中國(guó)網(wǎng)站品牌欄目（頻道）
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 Increased emotions: The babies' brain activity was monitored during an MRI scan as they listened to various noises. |
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It is precious 'me time' that many new mothers use to catch up on telephone calls and conversations. But the next time your baby has a nap, watch what you say. For at just three months old, babies can tell human voices from other sounds - and work out when someone is sad. Curiously, happy sounds just wash over them. A British study shows that the brain areas devoted to processing speech develop much more quickly than was thought and could lead to new insights into conditions such as autism. The research team from the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London started by getting 21 babies acclimatised to brain scanners. Techniques used included giving their parents a CD to take home with the noise made by the machines. The youngsters, who were aged from three to seven months, then had their brains scanned as various familiar noises were played while they slept. The first experiment looked at whether the tots could tell the difference between human and non-human noises. This revealed that coughing, sneezing, yawning, lapping water reminiscent of bath time and the squeaking of toys all activated a part of the brain known to process speech. But human sounds lit it up far more. The researchers then checked whether the babies' brains reacted differently to happy, sad and neutral noises. This time, a brain area linked to emotion sprung to life, with crying triggering it more than laughter or neutral sounds, the journal Current Biology reports. Researcher Evelyne Mercure said it was rare to see such specialised brain regions so early in life. Co-researcher Anna Blasi added: 'It is probably because the human voice is such an important social cue that the brain shows an early specialisation for its processing. 'This may represent the very first step in social interactions and language learning.' (Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Website.) (Agencies) |
許多新媽媽都很珍惜“獨(dú)處的時(shí)光”，趁著寶寶休息時(shí)打打電話，聊聊天。 但下一次在寶寶打盹時(shí)，請(qǐng)注意你聊天時(shí)說(shuō)的話。 因?yàn)槿齻€(gè)月大的寶寶就能辨別人聲，并能察覺(jué)到他人悲傷的情緒。奇怪的是，快樂(lè)的聲音對(duì)他們影響卻不大。 一項(xiàng)英國(guó)研究顯示，負(fù)責(zé)語(yǔ)音處理的大腦部位的發(fā)育比人們所想的要快得多，這一發(fā)現(xiàn)可能會(huì)對(duì)治療自閉癥等疾病有所啟發(fā)。 來(lái)自倫敦大學(xué)國(guó)王學(xué)院精神病學(xué)研究所的研究小組首先讓21名嬰兒逐漸適應(yīng)大腦掃描儀。 他們所采用的技巧包括給嬰兒的父母一張存有大腦掃描儀發(fā)出的聲音的CD，并讓他們?cè)诩抑胁シ拧?/p> 然后研究人員在這些三至七個(gè)月大的小孩睡覺(jué)時(shí)對(duì)他們的腦部進(jìn)行掃描，同時(shí)播放各種各樣熟悉的聲音。 在第一個(gè)試驗(yàn)中，研究人員觀察這些幼兒能否區(qū)分人類和非人類發(fā)出的聲音。 研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，咳嗽、打噴嚏、打哈欠、讓人聯(lián)想到洗澡的沖水聲、玩具發(fā)出的吱吱聲都會(huì)激活嬰兒負(fù)責(zé)語(yǔ)音處理的大腦部位。但是人類的聲音對(duì)這一部位的影響尤為明顯。 之后，研究人員查看嬰兒的大腦是否會(huì)對(duì)快樂(lè)、悲傷和平和的聲音做出不同反應(yīng)。 據(jù)《當(dāng)代生物學(xué)》雜志的報(bào)道，這一次，和情感相關(guān)的大腦區(qū)域變得活躍起來(lái)，其中哭聲引起的反應(yīng)比笑聲或平和的聲音引起的反應(yīng)要大得多。 研究人員伊芙林?梅庫(kù)爾說(shuō)，這么小的孩子就有了專用的大腦區(qū)域，實(shí)在很罕見(jiàn)。 同一研究組的安娜?布拉希補(bǔ)充道：“這很可能是因?yàn)槿祟惖穆曇羰欠浅Ｖ匾纳缃恍盘?hào)，所以大腦才會(huì)這么早就有了處理人類聲音的專門區(qū)域。 “也許這代表了人類在社交和語(yǔ)言學(xué)習(xí)方面邁出的第一步?！?/p> 相關(guān)閱讀 嬰兒哭聲藏玄機(jī) 聲調(diào)不同因在母語(yǔ) （中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)網(wǎng)英語(yǔ)點(diǎn)津 陳丹妮 編輯：馮明惠） |
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Vocabulary: catch up on: 了解（已發(fā)生的事情） wash over somebody: （周圍發(fā)生的事情）對(duì)……無(wú)多大影響 autism: a mental condition in which a person is unable to communicate or form relationships with others（自閉癥；孤獨(dú)癥） acclimatised to: to get used to a new place, situation or climate 習(xí)慣（新地方、新情況、新氣候），適應(yīng)（新環(huán)境） lap: (of water) to touch something gently and regularly, often making a soft sound（水輕柔而有規(guī)律地）拍打 reminiscent of: 讓人聯(lián)想到 |
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