Does Your Heartbeat Shape Your Sense of Time? | Irena Arslanova | TED

翻译人员: Brisa Sun 校对人员: Bruce Wang

I am a cognitive neuroscientist,

我是一名认知神经科学家，

and I'm trying to understand how we perceive time

我想了解我们是如何感知时间的，

and how our perception of time arises from the workings of our brain.

以及我们对时间的感知是如何源自大脑运作的

Why?

为什么？

Why do I want to understand that?

我为什么要弄清楚这个？

Well, time is the ultimate master of our lives.

时间是我们生活的终极主宰。

We are all constantly faced with its fleeting nature.

我们都时刻面临着它转瞬即逝的本质。

Yet how we feel the passing of time

然而，我们对时间的流逝的感受

can be highly malleable.

可能具有很强的可塑性。

When we are bored, in pain,

当我们感到无聊、痛苦时，

but also when we encounter something novel or extraordinary,

以及当我们遇到新颖或非同寻常的事物时，

time feels to be passing much slower

时间流逝好像就会

than when we are busy or simply having fun.

比我们忙碌或欢愉时要慢得多

But what does it mean to feel time?

但是感受时间意味着什么？

And why does the feeling of time distort

以及为什么对时间流逝的感觉会

depending on the situation, our level of focus, our emotional state?

根据情况、注意力水平和 情绪状态而发生扭曲？

Do these distortions serve some function,

这些时间的扭曲是否有某种作用，

and can we gain some level of control over how we feel time?

我们是否能够在某种程度上 控制自己对时间的感知？

These are very big questions,

这些都是非常重要的问题，

and we do not have the answer to any of them.

而我们并没有任何答案

Not just yet.

但只是目前没有

But I will tell you about a surprising discovery

但我要告诉你一个令人惊讶的发现，

I believe will take us a step closer

我认为这将使我们

to unlocking the neural basis of time.

更接近解开时间的神经基础的谜底

And I will show you that time is not something

我要告诉你们，时间不是

that is created solely by the brain,

完全由大脑创造的，

but it is also intimately shaped

也由体内其他部位发生的事情

by what is happening inside the rest of the body.

密切塑造的。

I work in the Lab of Action and Body at Royal Holloway,

我在伦敦大学皇家霍洛威的

University of London,

行动与身体实验室工作，

and in our lab we look at the brain

在我们的实验室里，

from an embodied point of view.

我们具体化地看待大脑。

What this means is that we believe

这意味着我们相信，

we cannot fully understand the workings of the brain

我们无法理解大脑运作的机制，

if we take it out of the body,

假使我们将其从人体中取出的话。

because after all,

因为毕竟，

the main reason for us to have a brain

我们拥有大脑的主要原因

is to keep the body alive,

是保持机体存活运转，

so that we can act in the world.

这样我们才能在世界上行动。

And for that,

为此，

it is not enough for the brain to perceive

大脑光是感知

what is happening in the world around us,

我们周围世界正在发生的事情是不够的，

but it also needs to perceive what is happening inside of our own body.

还需要感知 我们自己体内正在发生的事情。

It needs to understand what our body needs at any moment in time.

它需要随时了解我们的身体需要 什么。

That additional internal sense,

这种额外的内在感觉，

the perception of the body from within

即从内部对身体的感知

is called interoception.

被称为内感受。

And one example of interoception

内感受的一个例子

is the perception of our own heart.

就是对我们自己心脏的感知。

Yes, the heart.

是的，心脏。

I think all of us know that the main function of the heart

我想我们所有人都 知道心脏的主要功能

is to transport oxygen-rich blood all through the body,

是将富含氧气的血液输送到 全身，

and like other bodily functions, it is controlled by the brain.

与其他身体机能一样， 它由大脑控制。

So when I’m on the move,

所以当我在行动时，

the heart should start beating faster to provide more oxygen.

心跳应该开始加快， 以提供更多的氧气。

When I need to slow down and focus,

当我需要放慢速度并集中注意力时，

it will also slow down to preserve the oxygen.

它也会放慢速度以节省氧气。

But what many of you may not know

但是你们中许多人可能不知道的是，

is that the activity of the heart itself

心脏的活动本身

shapes the activity of the brain.

决定了大脑的活动。

But before I get into that,

但是在我开始讨论这个问题之前，

let me give you some very basic neuroscience.

让我给你讲 一些非常基础的神经科学。

So the brain receives information

因此，大脑 通过我们的眼睛、耳朵接收

from the outside world through our eyes, through our ears.

来自外界的信息。

But to make sense of that information, to perceive,

但是为了理解这些信息，为了感知，

it has specialized sensory areas,

它有专门的感官区域，

like the visual sensory area

比如视觉感官区域，

that allows us to see the redness of the TEDx sign,

这允许我们看到TEDx的红色标志

or the auditory-sensory areas

或者听觉感官区域，

that allow us to hear the sound of my voice.

这允许我们听到我的声音

The information can be the same,

信息可能相同，

but our perception can differ very much.

但我们的感知却可能大不相同。

But in order to act in response to what we perceive,

但是，为了根据我们的感知采取行动，

the brain has separate movement control centers

大脑有独立的运动控制中心

that are responsible for initiating and controlling movement.

来负责发起和控制运动。

That's what makes me move my hands constantly as I'm speaking.

这就是为什么我说话时会不断挥动双手

So how does the heart shape the brain then?

那么心脏是如何塑造大脑的呢？

Well, it turns out

事实证明，

that there are sensory neurons in our heart

我们的心脏中有感觉神经元

that fire signals to our brain

它会向我们的大脑发射信号，

to inform it about the state of the body.

以告知大脑的身体状态。

But they fire only at a time when the heart contracts,

但是它们只在心脏收缩时传送信号，

and they remain silent when the heart is relaxed.

而在心脏放松时保持沉默。

So the brain and the heart are in a constant rhythmic dance.

因此，大脑和心脏都在不断地跳着 有节奏的舞蹈。

Every beat makes the brain step into an active mode,

心脏每一次跳动都会使大脑 进入主动模式，

priming us for action.

准备好指挥我们采取行动。

And between the beats, the brain steps back into perceptual mode,

在心脏跳动的间隙， 大脑会回到感知模式，

priming us to take in information.

为我们感知信息做好准备。

Now imagine what happens when the heart starts beating faster.

现在想象一下 当心脏开始跳动得更快时会发生什么。

There are more beats,

更多心跳，

so the brain is more likely to be in the active mode,

导致大脑更有可能处于主动模式，

whereas when the heart slows down,

而当心跳减慢时，

there are more periods of time between the beats,

两次跳动之间的时间间隔更长，

so the brain is more likely to be in the perceptual mode.

因此大脑更有可能进入感知模式。

This got me thinking.

这让我开始思考。

If the heart shapes perception in such a way,

如果心脏以这种方式塑造感知，它

will it also shape the perception of time?

也会塑造对时间的感知吗？

Is there a causal relationship

我们的心灵和对时间的感知

between our heart and how we experience time?

之间是否存在因果关系？

Of course, we tested that in our lab.

当然，我们在实验室对此进行了测试。

We invited 67 volunteers to participate in a study

我们邀请了67名志愿者参与一项研究，

where we asked them to judge very brief durations of different stimuli.

我们让他们判断不同刺激物 很短的持续时间

These could be sounds, images of simple shapes,

这些包括声音、简单形状的图像、

images of people showing different emotions.

表现出不同情感的人的图像。

We wanted to systematically determine whether what participants felt and sensed

我们想系统地确定参与者的感受和感觉

influenced how they perceived durations.

是否影响了他们对持续时间的感知。

But the key part of that study was that we hooked the volunteers

但是该研究的关键部分是，我们将志愿者

to an ECG machine

连接到心电图机上，

so we could see their heart beating in real time

这样我们就可以在他们参与这项实验时

while they were doing this study.

实时看到他们的心跳情况

And this allowed us to flash the stimuli

这使我们能够

precisely at the moment when the heart squeezed tight

在心脏收紧

or when it relaxed.

或放松的那一刻精准地闪现刺激物

And what we found

我们发现，

was that stimuli that occurred during heart's contraction

在心脏收缩期间出现的刺激物

were perceived to last shorter

被认为

than stimuli that occurred between the beats,

比出现在两次心跳之间

when the heart was relaxed.

和心脏放松时发生的刺激物 持续时间短。

What this means is that the momentary state of the heart

这意味着心脏的瞬间状态

caused time to contract and expand within each heartbeat.

会导致时间在每次心跳中收缩和膨胀。

Why am I so excited about this finding?

为什么我对这个发现如此兴奋？

Well because it shows that perception of time

因为它表明对时间的感知

is an embodied experience.

是一种具体的体验。

It might be constructed in the brain,

这种体验可能是在大脑中构造的，

but it is molded by the body.

但它是由身体塑造的。

And I'm sure it seems intuitive, you know,

而且我敢肯定，你知道，有节奏的东西，

that something rhythmic, like the heartbeat,

比如心跳，

would influence something rhythmic like time perception.

会影响时间感知这样有节奏的事物。

But now we have a scientific evidence

但是现在我们有了证明这种直觉

for that intuition.

的科学证据。

What's more,

更重要的是，

I can use these heart-driven time distortions

我可以使用这些由心脏驱动的时间扭曲

to look at what is happening in the brain

观察大脑中发生的变化，

just before duration is distorted by each beat.

尤其是在每次心跳扭曲时间感知之前。

Could it be that distortions in time

难道对时间感知上的扭曲

are connected to how each heartbeat

与每次心跳如何

affects the sensory and the movement centers of the brain?

影响大脑的感官和运动中心有关吗？

Remember how I told you that each beat momentarily suppressed perception,

还记得我告诉过你的每一次跳 动都会暂时抑制感知，

but between the beats, suppression was momentarily increased?

但是在两次跳动之间， 感知抑制会暂时增加吗？

So could it be ...

那可能是...

And we showed that time is contracted during the beat,

而且我们表明，心脏跳动的时候的 时间感知会缩短，

but expanded in between the beats.

但两次跳动间隙的时间感知却有所延长。

So could it be that our experience of time

那么，难道我们的时间体验

arises from the way in which our brain takes in sensory information

源于我们的大脑处理 由心脏塑造出的感知信息

that is shaped by the heart?

的方式吗？

And if that is true,

如果这是真的，

could the function

那么我们高度扭曲的时间感

of our highly distorted sense of time

的作用

be to shift us between an active and perceptual mode?

是否是使我们在 主动和感知模式之间切换？

Time could contract when we need to move,

当我们需要移动时，时间可能会收缩，

but it may expand when we want to perceive.

但是当我们想要感知时， 时间可能会膨胀。

So maybe that slowing of time you feel when you're bored

因此，也许你感到无聊时 所感受到的漫长实际上

is there to actually expand your perception

是为了扩大你的感知能力，

and allow your mind to wander to something new.

让你的思维转向新的事物。

I hope I've shown you

我希望我已经向你

that one way to shape how we experience time

展示了塑造 我们体验时间的一种方法

is to work on the internal state

是调整我们身体的

of our body.

内部状态。

So the next time

因此，下次

time becomes a little bit too fleeting,

时间变得稍纵即逝，

like right now for me --

对我来说，就像现在一样——

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Let’s maybe try to take a deep breath.

我们也许可以试着深吸一口气。

(Inhales)

（吸气）

(Exhales)

（呼气）

Yeah?

是吧？

Feel the heart slow down,

感觉心跳减慢，

and let the brain expand the moment.

让大脑感知在这一刻膨胀。

And maybe that momentary expansion of time

也许时间的短暂延伸

will also broaden our perception.

也会拓宽我们的认知范围。

Thank you very much for listening. Thank you.

非常感谢你的聆听。谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）