英文科普：大脑如何集中注意力

时间：2012-01-14 05:46:34

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A new UC Davis study shows how the brain reconfigures its connections to minimize distractions¹（分心，干扰） and take best advantage of our knowledge of situations. "In order to behave efficiently², you want to process relevant sensory³ information as fast as possible, but relevance⁴ is determined⁵ by your current situation," said Joy Geng, assistant professor of psychology⁶ at the UC Davis Center for Mind and Brain.

For example, a flashing road sign alerts us to traffic merging⁷ ahead; or a startled animal might cue（提示，暗示） you to look out for a hidden predator⁸.

When concentrating on a specific task, it's helpful to reconfigure brain networks so that task-relevant information is processed most efficiently and external distractions are reduced, Geng found.

Geng and co-author Nicholas DiQuattro, a graduate student in psychology, used functional⁹ magnetic resonance¹⁰ imaging to study brain activity in volunteers carrying out a simple test. They compared their results to mathematical models to infer connectivity between different areas of the brain. The study appeared in the Dec. 7 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.

The subjects had to look for a letter "T" in a box and indicate which way it faced by pressing a button. They were also presented with a "distractor": another letter T in a box, but rotated 90 degrees.

The distractor was either similar in appearance to the target, or brightened to be more attention-getting.

Subjects did better in trials with an "attention-getting" distractor than a less obvious one, and lit up specific areas of the brain accordingly.

The new work shows that the brain doesn't always "ramp¹¹ up" to deal with the situation at hand, Geng said. Instead, it changes how traffic moves through the existing hard-wired network -- rather like changing water flow through a network of pipes or information flow over a computer network -- in order to maximize efficiency.

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1 distractions
n.使人分心的事[人]( distraction的名词复数 )；娱乐，消遣；心烦意乱；精神错乱
参考例句：
I find it hard to work at home because there are too many distractions. 我发觉在家里工作很难，因为使人分心的事太多。 There are too many distractions here to work properly. 这里叫人分心的事太多，使人无法好好工作。来自《简明英汉词典》

2 efficiently
adv.高效率地，有能力地
参考例句：
The worker oils the machine to operate it more efficiently.工人给机器上油以使机器运转更有效。 Local authorities have to learn to allocate resources efficiently.地方政府必须学会有效地分配资源。

3 sensory
adj.知觉的，感觉的，知觉器官的
参考例句：
Human powers of sensory discrimination are limited.人类感官分辨能力有限。 The sensory system may undergo long-term adaptation in alien environments.感觉系统对陌生的环境可能经过长时期才能适应。

4 relevance
n.中肯，适当，关联，相关性
参考例句：
Politicians' private lives have no relevance to their public roles.政治家的私生活与他们的公众角色不相关。 Her ideas have lost all relevance to the modern world.她的想法与现代社会完全脱节。

5 determined
adj.坚定的；有决心的
参考例句：
I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。 He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

6 psychology
n.心理，心理学，心理状态
参考例句：
She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。 He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

7 merging
合并（分类）
参考例句：
Many companies continued to grow by merging with or buying competing firms. 许多公司通过合并或收买竞争对手的公司而不断扩大。来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件 To sequence by repeated splitting and merging. 用反复分开和合并的方法进行的排序。

8 predator
n.捕食其它动物的动物；捕食者
参考例句：
The final part of this chapter was devoted to a brief summary of predator species.本章最后部分简要总结了食肉动物。 Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard and a fearsome predator.科摩多龙是目前存在的最大蜥蜴，它是一种令人恐惧的捕食性动物。

9 functional
adj.为实用而设计的，具备功能的，起作用的
参考例句：
The telephone was out of order,but is functional now.电话刚才坏了，但现在可以用了。 The furniture is not fancy,just functional.这些家具不是摆着好看的，只是为了实用。

10 resonance
n.洪亮；共鸣；共振
参考例句：
Playing the piano sets up resonance in those glass ornaments.一弹钢琴那些玻璃饰物就会产生共振。 The areas under the two resonance envelopes are unequal.两个共振峰下面的面积是不相等的。

11 ramp
n.暴怒，斜坡，坡道；vi.作恐吓姿势，暴怒，加速；vt.加速
参考例句：
That driver drove the car up the ramp.那司机将车开上了斜坡。 The factory don't have that capacity to ramp up.这家工厂没有能力加速生产。