正念冥想有助于治疗注意力缺陷

Which will it be — the berries or the chocolate dessert? Homework or the Xbox? Finish that memo, or roam Facebook?
你会选哪个——浆果还是巧克力甜点？做家庭作业还是玩Xbox游戏机？老老实实地完成备忘录还是随意浏览Facebook？

Such quotidian decisions test a mental ability called cognitive control, the capacity to maintain focus on an important choice while ignoring other impulses. Poor planning, wandering attention and trouble inhibiting impulses all signify lapses in cognitive control. Now a growing stream of research suggests that strengthening this mental muscle, usually with exercises in so-called mindfulness, may help children and adults cope with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and its adult equivalent, attention deficit disorder.
这类日常决策测试的是一种名为认知控制的精神能力，这种能力能让你将注意力保持在重要的选择上，而忽略其他的冲动。计划不周、走神以及难以抑制冲动均表明认知控制能力存在问题。现在，越来越多的研究表明，通过所谓的正念冥想强化“心智肌肉”可以帮助儿童和成年人应对其注意缺陷多动障碍（ADHD，见于儿童）和注意力缺陷障碍（ADD，见于成年人）。

The studies come amid growing disenchantment with the first-line treatment for these conditions: drugs.
正当人们日益对治疗此类疾病的第一线治疗方法——药物——感到幻灭时，这些研究的出现恰逢其时。

In 2007, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, published a study finding that the incidence of A.D.H.D. among teenagers in Finland, along with difficulties in cognitive functioning and related emotional disorders like depression, were virtually identical to rates among teenagers in the United States. The real difference? Most adolescents with A.D.H.D. in the United States were taking medication; most in Finland were not.
2007年，加州大学洛杉矶分校(University of California, Los Angeles, UCLA)的研究人员发表了一项研究，该研究发现，芬兰青少年中ADHD以及认知功能障碍和相关情绪障碍如抑郁症等的发病率与美国青少年中的几乎完全相同。真正的区别是：在美国，大多数青少年ADHD患者都服用药物；在芬兰却并非如此。

"It raises questions about using medication as a first line of treatment," said Susan Smalley, a behavior geneticist at U.C.L.A. and the lead author.
“这引起了人们对使用药物作为第一线治疗的质疑，”该研究的主要作者，UCLA的行为遗传学家苏珊·斯莫利(Susan Smalley)表示。

In a large study published last year in The Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, researchers reported that while most young people with A.D.H.D. benefit from medications in the first year, these effects generally wane by the third year, if not sooner.
在去年发表在《美国儿童及青少年精神病学会杂志》(The Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry)上的一项大型研究中，研究人员报告称，虽然大部分青少年ADHD患者可从第一年的治疗中受益，但这些效果通常在第三年或更早的时候就开始逐渐减弱。

"There are no long-term, lasting benefits from taking A.D.H.D. medications," said James M. Swanson, a psychologist at the University of California, Irvine, and an author of the study. "But mindfulness seems to be training the same areas of the brain that have reduced activity in A.D.H.D."
“服用ADHD药物并未带来长期、持久的效益，“该研究的作者，加州大学欧文分校(University of California, Irvine)的心理学家詹姆斯·M·斯旺森(James M. Swanson)说，“然而正念冥想似乎能对可减少ADHD活动的那部分脑区加以训练。”

"That's why mindfulness might be so important," he added. "It seems to get at the causes."
“这就解释了正念冥想之所以可能如此重要的原因所在，”他补充道。“它似乎直指问题根源。”

Depending on which scientist is speaking, cognitive control may be defined as the delay of gratification, impulse management, emotional self-regulation or self-control, the suppression of irrelevant thoughts, and paying attention or learning readiness.
按照不同科学家的标准，认知控制可定义为延迟满足、冲动管理、情绪的自我调节或自我控制、抑制无关思想、集中注意力或学习准备等。

This singular mental ability, researchers have found, predicts success both in school and in work life.
研究人员发现，无论是在学校还是工作生活中，拥有这种非凡的精神能力往往就预示着成功。

Cognitive control increases from about 4 to 12 years old, then plateaus, said Betty J. Casey, director of the Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology at Weill Cornell Medical College. Teenagers find it difficult to suppress their impulses, as any parent knows.
认知控制能力从4至12岁左右开始逐渐增强，然后就进入了平台期，威尔康奈尔医学院萨克勒发展心理生理学研究所(Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology at Weill Cornell Medical College)的所长贝蒂·J·凯茜(Betty J. Casey)说。天下的父母都有这样的共识：青少年总是很难压抑自己的冲动。