让你控制大脑的9个小技巧
我们觉得人类的大脑真的非常特别，也许这是一种偏见吧。从减轻痛苦到赢得游戏，这9种方法能帮到你。
1. COUGH WHEN YOU GET A SHOT.
1、打针的时候咳嗽能让你不那么痛
The doctor’s office, the needle, the pain … nobody likes getting shots. We can’t do anything about the needle or the doctor, but there is a really easy way to reduce the pain: just cough. Scientists in Germany administered two rounds of shots to a group of 20 people. The first time, the test subjects just sat there. The second time, they were instructed to cough as they got the shot. Nineteen out of 20 test subjects reported feeling less pain during the second shot.
医生的办公室、针头、痛苦……没有人喜欢打针。但我们对针头或者医生束手无策，毕竟病还是要治，但现在有一种简单的方法能减轻痛苦：只要咳嗽就行。德国科学家们给20个人打了两次针。第一次，实验参与者们静静地坐着等待科学家们给他们打针。第二次他们在打针的时候被指导着咳嗽。在第二次打针的时候，20名参与者中有19名表示他们觉得打针时咳嗽感觉到的疼痛变少。
2. SMELL GOOD TO LOOK GOOD.
2、味道好闻能让你变得更加吸引人
Wearing perfume or cologne makes you more attractive to the opposite sex—even when they can’t smell it. Researchers asked women to rate the attractiveness of men in photos and on video. The guys in one group had sprayed themselves with a super-manly scented deodorant, and the other guys were unscented. In still images, the results were as you might expect: those with more attractive features were rated as more attractive. But once the women saw the guys moving around on videotape, they consistently rated the men wearing body spray as hotter. What’s behind this? Attitude. The men who thought they smelled good behaved more confidently, which made them more attractive.
喷香水或者古龙水能让异性更加被你吸引，即便有时候他们闻不到你身上的味道。研究人员们要求女性给照片和视频里的男性打分。第一组男性喷了香水，另外一组男性身上没有味道。在静态图片中，外表看上去吸引人的男性得分更高。可一旦女性看到视频中的男性，她们会认为喷了香水的男性更加吸引人。这是为什么?态度原因。认为自己身上好闻的男性表现更加自信，这使得他们变得更加迷人。
3. ON A BUDGET? STOP TOUCHING STUFF.
3、钱不够用?别再乱摸东西了。
Our brains may be incredibly complex, but in many ways, we’re all just overgrown toddlers. When we see something we like, we want to touch it, but touching things just makes us want them more. Stores and salespeople know this; it’s why display models and test-drives exist. But the problem runs even deeper: once we’ve got something in our paws, we’re even willing to pay more for it. So if your wallet has seemed a little emptier these days, try practicing what we teach preschoolers: keep your hands to yourself.
我们的大脑非常复杂，但在许多方面，我们所有人不过是长得太快的婴幼儿而已。当我们看到我们喜欢的东西时，我们会想要触摸它，但触摸这些东西会令我们更加想要它们。商店和销售员深知这一点，这也是为何展示模特和试用品会存在。但问题不止于此：一旦我们手里拿到了我们想要的东西，我们甚至会变得更加愿意为它付钱。因此如果你的钱包这几天看上去更空了，试着做到我们教导学龄前儿童的那样：不要乱摸东西。
4. BOOST YOUR NIGHT VISION WITH A ‘HAND’-MADE EYE PATCH.
4、用一只手遮眼能增强你的夜间视觉
Did you ever wonder why olde-tymey European pirates wore eye patches? It’s not just because they look cool (although they do). Sailors move between a ship’s decks many times a day. Each time they go below deck, their eyes have to adjust to the dark, and vice versa. This can take a while, and we all know pirates were on a tight schedule. Historians believe they made do with a brain hack that you can use today: keep one eye in the dark by covering it with an eye patch or your hand. By the time you move below deck (or into the dark bathroom at night), you’ll have one eye ready.
你是否曾想过为何过去欧洲海盗会戴着眼罩?其中的原因并不仅仅是酷而已。水手们一天要在甲板上下穿梭多次。每次他们下去的时候，他们的眼睛都要重新适应黑暗，反之亦然。这很花时间，而海盗没有那么多时间可以浪费。遮住一只眼能让你在甲板上下穿梭的时候，随时留着一只不必适应光线的眼睛。
5. KEEP A LID ON YOUR TEMPER BY USING YOUR WEAK HAND.
5、利用不常用的手控制你的脾气
Everybody gets angry, and once in a while, everybody snaps. But some people snap a lot more than others. Scientists say the difference between frequent exploders and everyone else isn’t that the exploders have more anger; it’s that they have less self-control. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Researchers found that simply by using their nondominant hands for mundane tasks (eating cereal, opening doors, etc.) for two weeks, their self-control improved. The theory is that self-control is like a muscle. It can be strong or weak, energized or tired. And just like a muscle, it can be strengthened. Each time a person has to deal with the aggravation of pouring a drink with the wrong hand, it strengthens their self-control. Like any exercise, the process can be painful at first, but over time, the work pays off.
每个人都会生气，有些人在控制不住脾气的时候会怒气冲冲地说一堆话。科学家们表示爆发者和其他人之间的差别并不是因为爆发者脾气更大，而是因为他们的自制力不够。现在研究人员们发现脾气火爆者只需连续两周利用不常用的手做日常任务(吃东西和开门等)，他们的自制力就会增强。这一理论源于自制力就像肌肉一样，它能变强或者变弱。每次某个人不得不用不常用的手进行倒水等任务，他们的自制力就会增强。和锻炼一样，这一过程刚开始非常痛苦，但随着时间的流逝，你会发现这些付出都很值得。
6. WANT TO WIN? WEAR RED.
6、想要赢就穿大红色的衣服
Whether it’s love or war (or sports, anyway), wearing red will increase your chances of victory. Both men and women are consistently rated as sexier when they’re wearing red. In close matches, athletes wearing red are far more likely to beat their opponents. The advantage is so marked that some researchers have suggested a ban on red uniforms, which may give one side an unfair advantage. The reason for these phenomena may be embarrassingly simple. In many primate species, certain relevant body parts flush red when an animal is ready to mate. In other species, redness is a sign of dominance or aggression. Humans are primates too, so it’s not too surprising the signals have translated.
不论是战争还是运动，穿大红色能增加你赢的几率。男性和女性穿大红色的时候都会被认为变得更性感了。而穿大红色运动服的运动员们打败对手的几率更高。这一优势过于明显以至于某些研究人员们建议禁止大红色制服，因为这不公平。背后的原因也比较简单。在许多灵长类动物中，当它们准备交配的时候它们身体的特定部位会变红。而在其它物种里，红色是权势或者侵略的信号。人类也是灵长类动物，所以受到红色的影响并不稀奇。
7. POWER UP YOUR POWER NAP WITH COFFEE.
7、喝完咖啡小憩更提神
There are two surefire ways to deal with drowsiness or flagging energy. The first is coffee, and the second is a power nap. But what if you combined them? It sounds like a really bad idea, but if you do it right, it can put your afternoon sleepies to bed. The trick is to have a cup of coffee or other caffeinated beverage, then go straight to sleep for no more than 15 minutes. Scientists who tested the method say the one-two punch of caffeine and power nap completely eliminated test subjects’ sleepiness. Why? Well, caffeine takes a little while to start kicking in—about 15 minutes, in fact. You can squeeze in a little bit of shut-eye and wake up just in time to maximize your power-up.
当睡意来袭时我们有两种应对方法，第一种是咖啡，第二种是小憩。但如果将二者结合会发生什么事情呢?这听起来不是什么好主意，但如果你做对了，它能让你一下午都保持精神抖擞的状态。正确方法是喝一杯咖啡或者含咖啡因的饮料，接着睡十五分钟左右。试过这种方法的科学家们表示它能完全赶走实验对象的睡意。怎么会这样呢?因为咖啡因进入你体内十五分钟后才会起效。睡一会儿才能将提神效果达到最大。
8. RELIEVE PAIN WITH (A LITTLE) SWEARING.
8、爆粗口能止痛
What’s the first thing you say when you stub your toe? If you’re like most people, it’s not something we can say here. From an early age, we’re taught that obscenities are inappropriate. But what if they serve a physiological purpose? Scientists instructed test subjects to plunge their hands into buckets of ice water. As the pain took hold, the participants were told to say one of two words: a neutral word, or the F-word. The results were pretty clear: “Swearing increased pain tolerance, increased heart rate and decreased perceived pain compared with not swearing.” There’s a catch, though: it didn’t work for potty mouths. Swearing every day lessened the effect of swearing in a painful situation. The researchers concluded that like any other treatment for pain, cussing is most effective when used in moderation.
不小心踢到脚趾你的第一反应是什么?如果你和大多数人一样，那么我们就不必多说了。科学家们做实验将参与者们的手放到冰水中，当疼痛来袭的时候，参与者们被要求爆粗口。结果很明显：爆粗口能增加人们的对疼痛的忍耐力，加快心率并减少疼痛感(与不爆粗口相比)。不过这对经常爆粗口的人来说不起作用。平时经常爆粗口会减轻在疼痛情况下爆粗口的作用。
9. FEELING ANXIOUS? BLOW ON YOUR THUMB.
9、觉得紧张?吹凉大拇指吧。
It’s super weird, but it works. Your thumb has its own heartbeat. When you’re anxious, stressed out, or hyped up, your heart rate will speed up, which makes you feel even more wired. Slowly blowing air over the pad of your thumb does two things. First, it helps cool your hot hands, which should encourage your heart to slow down. Second, it forces you to take slow, deep breaths, which tells your nervous system that the danger has passed.
这很奇怪，但很有用。你的大拇指拥有它自己的心跳。当你紧张和激动的时候，你的心跳会加快，这让你感觉更加不适。缓缓地将空气吹向你的大拇指有两个作用。第一，它能帮助你冷却你的热手，帮助你稳定心跳。其次，它能迫使你缓慢地进行深呼吸，告诉你的神经系统危险已经过去。
