文本导读

What music reveals about our minds

音乐揭露了大脑的哪些信息？

Music is a powerful tool to access information about ourselves. Two recent studies are offering new insights into how our favorite tunes are linked to memories and our personalities — and how those connections can make lives better.

音乐是一个能让我们了解自己的强大工具。最近的两项研究提供了新的见解，即我们最喜欢的音乐是如何与记忆还有我们的个性联系在一起的——以及这些联系如何让生活变得更加美好。

Hearing a favorite, familiar or "throwback" song can instantly transport you to another moment of your life, bringing back details in startling clarity. And it's not just a fanciful feeling — there's science behind how our minds connect music with memory.

听到一首喜欢的、熟悉的或“怀旧”的歌，能够立即将你传送到人生的另一个时刻，带回那些极其清晰的细节。这可不只是一种异想天开的感觉——科学已经证明，大脑会将音乐与记忆联系起来。

There has long been a beneficial association between music and patients with Alzheimer's or dementia. Repeatedly listening to music that is personally meaningful has been found to improve the brain's adaptability in patients with early Alzheimer's disease or mild cognitive impairment.

长期以来，音乐对阿尔茨海默症或痴呆症患者都是有益的。研究发现，反复听对个人有意义的音乐可以改善早期阿尔茨海默症患者或轻度认知障碍患者的大脑适应性。

重点词汇

1. access /ˈæk.ses/ to be able to use or obtain something such as a service 获取

• We advise staff on how to access appropriate training.

2. insight /ˈɪn.saɪt/ (the ability to have) a clear, deep, and sometimes sudden understanding of a complicated problem or situation 深刻见解

• It was an interesting book, full of fascinating insights into human relationships.

3. throwback /ˈθrəʊ.bæk/ something that is like a thing from an earlier time 回到过去

• This year’s styles are throwbacks to the fashions of the 1940s.

4. Alzheimer’s /ˈɔltsˌhɑɪmərz/a disease that results in the gradual loss of memory, speech, movement, and the ability to think clearly, and that is common esp. among older people 阿尔兹海默症

• Although Alzheimer's disease is the most important cause of dementia, there are few epidemiological data on the illness.

5. dementia /dɪˈmen.ʃə/ a medical condition that affects especially old people, causing the memory and other mental abilities to gradually become worse, and leading to confused behaviour 痴呆症

• The most common form of dementia is Alzheimer's disease.

延伸阅读

Listening to music with a special meaning stimulated neural pathways in the brain that helped them maintain higher levels of functioning, according to Michael Thaut, who was senior author of a study conducted by researchers at the University of Toronto.

多伦多大学的研究人员开展了一项研究，其资深发起人迈克尔·索特表示，听具有特殊意义的音乐会刺激大脑中的神经通路，帮助它们保持更高水平的运转。

These songs held unique significance, like music the people danced to at their wedding, and led to increased memory performance on tests. The findings could support the inclusion of music-based therapy in the treatment of cognitively impaired patients in the future.

这些歌曲有着独特的意义，就像人们在婚礼上跟着跳舞的音乐一样，它们提高了测试中的记忆力表现。这些研究结论可能支持在未来将音乐疗法纳入认知障碍患者的治疗中。

Changes were most notable in the prefrontal cortex, known as the control center of the brain, where decision-making, social behavior moderation, personality expression and the planning of complex mental behavior occur.

被称为“大脑控制中心”的前额叶皮质的变化最为显著，决策、社会行为调节、个性表达和复杂心理行为规划都发生在这里。

When the patients heard music that was personal to them, it powered up a musical neural network connecting different regions of the brain, based on MRIs taken of the patients before and after listening to the music. This differed from when they heard new, unfamiliar music, which only triggered a specific part of the brain tuned into listening.

根据在听音乐前后对病人进行的核磁共振成像显示，当病人听到对自己有特殊意义的音乐时，连接大脑不同区域的音乐神经网络就会活跃起来。这与他们听到新的、不熟悉的音乐时不同，后者只会触发大脑的一个特定区域去适应听这个动作。

There were only 14 participants in the study, including six musicians, and they listened to specially curated playlists for an hour a day over three weeks. But these participants are the same ones from an earlier study that identified the neural mechanisms for preserving music-related memories in those experiencing early cognitive decline.

这项研究只有14名参与者，其中包括6名音乐家，他们在三周的时间里每天听一小时经过特别编排的曲单。但这些参与者和早些时候的一项研究的参与者相同，该研究确定了那些经历早期认知衰退的人保存音乐相关记忆的神经机制。