醋泡花生米的做法:科学研究表明网络成瘾可能导致大脑损伤

Hardcore online gamer? Spending hours on end plugged into stuff like Worldof Warcraft daily? Pay close attention then. While none of what I'm about torelay is definitive, it does have the air of something serious, cautious andscientific. Call it pre-sobering, then.

骨灰级在线玩家？每天要花几个小时埋头于终结诸如魔兽世界这样的目标？密切注意了。虽然我将要继续做的事情不是决定性的，但是它确实有一些严肃、谨慎和科学的氛围，姑且称它为预清醒吧。

Researchers in Chinaand the United Statesrecently published a study suggesting that so-called Internetaddiction—especially where it's occurring by way of online games and forextended periods of time—may lead to serious physical rewiring of the brain'sstructures.

最近，在中国和美国的研究人员公布的一项研究表明，所谓的网络成瘾——尤其是通过网络游戏和长时间沉迷于网络发生的—— 可能导致严重的大脑结构的物质重组。

And here's the unsettling bit: possibly not in a goodway.

这是令人不安的老一套：可能显得不是很好。

We've heard about "Internet Addiction Disorder"or IAD for some time, but it's a controversial subject. Scientists tend to beconflicted about the science behind it, or rather the lack thereof. That's notto say it doesn't exist, just that the methods, scientific definitions andlongitudinal studies necessary to view any of this historically remain a workin progress. The underlying question seems to be whether Internet"overuse" is simply that—excessive use—or in fact a disorder,something decidedly more serious or "abnormal" in the hierarchy ofhuman behavioral problems. 

我们听说过“网络成瘾症”或网络成瘾有一段时间了，但这是一个有争议的话题。科学家们趋向认为它的背后的科学是相互冲突的，或者宁愿是缺乏理论依据的。这并不是说它不存在，只是这些方法，科学的定义和纵向的研究对历史上任何这样类似的问题都是由必要的，所以要保持持续研究。潜在的问题似乎是，是否网络“过度使用”只是——泛滥——或者事实上是混乱，是人类行为问题某些明显的更加严重或“不正常”的层次结构。

The researchers in the study set out to determine whetherexcessive Internet use had an effect on the structure of the brain itself, andin particular, to see whether duration of excess use impacted the brain in aquantifiable physical sense. Selecting 18 college-age students who met theself-assessment criteria for IAD (as defined by psychiatrist Kimberly Young in1998), the research team focused on surface brain matter functionally tied tocenters responsible for emotion, memory, motor control, emotion, sensoryinformation, and speech.

这项研究的研究人员正在着手确定，是否过度上网对大脑本身的结构产生了影响，特别是，持续的过度上网是否对大脑有可以量化的物理意义的影响。选择了一群满足自我评估标准是网络成瘾（1998年精神病医生Kimberly Young定义的）18岁的大学生，研究小组专注于与负责情绪、记忆、电机控制、情绪、感知信息以及言语等中心相关联的大脑表面物质功能。

The result: "white matter" as well as"gray matter" reduction in several areas by as much as 20%.Correlating that with similar matter shrinkage in nonhuman animal studies aswell as what's known about white matter's connective properties, theresearchers surmised the reduction in human brain matter could lead to impairedinhibition (your ability to control impulses), short-term memory damage,decision-making issues and reduced cognitive control of goal-oriented behavior.

结果表明：多个区域的“白质”以及“灰质”减少20%之多。在非人类动物研究中，物质萎缩具有相类似情况，我们知道白质是有连接功能的，研究人员推测，人类大脑物质的减少可能导致抑制能力损害（控制冲动的能力），短期记忆损害，难做决断的问题和减少有目的性行为的认知控制。

Or then again, it may not be such a bad thing after all,according to Karl Friston, a scientist who helped create the brain imagingtechnique used in the study (though who wasn't involved in the study itself).

或者此外再一次，毕竟这不可能是一个那么坏的事情，根据科学家Karl Friston，一个致力于创造出用于研究中使用的大脑成像技术的科学家(虽然并未参与此研究本身)。

"The effect is quite extreme, but it's notsurprising when you think of the brain as a muscle," said Friston,speaking to Scientific American. Friston explains that our brains grow into ourearly teens, after which a "pruning" process begins to improveefficiency, thus he says "these areas may just be relevant to being a goodonline gamer, and were optimized for that."

“影响很极端，但当你把大脑看作肌肉时，这就不会让人感到惊讶了，”Friston 在美国科学上说。Friston解释说，我们的大脑在我们青少年时期就已经成熟，在那之后，一个“修剪”的过程开始对其改善，以提高效率，因此他说：“这些区域可能正好和一个良好的网络玩家相关联，并且被它优化了。”

Next up? Confirming the results of the study, and nodoubt refining the methodology for future ones. And while we're waiting foractionable results, perhaps it's worth invoking the old adage by Roman writerPetronius: "Moderation in all things, including moderation."

接下来呢？确认研究的结果，无疑可以改进今后的研究方法。当我们在等待可执行的结果时，也许值得引用罗马作家Petronius的这句古老的谚语:“凡事都要适度，包括适度。” 

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