愛Shopping？論討價還價能力的壽命時間
Chaps, if you’re dreading the prospect of following your better half for hours to trawl the Boxing Day sales, this will be welcome news.
親們，如果你也擔心自己的理智不夠堅定，不足以讓你在數小時的節禮日採購中保持冷靜和理智，你也許會喜歡下面的這個消息。For it turns out the most effective shopping sprees are the snappiest ones – with our ability to spot a bargain dropping off significantly after less than half an hour.
研究證明，在購物狂潮中動作最快的人才是最會買東西的人。——我們討價還價的能力在不到半小時的時間內就會明顯降低。According to experts, the rational part of the brain begins to shut down after just 23 minutes on average when comparing deals.
專家研究顯示，平均而言，人們大腦中進行數理運算的部分（我們在購物中正是運動這部分大腦）在短短23分鐘後就會暫停運轉。
The speed at which our cognitive abilities switch off was revealed in tests on 400 people who were placed in a £3 million 20-tonne medical MRI scanner.
爲了研究我們大腦感知能力停滯的速度，專家對400名實驗參與者進行了研究。這400位實驗參與者在一部價值三百萬英鎊重達20公噸的核磁共振掃描儀上接受了檢查。It found the higher brain functions in the pre-frontal cortex initially give us the edge when hunting for bargains.
研究發現，在人們購物時，依靠的是前額葉皮層產生的高級腦功能。But relying on it for long periods is tiring, causing us to revert to more primitive parts of the brain, like the insular cortex, which are no good when it comes to judging value for money.
但是前額葉皮層長時間工作會產生疲勞，使我們更多的倚靠大腦中構造較爲簡單的部分，例如島葉皮層，這樣人們揣度商品價值的能力因而降低。The good news for committed shoppers is a so-called ‘soft break’ – a few minutes rest grabbing a coffee, for example - can reinvigorate our senses, although only temporarily.
對於那些熱衷購物的人來說，好消息是，稍事休息一下——比如花幾分鐘喝杯咖啡——可以使我們的感官重新振作，雖然這僅是暫時的。
