时差N小时:身体的移动和问题的解决

Don: Yael,can you help me with this crosswordpuzzle? I need a four letters word that hadsomething to do with good table manners.

唐：雅艾尔，你能帮我解这道填字游戏吗?我需要一个四个字母的单词，是关于保持良好的饭桌礼仪和举止。

Yael: OK, but why are you jogging in place?

雅艾尔：好的，但是你为什么原地慢跑呢?

Don: Because I'm trying to solve the puzzle.

唐：因为我想解出这道字谜。

Yael: Right. But what does jogging have to do withit?

雅艾尔：对呀。但这与慢跑有什么关系吗?

Don: It's what scientists call embodied cognition—how the body affects the mind, and viceversa. The idea is that moving your body in certain ways can help you solve problems. Forexample, in one study, participants were presented with a puzzle: they had to figure out howto tie together strings hanging from rafters spaced far enough apart that they couldn't graspboth at the same time. While they were trying to solve the puzzle, about half the participantswere told to swing their arms back and forth. The others were told to stretch their arms.

唐：这就是科学家所说的具体认知——身体是如何影响大脑的，反之亦然。这个观点是指以某种方式移动身体能帮助你解决问题。例如在一项研究中，给所有参与者一道难题：他们必须弄清楚怎样将挂在房橼上的绳子系在一起，并且房橼之间相隔足够远，不能同时用手抓住绳子。在他们试图解决难题的时候，让其中一半的参与者来回摇摆胳膊，其余一半则伸展胳膊。

Yael: So,what happend?

雅艾尔：那么，发生了什么?

Don: The arm swingers were forty-percent more likely to solve the problem. It involved tyingan object to one string and swinging it so they could grab it while holding the other string.

唐：摇摆胳膊的参与者解决问题的概率要高出40%。办法就是将一个物体系在一根绳子上，然后摇晃绳子，这样他们就能在抓着另一根绳子的时候抓住它。

Yael: So the physical act of arm swinging led to a similar mental solution.

雅艾尔：所以摆臂的物理动作给予了他们相似的思维方式。

Don: Right.The larger point is that the mind isn't separate from the body. How we move andbehave in physical ways can affect, and enhance, how we think.

唐：正确。更重要的一点是心理并不独立于身体。我们身理上的运动和行为会影响或加强我们的思维方式。

Yael: Cool, and by the way, the word you're looking for is "mind", as an "mind your manners".

雅艾尔：好吧。但是顺便说一说，你要找的单词是“mind”，意思是“注意你的举止”。

Don: Thanks.

唐：谢谢。