全神贯注于视觉会让我们两耳不闻身边事 [美国媒体]

Focusing on Visual Tasks Makes Us Deaf to Our Surroundings

全神贯注于视觉作业会让我们两耳不闻身边事

Concentrating attention on a visual task can render you momentarily ‘deaf’ to sounds at normal levels, reports a new UCL study funded by the Wellcome Trust.

当人的注意力集中在视觉作业上时，人会暂时变成“聋子”，听不见周围正常音量的声音——由Wellcome Trust资助的一项UCL最新研究发现。

Concentrating attention on a visual task can render you momentarily ‘deaf’ to sounds at normal levels, reports a new UCL study funded by the Wellcome Trust.

当人的注意力集中在视觉作业上时，人会暂时变成“聋子”，听不见周围正常音量的声音——由Wellcome Trust资助的一项UCL最新研究发现。

The study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, suggests that the senses of hearing and vision share a limited neural resource. Brain scans from 13 volunteers found that when they were engaged in a demanding visual task, the brain response to sound was significantly reduced. Examination of people’s ability to detect sounds during the visual demanding task also showed a higher rate of failures to detect sounds, even though the sounds were clearly audible and people did detect them when the visual task was easy.

该研究成果发表在《Journal of Neuroscience》杂志上。研究显示，听觉和视觉共享一种有限的神经资源。扫描了13名志愿者的脑部后发现，当他们被要求全神贯注于一项视觉作业时，脑部对声音的反应就会显着减弱。而在测试人们能否能察觉到声音的实验中，当人们在被要求进行视觉作业时，察觉不到声音的概率会更高，即使这声音清晰可闻，并且在进行简单的视觉作业时曾被受试者察觉到。

“This was an experimental lab study which is one of the ways that we can establish cause and effect. We found that when volunteers were performing the demanding visual task, they were unable to hear sounds that they would normally hear,” explains study co-author Dr Maria Chait (UCL Ear Institute). “The brain scans showed that people were not only ignoring or filtering out the sounds, they were not actually hearing them in the first place.”

“这种研究性实验是能够预设诱因和施加影响的研究方法之一。我们发现志愿者在专注于被要求的视觉作业时，听不见他们平时能听到的声音，”该研究论文作者之一的Maria Chait博士（UCL耳研究所）解释道，“而脑部扫描显示，人们并非只是忽略或者过滤掉了那些声音，而是确实就没听见。”

The phenomenon of ‘inattentional deafness’, where we fail to notice sounds when concentrating on other things, has been observed by the researchers before. However, this is the first time that they have been able to determine, by measuring brain activity in real-time using MEG (magnetoencephalography), that the effects are driven by brain mechanisms at a very early stage of auditory processing which would be expected to lead to the experience of being ‘deaf’ to these sounds.

这种“专注性耳聋”是指，由于专心在一些事上，而无法注意到声响的现象。虽然该现象以前曾被研究者观察到过，但是被确认存在尚属首次。科学家利用MEG（脑磁波描记器）实时监测脑部活动，由于在正常听音过程中脑部活动产生的信号清晰可辨，而在施加影响之后信号明显减弱，说明人们当时确实是变“聋了”。

“Inattentional deafness is a common experience in everyday life, and now we know why,” says co-author Professor Nilli Lavie (UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience) “For example, if you try to talk to someone who is focusing on a book, game or television programme and don’t receive a response, they aren’t necessarily ignoring you, they might simply not hear you! This could also explain why you might not hear your train or bus stop being announced if you’re concentrating on your phone, book or newspaper.

“专注性耳聋是一种日常可见的现象，现在我们终于知道为何产生这种现象了，”论文另一名共同作者Nilli Lavie教授（UCL知觉神经科学研究所）说，“例如当你试图对一个醉心于书本、游戏或者电视节目的人说话却没有得到回应时，他们并不是在有意忽略你，而可能真的只是听不见你的声音！这也能解释为什么在专心玩手机、看书或者读报时，会听不到火车或公交车到站的声音。”

It also applies to drivers concentrating on complex satnav directions as well as cyclists and motorists who are focusing intently on something such as an advert or even simply an interesting-looking passer-by. Pedestrians engaging with their phone, for example texting while walking, are also prone to inattentional deafness. Image is for illustrative purposes only.



在司机注意复杂的卫星导航图或者自行车、摩托车车手被广告牌或者奇装异服的路人吸引了注意力时，当行人专心在手机上，例如边走边发短信时，也会产生专注性耳聋的现象。
图片仅用于说明。

“This has more serious implications in situations such as the operating theatre, where a surgeon concentrating on their work might not hear the equipment beeping. It also applies to drivers concentrating on complex satnav directions as well as cyclists and motorists who are focusing intently on something such as an advert or even simply an interesting-looking passer-by. Pedestrians engaging with their phone, for example texting while walking, are also prone to inattentional deafness. Loud sounds such as sirens and horns will be loud enough to get through, but quieter sounds like bicycle bells or car engines are likely to go unheard.”

“在一些场景下这种现象更为严重，例如在手术室，专心做手术的外科医生可能听不到仪器的声响。在司机注意复杂的卫星导航图或者自行车、摩托车车手被广告牌或者奇装异服的路人吸引了注意力时，当行人专心在手机上，例如边走边发短信时，也会产生专注性耳聋的现象。响亮的声音例如汽笛或者号角的声音，足够大时还能够被听到，但是较小的声音，比如自行车铃声或者汽车引擎声可能就听不见了。”