You Really Can Feel Another Person’s Pain 你真的可以感受到别人的痛

文/丽莎·瑞恩 译/魏新俊 By Lisa Ryan

You Really Can Feel Another Person’s Pain 你真的可以感受到别人的痛

文/丽莎·瑞恩 译/魏新俊 By Lisa Ryan

Many of us flinch1flinch退缩;畏缩。when we see someone get injured.

[2] Whether they cut their finger while chopping vegetables or accidentally stub2stub使（脚或脚趾）碰踢。their food—it’s common to grimace at the mere sight of3at the mere sight of只要一看到。their pain.

[3] Most of us assume that we are just having an emotional response—not feeling pain ourselves.

[4] But, scientists have revealed that the same brain structures—the anterior insula4anterior insula前脑岛。and cingulate cortex5cingulate cortex扣带皮层。—are activated, whether the pain is personally experienced or empathetic6empathetic移情作用的；同感的。.

[5] And so, even if a person doesn’t experience the injury themselves, they still experience similar symptoms to the person actually going through the pain,according to experts from Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences7马克斯·普朗克人类认知和脑科学研究所，位于德国的莱比锡。该研究所成立于2004年，是由以前的莱比锡认知神经科学研究所和慕尼黑认知神经科学研究所合并而成。它是马克斯·普朗克学会的83个研究所之一。.

看到有人受伤时，我们很多人都会退缩。

[2]不管他们是在切蔬菜时割破了手指，还是不小心踢到了食物——只要一看到他们的疼痛，我们通常就会露出痛苦的表情。

[3]我们大多数人以为这只是一种情绪反应——而不是自己感觉疼痛。

[4]但是，科学家已经发现，无论疼痛是亲身经历还是移情所致，大脑的相同结构——前脑岛和扣带皮层——都会被激活。

[5]因此，马克斯·普朗克人类认知和脑科学研究所的专家认为，即使人们本身没有受到伤害，他们仍然会体验到与实际经历疼痛者的类似症状。

[6] Dr Anita Tusche, a neuroscientist at Max Planck, said: “The fact that our brain processes pain and other unpleasant events simultaneously for the most part,no matter if they are experienced by us or someone else, is very important for social interactions because it helps to us understand what others are experiencing.”

[7] Researchers compared brain activation patterns during both personally experienced and empathetic pain.

[8] When a person, for instance, hammers their own finger, they experience physical distress.

[9] They then focus their attention on the injured finger and take steps to not repeat the event.

[10] But, if a person were to see a friend injure himself in the same way,they would feel empathetic pain.

[11] Although they haven’t sustained any injury, they would feel similar symptoms to the person in physical pain.

[12] The empathetic friend would feel anxiety, put distance between themselves and the source of the pain, and store the information so as to avoid that pain in the future.

[13] Previous studies showed that the anterior insula and cingulate cortex are activated for both personal and empathetic pain—but there was a lack of research as to how the two forms of pain were similar.

[6]马克斯·普朗克研究所的神经科学家安妮塔·塔斯切博士说：“我们的大脑在大部分时间同时处理疼痛和其他不愉快的事情，无论是我们还是别人经历的，这对社会交往非常重要，因为它有助于我们了解别人正在经历的事情。”

[7]研究人员比较了亲身经历和感同身受的疼痛期间所产生的大脑激活模式。

[8]例如，当人们砸到手指时，会感受到肉体上的剧痛。

[9]于是他们将注意力集中在受伤的手指上，确保此事不再发生。

[10]但是，如果人们看到朋友以同样的方式伤害他自己，他们便会感到切身的疼痛。

[11]虽然他们没有受到任何伤害，但是他们会感受到身体疼痛者的类似症状。

[12]感同身受的朋友会感到焦虑，让自己远离疼痛的根源，并把该信息存储起来，以避免将来会有那样的疼痛。

[13]以往的研究表明，前脑岛和扣带皮层会因亲身经历和移情作用的疼痛而被激活——但是对于这两种形式的疼痛的相似度则缺乏研究。

[14]马克斯·普朗克研究所主任泰纳·辛格博士说：“无论是否真的疼痛，我们都需要摆脱这个非此即彼的问题。”

[15]科学家们转而提出，多要素间的复杂相互作用——包括知觉过程和情感过程——形成了“疼痛”的体验。

[16]科学家首次证实，在疼痛的体验中，前脑岛和扣带皮层既处理普通信息又处理具体的疼痛信息。

[17]这些普通信息也出现在其他消极的经历中，如厌恶或愤慨。

[18]而且，具体的疼痛信息向大脑报告痛感——无论是由本人还是其他人经历。

[19]塔斯切博士说：“非特异性和特异性信息，负责疼痛的大脑结构对其并行处理，但激活模式不同。”

[20]因此，大脑可以以高效、节能的方式处理各种不愉快的经历。

[21]然而，大脑也可以快速记录详细的信息，以便人们确切地知道发生了什么样的不愉快事件——无论是否会直接影响到他们。

[14] Dr Taina Singer, director of Max Planck, said: “We need to get away from this either-or question, whether the pain is genuine or not.”

[15] The scientists instead proposed that a complex interaction of multiple elements—including sensory and emotional processes—form the experience of “pain.”

[16] The scientists demonstrated for the first time that during painful experiences, the anterior insula region and cingulate cortex process both general components and specific pain information.

[17] Those components also occur during other negative experiences, such as disgust or indignation.

[18] And, the specific pain information tells the brain that pain is involved—whether it’s explained by the person or someone else.

[19] Dr Tusche said: “Both the nonspecific8nonspecific〈医〉非特异性的；非特殊的。and the specific information are processed in parallel in the brain structures responsible for pain, but the activation patterns are different.”

[20] And so, the brain can process various unpleasant experiences in a time-efficient, energy-saving manner.

[21] However, the brain can also register detailed information quickly, so that a person knows exactly what kind of unpleasant event has occurred—whether or not it affects them directly.