might derive more positive experience from social interaction, writes Dr. Dickerson in a recent paper.
        　　哈佛大学医学院(Harvard Medical School)神经学教授布拉德福德•迪克森(Bradford Dickerson)和同事在诸多研究中已表明，对情感处理比较重要的某些大脑部位，它们的尺寸与我们有多少朋友息息相关。迪克森在最近的一份论文中写道，“交友更广的人可能更有能力接收到像面部表情这样的社会线索”并且可能会从社会互动中获得更多的积极经验。