研究：蒙娜麗莎是否“微笑”要看觀眾情緒

蒙娜麗莎到底是在微笑還是在苦笑?長(zhǎng)久以來(lái),不同的人都有不同的理解。如今科學(xué)家的一項(xiàng)最新研究認(rèn)為，這其實(shí)和人們當(dāng)時(shí)的情緒有很大關(guān)系。

Scientists have discovered why the Mona Lisa's expression looks so different to different people and at different times.

不同的人在不同的時(shí)間觀察蒙娜麗莎的表情會(huì)得到完全不同的印象，對(duì)于這一點(diǎn)，科學(xué)家們已經(jīng)找到其中的原因。

For centuries, art lovers and critics have been perplexed by and debated the Leonardo Da Vinci paintings gaze and slight smile - or is it a grimace?

幾百年來(lái)，藝術(shù)愛(ài)好者和評(píng)論家一直對(duì)萊奧納多•達(dá)芬奇這幅畫中人物的目光和她的微笑(或是苦相?)感到困惑，并對(duì)此進(jìn)行爭(zhēng)論。

But new research from the University of California, San Francisco has shed new light on the luminous and seemingly changing face of the Mona Lisa.

不過(guò)，美國(guó)舊金山加利福尼亞大學(xué)的一項(xiàng)新研究讓人們對(duì)蒙娜麗莎明亮且似乎在不斷變化的表情有了新的理解。

Through experiments on visual perception and neurology, they discovered that our emotions really do alter how we see a neutral face.

通過(guò)視覺(jué)和神經(jīng)學(xué)實(shí)驗(yàn)，科學(xué)家們發(fā)現(xiàn)，我們的情緒確實(shí)可以改變我們看待一個(gè)中性的臉部表情的方式。

Dr Erika Siegel and her colleagues study how our emotions change our perceptions of the world around us - even when we aren't aware that something has changed our feelings.

來(lái)自該大學(xué)的埃麗卡•西格爾博士及其同事研究情緒如何改變我們對(duì)周圍世界的理解，即使我們不知道某些事情已經(jīng)改變了自己的情緒。

This relies on the modern theory of 'the brain as a predictive organ, instead of a reactive one,' says Dr Siegel.

西格爾說(shuō)，這基于“大腦是一種預(yù)測(cè)性器官而非反應(yīng)性器官”的現(xiàn)代理論。

In other words, 'we have a lifetime of experience and we use those experiences to predict what we are going to experience next. '

西格爾解釋說(shuō)，換言之，“我們積累了一生的經(jīng)驗(yàn)，并使用這些經(jīng)驗(yàn)來(lái)預(yù)測(cè)接下來(lái)將要經(jīng)歷的事情。”

'Incoming information is actually just used to correct the predictions if they turn out to be wrong,' Dr Siegel explains.

“如果這種預(yù)測(cè)被證明是錯(cuò)誤的，新的信息實(shí)際上只是用于糾正預(yù)測(cè)。”

So, she and her team predicted that how we perceive a new face - as happy, sad, friendly, neutral - actually has a lot more to do with the feelings we are carrying around when we greet it than the expression on that face.

因此，西格爾及其團(tuán)隊(duì)預(yù)測(cè)，人們對(duì)一張新面孔——究竟是愉快、悲傷、友好，還是中性——的理解，實(shí)際上會(huì)更多地與我們遇見(jiàn)這張面孔時(shí)自身的情緒有關(guān)，而不是這張面孔的實(shí)際情況。

Dr Siegel and he team can actually simulate that subconscious experience of our feelings thanks to a trick our vision plays on us.

實(shí)際上，西格爾的團(tuán)隊(duì)利用視覺(jué)可能欺騙我們的原理模擬出了人類情感的潛意識(shí)經(jīng)驗(yàn)。

We all have one dominant eye and one more passive non-dominant one.

每個(gè)人都有一個(gè)主視眼和一個(gè)更加被動(dòng)的非主視眼。

If each eye is receiving different information, we only consciously perceive what dominant one sees. But non-dominant sights can still seep into our subconcscious.

如果兩個(gè)眼睛接收到的信息不同，那么我們下意識(shí)地只接受主視眼所看到的情景。但非主視眼所看到的信息仍然會(huì)留在我們的潛意識(shí)中。

Dr Siegel and her team use this to gently and prime their study participants to feel one way or another.

西格爾的團(tuán)隊(duì)利用這一點(diǎn)小心地引導(dǎo)，讓研究參與者產(chǎn)生不同的感覺(jué)。

They showed 43 people two sets of flashing images simultaneously, so that the dominant eye saw and registered neutral expressions, while the non-dominant eye 'saw' flashes of neutral, grimacing or smiling faces, that they would only subconsciously be aware of.

他們向43人同時(shí)展示兩組一閃而過(guò)的照片，以便讓主視眼看到并記下中性表情，同時(shí)讓非主視眼“看到”中性、苦笑或微笑的面孔，而參與者只能下意識(shí)地明白這一點(diǎn)。

After viewing the flashing faces, the researchers showed the participants options of faces and asked pick out which ones they had seen.

在看過(guò)這些一閃而過(guò)的面孔后，研究人員讓參與者看面孔圖片，并讓他們挑選出哪些是曾經(jīng)看到過(guò)的。

When their non-dominant eyes had seen a happy face, they were more likely to think the neutral face had actually been smiling, and the same was true for grimaces and neutral faces.

當(dāng)參與者中非主視眼看過(guò)的是笑臉時(shí)，他們更傾向于認(rèn)為中性面孔實(shí)際上是在微笑。而對(duì)于看到了痛苦和中性表情的面孔的參與者，他們也有同樣看法。

This means that 'if you see the Mona Lisa after you have just had a screaming fight with your husband, you're going to see [the painting] differently,' says Dr Siegel.

西格爾說(shuō)，這意味著“如果一個(gè)人剛剛同丈夫大吵一架，那么在她看到蒙娜麗莎這幅畫后會(huì)有不同的理解”。

'But if you're having the time of your life at the Louvre, you're going to see the enigmatic smile,' she adds.

她補(bǔ)充說(shuō)：“但如果你正在享受盧浮宮的美好時(shí)光的話，那你便會(huì)看到蒙娜麗莎神秘的微笑。”

'We are the architects of our own experience. Our brain makes predictions about what it expects to see and uses information from the world to update its expectations,' Dr Siegel says.

西格爾說(shuō)：“我們是我們自身經(jīng)歷的建造師。我們的大腦對(duì)即將看到的場(chǎng)面做出預(yù)測(cè)，同時(shí)用外部世界的信息更新預(yù)測(cè)。”

所以，你看到的蒙娜麗莎是什么表情呢?