摆出一副“游戏面孔”实际上可能会提高你的表现

摆出一副“游戏面孔”实际上可能会提高你的表现

A little groggy today?

今天有点头昏眼花?

Put on your game face.

摆出你的“游戏面孔”。

Some people have 'I got this' written all over their face. (Photo: Dima Sidelnikov/Shutterstock)

Matthew Richesin, a postgraduate student at the University of Tennessee, probably heard that one before too. So he figured he would see if having a "game face" really upped one’s game.

田纳西大学研究生马修·里奇森可能以前也听说过这个说法。所以他想看看“游戏脸”是否真的能提升一个人的游戏水平。

For the research, published in the journal Stress and Health, Richesin was inspired by shirts at his own school emblazoned with the words, “Get Your Game Face On.”

发表在《压力与健康》杂志上的这项研究，是里奇森从自己学校的衬衫上得到的灵感，衬衫上印着“摆出你的游戏面孔”的字样。

While Richesin noted previous psychology studies suggesting facial expressions have an impact on mood, there was scant evidence it gave people an actual performance boost.

虽然里奇森注意到先前的心理学研究表明面部表情对情绪有影响，但并没有足够的证据表明它能真正提高人们的表现。

“There’s anecdotal evidence of game face having an impact based on its common use among athletes,” Richesin notes in a news release. “But we wanted to see if it would help on physical and mental challenges from a scientific perspective.”

里奇森在一份新闻稿中指出:“有传闻表明，运动员普遍使用游戏面孔会对比赛产生影响。”“但我们想看看它是否能从科学的角度帮助我们应对生理和心理上的挑战。”

The power of the face

这副面孔的力量

So Richesin and his colleagues devised two simple tests. For the first, they asked 62 people to put their hands in ice-cold water — and hold it there for a few minutes. The second experiment required participants to sleuth out a puzzle.

因此里奇森和他的同事设计了两个简单的测试。在第一个实验中，他们让62个人把手放在冰冷的水中，并保持几分钟。第二个实验要求参与者解开一个谜题。

For each experiment, the participants were divided in half — one group was told to keep their expressions intense and earnest. The other group was allowed to let their faces do whatever their faces felt like doing in the moment.

在每一项实验中，参与者被分成两组，其中一组被要求保持紧张和认真的表情。另一组被允许让他们的脸做任何他们当时想做的事情。

The result? The "game face" crowd not only performed, on average, about 20% better, they also recovered from stress — that would be the ice water — more effectively.

结果呢?“游戏面孔”人群不仅表现得平均好20%左右，他们还更有效地从冰水压力中恢复过来。

But what exactly is a game face? For the study, Richesin and his colleagues defined is as “a serious, focused, or determined facial expression.”

但什么是“游戏面孔”呢?在这项研究中，里奇森和他的同事将面部表情定义为“严肃、专注或坚定的表情”。

It’s certainly not to be confused with the face you may currently be wearing — one of incredulity and deep suspicion.

当然，不要把它与你现在的面孔相混淆——那是一种不信任和深深的怀疑。

Nor is it in the same ballpark as a fake smile, which doesn’t do a whole lot for anyone.

它也不像假笑那么简单，假笑对谁都没好处。

No, if Richesin’s research holds true, you’re going to need to strap on one of these:

不，如果里奇森的研究是正确的，你需要做的是:

'Game face' can help convey a winning attitude. (Photo: Aaron Amat/Shutterstock)

Or maybe try one of the most famous games faces of all time — the one legendary swimmer Michael Phelps wore before dominating the men’s 200m butterfly at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.

或者，你也可以尝试一下历史上最著名的奥运会面孔之一——传奇游泳运动员迈克尔·菲尔普斯在2016年里约热内卢奥运会男子200米蝶泳比赛中独霸前的面孔。

That’s a game face.

那是一副游戏面孔。

“If making a game face has the potential to improve performance, we may find this concept can have application outside of the traditional venue of sports,” he notes in the release.

他在发布会上指出:“如果一副游戏面孔有提高性能的潜力，我们可能会发现这个概念可以应用到传统体育场馆之外。”

So go ahead. Try one on. At the very least, you'll look like you know what you're doing.

所以开始吧。尝试一下。至少，你看起来知道你在做什么。