互聯網正在改變我們大腦的結構和功能範例
The Internet Is Literally Changing The Structure And Function Of Our Brains
互聯網正在改變我們大腦的結構和功能From gathering food to finding a mate and communicating with other members of society, many of the most basic human activities are now being carried out in the virtual realm. It should come as little surprise, then, that the multitude of brain regions involved in coordinating these everyday tasks are becoming adapted to this ultra-modern mode of living. Yet with research into the impact of the internet on brain function still in its infancy, an international team of researchers has compiled a review of everything we have learned so far about how digital life is altering our minds.
從獲取食物到尋找伴侶，再到與社會其他成員交流，現在許多最基本的活動都在虛擬世界中進行。因此，參與協調這些日常事務的大量大腦區域正在適應這種超現代的生活方式，這應該不足爲奇。雖然關於互聯網對大腦功能影響的研究仍處於起步階段，一個國際研究團隊對迄今爲止我們所瞭解到的所有有關數字生活如何改變我們思維的研究進行了綜述。Appearing in the journal World Psychiatry and authored by scientists from Oxford University, Harvard University, Western Sydney University, Kings College, and Manchester University, the review examines findings from a number of brain-imaging studies in order to assess some of the leading hypotheses regarding how the internet may affect our brains. Though the findings are not intended to be taken as conclusive, evidence suggests that our online lifestyles are altering brain regions associated with attention, memory, and social skills.
該綜述發表在《世界精神病學》雜誌上，由牛津大學、哈佛大學、西悉尼大學、國王學院和曼徹斯特大學的科學家共同撰寫。其核查了諸多關於腦成像的研究，以得到互聯網如何影響我們的大腦的一些主要假設。儘管這一研究結果並不是結論性的，但有證據表明，我們的網絡生活方式正在改變大腦中與注意力、記憶力和社交技能相關的區域。
For example, one key study found that people who compulsively check their phones for messages and other notifications have reduced grey matter in certain areas of the prefrontal cortex that are associated with maintaining focus in the face of distractions. As a consequence, these individuals tended to perform worse on tasks designed to measure attention.
例如，一項重要的研究發現，強迫查看手機信息和其他通知的人，前額葉皮質某些區域的灰質有所減少，這些區域與面對干擾時保持注意力有關。因此，這些人往往在需要注意力的任務中表現得更差。
The impact of search engines has also led to speculation that we may begin to rely too heavily on the internet as a source of information, to the detriment of our own internal memory capacity. In support of this hypothesis, the authors point to a study which found that people tend to exhibit poorer recall of information found online as opposed to in an encyclopedia. Brain scans showed that this effect was correlated with reduced activation of the brain's ventral stream – a key memory retrieval system – when gathering information online.
搜索引擎的影響也引來了質疑，即我們可能開始過度依賴互聯網作爲信息來源，而損害了我們自己內部的存儲能力。爲了支持這一假設，作者指出，一項研究發現，與百科全書相比，人們對在線信息的記憶力往往較差。腦部掃描顯示，這種影響與在線收集信息時大腦腹側流（一種關鍵的記憶檢索系統）的激活程度下降有關。Such a finding raises the possibility that online learning may fail to sufficiently activate key brain regions required for long-term memory storage.
這一結果提高了一種可能性，即在線學習可能無法充分激活長期記憶存儲所需的關鍵大腦區域。Social media networks also appear to be transforming the ways in which our brains' social centers work. For instance, one study found that the number of Facebook friends a person has determined the volume of grey matter in the right entorhinal cortex, which has previously been associated with the ability to associate names and faces.
社交媒體網絡似乎也在改變我們大腦社交中心的運作方式。例如，一項研究發現，一個人在Facebook上的好友數量決定了他右內嗅皮層中灰質的含量，該部分曾與人的名字和麪孔的關聯能力有關。This effect is likely to be caused by the fact that social media encourages people to maintain large numbers of weak social connections, requiring an increased ability to put names to faces. Prior to the advent of social media, people tended to have deeper relationships with a smaller network of people, and therefore required different adaptations within the brain's social regions.
這種影響很可能是由於社交媒體鼓勵人們保持大量的社會弱聯繫，這就要求人們有更強的聯繫名字和麪孔的能力。在社交媒體出現之前，人們傾向於與更小範圍的人際網絡建立更深層次的關係，因此需要在大腦的社交區域內有不同的適應方式。Overall, the information is neither detailed nor conclusive enough to make a definitive statement regarding whether the internet is good or bad for our brains. What's clear, however, is that the more time we spend online, the more we alter our cognitive function.
總的來說，以上這些內容既不夠詳細，也不夠具有結論性，無法對互聯網對我們的大腦好壞與否得出明確的結論。但很顯然，我們花在網上的時間越多，我們的認知功能就會改變得越多。
