经济学人下载:纽约人的精神状态

Mental well-being
心理健康

A New York state of mind
纽约人的精神状态

Urban brains behave differently from rural ones
城市人的大脑异于乡村

Jun 23rd 2011 | from the print edition

Shelley contemplates urban decay
沉思城市衰落的雪莱

“HELL is a city much like London,” opined Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1819. Modern academics agree. Last year Dutch researchers showed that city dwellers have a 21% higher risk of developing anxiety disorders than do their calmer rural countrymen, and a 39% higher risk of developing mood disorders. But exactly how the inner workings of the urban and rural minds cause this difference has remained obscure—until now. A study just published in Nature by Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg of the University of Heidelberg and his colleagues has used a scanning technique called functional magnetic-resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine the brains of city dwellers and country bumpkins when they are under stress.

1819年，波比．雪莱认为“伦敦市更像一个地狱”。现代学者同意这个观点。荷兰研究人员研究表明，城市居民相对稳定的乡村同胞来说，得焦虑症的概率高出21%，得心理障碍疾病的概率高出39%。但是直到现在，城市思想和乡村思想是如何引起这方面差异的确切原因仍旧是不清楚的。最近海德尔堡大学的学者安德烈亚斯．迈耶-林登贝格和他的同事在《自然》杂志上发表了一个研究，该研究使用称为机能性磁共振图像的扫描技术测试了在压力下城市居民和乡村居民的大脑活动情况。

In Dr Meyer-Lindenberg’s first experiment, participants lying with their heads in a scanner took maths tests that they were doomed to fail (the researchers had designed success rates to be just 25-40%). To make the experience still more humiliating, the team provided negative feedback through headphones, all the while checking participants for indications of stress, such as high blood pressure.

在迈耶-林登贝格博士的第一个实验中，参与者躺着头枕在一个扫描器上接受他们注定要失败的数学测验（研究人员仅仅把成功率设为25%-40%）。为了使这活动更加具有羞辱性，研究人员通过耳机给予参与者消极的回答，并一直检测参与者表现出的压力反应，如高血压。