为什么男女对温度感觉不一样

文/杰夫·帕森斯 译/范金硕 审订/黄勤

As autumn starts, the inevitable discussions begin about when is the right time to turn on the heating.

随着秋天的来临，人们不可避免地谈论起什么时候打开空调暖风的话题。

2Some prefer a cooler house while others want to keep things toasty.

3However, according to research there are scientific differences between how men and women respond to temperature.

2有人喜欢让室内保持凉爽，有人则更喜欢暖烘烘的感觉。

3然而，研究显示，科学上来看，男性和女性对温度的感受不一样。

4Evidence suggests women have a different sensory mechanism1感觉机制，神经系统中处理感觉信息的机制。to men,preferring warmer temperatures.This is believed to be an evolutionary development tied to the differences in metabolic rate.

5And it’s not just humans that appear to be affected.

4有证据表明，女性的感觉机制与男性不同，她们更喜欢待在温度高一些的环境。科学家认为，这是一种与代谢率差异有关的进化发展结果。

5而且，似乎不仅是人类会受到此机制影响。

6特拉维夫大学动物学学院的研究者们研究了13种鸟类和18种蝙蝠，发现雌性偏爱较高的温度，而雄性则喜欢较低的温度。

6Researchers at Tel Aviv University2以色列规模最大的国立综合性大学。’s School of Zoology studied 13 different bird species and 18 different bat species and found that females preferred warmer temperatures while the males liked it cooler.

7The researchers said results indicated a variation in the ‘heat-sensing mechanisms’ of males and females.

7研究者们认为，此结果表明雄性和雌性动物的“热感应机制”存在差异。

8论文的共同作者埃兰·莱文博士称：“我们的研究表明，这种现象并非人类特有。在许多鸟类和哺乳动物之中，雌性比雄性更喜欢温暖的环境。在某些时候，对温度不同的偏好还会导致生物两性之间的隔离。”

8Dr Eran Levin, co-author, said: ‘Our study has shown that the phenomenon is not unique to humans; among many species of birds and mammals, females prefer a warmer environment than males, and at certain times these preferences cause segregation between the two species.

‘In light of the findings, and the fact that this is a widespread phenomenon,we have hypothesised that what we are dealing with is a difference between the females’ and males’ heat-sensing mechanisms, which developed over the course of evolution.’

9The findings dovetail with3dovetail with与……相吻合。earlier research into women’s experiences when asked to work in rooms at different temperatures.

“根据研究结果以及此现象普遍存在的事实，我们假设，我们正在研究的是男性和女性在进化过程中所形成的热感应机制之间的差异。”

9被要求在不同温度的房间工作时女性的体验如何，这些发现与先前那些研究的结果相吻合。

10In 2019, researchers gave a collective test to 543 students that included logic problems, letter scrambles4letter scramble字母排列，将单词中的字母打乱后进行还原排列的益智游戏。and maths questions.They were placed either in a heated room or a cooler one,and given a cash reward for each question they answered correctly.

102019年，研究者们对543名学生进行了集体测试，测试内容包括逻辑题、字母排列和数学题。这些学生被安排在一个开着暖风的房间或者是一个室温较低的房间里作答，每答对一个问题就获得一次现金奖励。

11实验中控制室温在16至32摄氏度之间变化。结果显示，男女解逻辑题的能力在温度变化范围内持平。但在数学和字母测试中，房间内温度较高时，女生的平均成绩更好。

11The temperature varied between 16 and 32 degrees Celcius and the results showed that solving the logic problems remained consistent across the temperature range.But when it came to the maths and the letter tests, on average the female students performed better when the room was warmer.

12‘Overall, our results suggest that gender is an important factor not only i n d e t e rmining the impact of temperature on comfort but also on productivity and cognitive performance,’ the researchers said at the time.

‘Additionally, given the lack of attention to gender in mediating the impact of temperature on performance, our results may explain in part the inconsistent results of previous studies on the relationship between temperature and cognitive performance.’

12研究者们当时称：“总体而言，我们的实验结果表明，性别不仅是确定温度对舒适感影响的一个重要因素，还是确定温度影响思维效率和认知能力的重要因素。”

“此 外，鉴于此前测试温度对行为的影响时缺乏对性别的关注，我们的实验结果或许可以在一定程度上解释，为何先前一些关于温度和认知能力关系的研究会得出前后不一致的结果。”

13This can have an impact in workplaces where, generally speaking, air conditioning is set to around 25 degrees Celsius, based off the ‘metabolic equivalent5metabolic equivalent代谢当量，维持静息代谢所需要的耗氧量，表示相对能量代谢水平。’ of a 70kg, 40-year-old man wearing a suit and tie that was calculated back in the 1930s.■

13这项研究可能对工作场所的空调设置产生一种影响。一般而言，工作场所的空调会设置在25摄氏度左右。这是以20世纪30年代所计算出的一位体重70公斤、西装革履的40岁男子的 “代谢当量”为参照的。 □