A New York state of mind

　　紐約人的精神狀態

　　Urban brains behave differently from rural ones

　　城市人的大腦異于鄉村

　　Shelley contemplates urban decay

　　沉思城市衰落的雪萊

　　HELL is a city much like London, opined Percy ByssheShelley in 1819. Modern academics agree. Last year Dutchresearchers showed that city dwellers have a 21% higherrisk of developing anxiety disorders than do their calmerrural countrymen, and a 39% higher risk of developingmood disorders. But exactly how the inner workings of theurban and rural minds cause this difference has remainedobscureuntil now. A study just published in Nature byAndreas Meyer-Lindenberg of the University of Heidelbergand his colleagues has used a scanning technique calledfunctional magnetic-resonance imaging toexamine the brains of city dwellers and country bumpkinswhen they are under stress.

　　1819 年，波比?雪萊認為倫敦市更像一個地獄?，F代學者同意這個觀點。荷蘭研究人員研究表明，城市居民相對穩定的鄉村同胞來說，得焦慮癥的概率高出21%，得心理障礙疾病的概率高出39%。但是直到現在，城市思想和鄉村思想是如何引起這方面差異的確切原因仍舊是不清楚的。最近海德爾堡大學的學者安德烈亞斯? 邁耶-林登貝格和他的同事在《自然》雜志上發表了一個研究，該研究使用稱為機能性磁共振圖像的掃描技術測試了在壓力下城市居民和鄉村居民的大腦活動情況。

　　In Dr Meyer-Lindenbergs first experiment, participants lying with their heads in a scanner tookmaths tests that they were doomed to fail . To make the experience still more humiliating, the team provided negativefeedback through headphones, all the while checking participants for indications of stress, suchas high blood pressure.

　　在邁耶-林登貝格博士的第一個實驗中，參與者躺著頭枕在一個掃描器上接受他們注定要失敗的數學測驗。為了使這活動更加具有羞辱性，研究人員通過耳機給予參與者消極的回答，并一直檢測參與者表現出的壓力反應，如高血壓。

　　The urbanites general mental health did not differfrom that of their provincial counterparts. However,their brains dealt with the stress imposed by theexperimenters in different ways. These differenceswere noticeable in two regions: the amygdalas andthe perigenual anterior cingulate cortex . Theamygdalas are a pair of structures, one in eachcerebral hemisphere, that are found deep inside thebrain and are responsible for assessing threats andgenerating the emotion of fear. The pACC is part ofthe cerebral cortex that regulates the amygdalas.

　　都市人總體的心理健康狀況與他們所在地區的其他人沒有什么差別。但是，他們應對實驗者給予壓力的方法不同。這些差別主要在兩地地方：杏仁核和扣帶皮層部分。杏仁核有一對，大腦左右半球各一個，它在大腦深處，與判斷威脅和產生害怕情緒有關?？蹘硬课皇谴竽X皮層的一部分，它對杏仁核進行調節。

　　People living in the countryside had the lowest levels of activity in their amygdalas. Those livingin towns had higher levels. City dwellers had the highest. Not that surprising, to those of aShelleyesque disposition. In the case of the pACC, however, what mattered was not wheresomeone was living now, but where he or she was brought up. The more urban a personschildhood, the more active his pACC, regardless of where he was dwelling at the time of theexperiment.

　　生活在鄉村的人杏仁核活動水平最低。生活在城鎮的人的杏仁核活動水平高些。城市居民杏仁核活動水平最高。對于雪萊式性情的人，這沒有什么奇怪的。然而，在扣帶皮層部位情況下，重要的不是一個人現在生活在哪，而是他或他在那長大。不管在實驗的時候他住在哪，只要一個人的童年時期生活在城市的時間越長，他的扣帶皮層部位就越活躍。

　　The amygdalas thus seem to respond to the here-and-now whereas the pACC is programmedearly on, and does not react in the same, flexible way as the amygdalas. Second-to-secondchanges in its activity might, though, be expected to be correlated with changes in theamygdalas, because of its role in regulating them. fMRI allows such correlations to bemeasured.

　　雖然扣帶皮層部位控制著杏仁核，但似乎杏仁核是此時此刻的及時回應，扣帶皮層部位并沒有像杏仁核那樣做出相同，柔性的反應。扣帶皮層部位接下來每秒鐘活動的變化，也許與杏仁核的變化有關，因為扣帶皮層部位控制著杏仁核。 fMRI 顯示了這樣的測量關系。

　　In the cases of those brought up in the countryside, regardless of where they now live, thecorrelations were as expected. For those brought up in cities, however, these correlations brokedown. The regulatory mechanism of the native urbanite, in other words, seems to be out ofkilter. Further evidence, then, for Shelleys point of view. Moreover, it is also known that thepACC-amygdala link is often out of kilter in schizophrenia, and that schizophrenia is morecommon among city dwellers than country folk. Dr Meyer-Lindenberg is careful not to claim thathis results show the cause of this connection. But they might.

　　在鄉村長大的人，不管他們現在住在那，這種相互關系都是不出所料的。然而對于在城市長大的人來說，這種相互關系已經不存在了。換句話說，土生土長的城市人的調控機制似乎脫離了平衡。這是證明雪萊觀點的更近一步的證據。而且，眾所周知，在精神分裂癥病人中，扣帶皮層-杏仁核的聯系是脫離平衡的，和鄉村居民相比，精神分裂癥在城市居民中更普遍。邁耶-林登貝格博士很慎重，沒有聲稱他的研究結果表明了這種關聯是因果關系。但是，他們也許是因果關系。

　　Dr Meyer-Lindenberg and his team conducted severalsubsequent experiments to check their findings.They asked participants to complete more mathstestsand also tests in which they mentally rotatedan objectwhile investigators chided them abouttheir performance. The results matched those ofthe first test. They also studied another group ofvolunteers, who were given stress-free tasks tocomplete. These experiments showed no activity ineither the amygdalas or the pACC, suggesting thatthe earlier results were indeed the result of socialstress rather than mental exertion.

　　邁耶-林登貝格博士和他的研究組隨后進行了幾個實驗以證他們的結論。他們要求參與者完成更多的數學測驗，還有些測試需要參與者在心里轉動物體。所有這些都是在研究者斥責參與者表現的情況下進行的。結果和第一次測試的一樣。他們也測試了另一組志愿者，讓他們完成一些無壓力任務。這些實驗表明杏仁核或扣帶皮層部位沒有活動，這表明之前的結果的確是社會壓力的結果，而不是心力疲憊的結果。

　　As is usually the case in studies of this sort, the sample size was small and the result showed an association, rather than a definite,causal relationship. That association is, nevertheless, interesting. Living in cities brings manybenefits, but Dr Meyer-Lindenbergs work suggests that Shelley and his fellow Romantics had atleast half a point.

　　這類研究常是如此，樣本量小，研究結論表明的僅是一種聯系，而不是一個確定的，因果關系。不過，這種聯系是令人感興趣的。生活在城市得到很多好處，但是邁耶-林登貝格博士的研究表明雪萊和他的浪漫主義追隨者至少有一半是對的。

　　A New York state of mind

　　紐約人的精神狀態

　　Urban brains behave differently from rural ones

　　城市人的大腦異于鄉村

　　Shelley contemplates urban decay

　　沉思城市衰落的雪萊

　　HELL is a city much like London, opined Percy ByssheShelley in 1819. Modern academics agree. Last year Dutchresearchers showed that city dwellers have a 21% higherrisk of developing anxiety disorders than do their calmerrural countrymen, and a 39% higher risk of developingmood disorders. But exactly how the inner workings of theurban and rural minds cause this difference has remainedobscureuntil now. A study just published in Nature byAndreas Meyer-Lindenberg of the University of Heidelbergand his colleagues has used a scanning technique calledfunctional magnetic-resonance imaging toexamine the brains of city dwellers and country bumpkinswhen they are under stress.

　　1819 年，波比?雪萊認為倫敦市更像一個地獄。現代學者同意這個觀點。荷蘭研究人員研究表明，城市居民相對穩定的鄉村同胞來說，得焦慮癥的概率高出21%，得心理障礙疾病的概率高出39%。但是直到現在，城市思想和鄉村思想是如何引起這方面差異的確切原因仍舊是不清楚的。最近海德爾堡大學的學者安德烈亞斯? 邁耶-林登貝格和他的同事在《自然》雜志上發表了一個研究，該研究使用稱為機能性磁共振圖像的掃描技術測試了在壓力下城市居民和鄉村居民的大腦活動情況。

　　In Dr Meyer-Lindenbergs first experiment, participants lying with their heads in a scanner tookmaths tests that they were doomed to fail . To make the experience still more humiliating, the team provided negativefeedback through headphones, all the while checking participants for indications of stress, suchas high blood pressure.

　　在邁耶-林登貝格博士的第一個實驗中，參與者躺著頭枕在一個掃描器上接受他們注定要失敗的數學測驗。為了使這活動更加具有羞辱性，研究人員通過耳機給予參與者消極的回答，并一直檢測參與者表現出的壓力反應，如高血壓。

　　The urbanites general mental health did not differfrom that of their provincial counterparts. However,their brains dealt with the stress imposed by theexperimenters in different ways. These differenceswere noticeable in two regions: the amygdalas andthe perigenual anterior cingulate cortex . Theamygdalas are a pair of structures, one in eachcerebral hemisphere, that are found deep inside thebrain and are responsible for assessing threats andgenerating the emotion of fear. The pACC is part ofthe cerebral cortex that regulates the amygdalas.

　　都市人總體的心理健康狀況與他們所在地區的其他人沒有什么差別。但是，他們應對實驗者給予壓力的方法不同。這些差別主要在兩地地方：杏仁核和扣帶皮層部分。杏仁核有一對，大腦左右半球各一個，它在大腦深處，與判斷威脅和產生害怕情緒有關?？蹘硬课皇谴竽X皮層的一部分，它對杏仁核進行調節。

　　People living in the countryside had the lowest levels of activity in their amygdalas. Those livingin towns had higher levels. City dwellers had the highest. Not that surprising, to those of aShelleyesque disposition. In the case of the pACC, however, what mattered was not wheresomeone was living now, but where he or she was brought up. The more urban a personschildhood, the more active his pACC, regardless of where he was dwelling at the time of theexperiment.

　　生活在鄉村的人杏仁核活動水平最低。生活在城鎮的人的杏仁核活動水平高些。城市居民杏仁核活動水平最高。對于雪萊式性情的人，這沒有什么奇怪的。然而，在扣帶皮層部位情況下，重要的不是一個人現在生活在哪，而是他或他在那長大。不管在實驗的時候他住在哪，只要一個人的童年時期生活在城市的時間越長，他的扣帶皮層部位就越活躍。

　　The amygdalas thus seem to respond to the here-and-now whereas the pACC is programmedearly on, and does not react in the same, flexible way as the amygdalas. Second-to-secondchanges in its activity might, though, be expected to be correlated with changes in theamygdalas, because of its role in regulating them. fMRI allows such correlations to bemeasured.

　　雖然扣帶皮層部位控制著杏仁核，但似乎杏仁核是此時此刻的及時回應，扣帶皮層部位并沒有像杏仁核那樣做出相同，柔性的反應?？蹘硬课唤酉聛砻棵腌娀顒拥淖兓?，也許與杏仁核的變化有關，因為扣帶皮層部位控制著杏仁核。 fMRI 顯示了這樣的測量關系。

　　In the cases of those brought up in the countryside, regardless of where they now live, thecorrelations were as expected. For those brought up in cities, however, these correlations brokedown. The regulatory mechanism of the native urbanite, in other words, seems to be out ofkilter. Further evidence, then, for Shelleys point of view. Moreover, it is also known that thepACC-amygdala link is often out of kilter in schizophrenia, and that schizophrenia is morecommon among city dwellers than country folk. Dr Meyer-Lindenberg is careful not to claim thathis results show the cause of this connection. But they might.

　　在鄉村長大的人，不管他們現在住在那，這種相互關系都是不出所料的。然而對于在城市長大的人來說，這種相互關系已經不存在了。換句話說，土生土長的城市人的調控機制似乎脫離了平衡。這是證明雪萊觀點的更近一步的證據。而且，眾所周知，在精神分裂癥病人中，扣帶皮層-杏仁核的聯系是脫離平衡的，和鄉村居民相比，精神分裂癥在城市居民中更普遍。邁耶-林登貝格博士很慎重，沒有聲稱他的研究結果表明了這種關聯是因果關系。但是，他們也許是因果關系。

　　Dr Meyer-Lindenberg and his team conducted severalsubsequent experiments to check their findings.They asked participants to complete more mathstestsand also tests in which they mentally rotatedan objectwhile investigators chided them abouttheir performance. The results matched those ofthe first test. They also studied another group ofvolunteers, who were given stress-free tasks tocomplete. These experiments showed no activity ineither the amygdalas or the pACC, suggesting thatthe earlier results were indeed the result of socialstress rather than mental exertion.

　　邁耶-林登貝格博士和他的研究組隨后進行了幾個實驗以證他們的結論。他們要求參與者完成更多的數學測驗，還有些測試需要參與者在心里轉動物體。所有這些都是在研究者斥責參與者表現的情況下進行的。結果和第一次測試的一樣。他們也測試了另一組志愿者，讓他們完成一些無壓力任務。這些實驗表明杏仁核或扣帶皮層部位沒有活動，這表明之前的結果的確是社會壓力的結果，而不是心力疲憊的結果。

　　As is usually the case in studies of this sort, the sample size was small and the result showed an association, rather than a definite,causal relationship. That association is, nevertheless, interesting. Living in cities brings manybenefits, but Dr Meyer-Lindenbergs work suggests that Shelley and his fellow Romantics had atleast half a point.

　　這類研究常是如此，樣本量小，研究結論表明的僅是一種聯系，而不是一個確定的，因果關系。不過，這種聯系是令人感興趣的。生活在城市得到很多好處，但是邁耶-林登貝格博士的研究表明雪萊和他的浪漫主義追隨者至少有一半是對的。