雙語輕鬆閱讀：“快樂”也有基因

"Happiness" also Has Gene

“快樂”也有基因

Positive people may owe their optimism to a gene variant that helps them dwell on the good and ignore the bad.

永持樂觀心態的人或許是因為他們擁有能幫助他們凡事都向好的方面看且自動忽略消極影響的變異基因。

That's the conclusion from a study examining people's subliminal preferences for happy, neutral, and threatening images.

這個結論是從接受檢測的人在看到愉悅、中立和有威脅性的圖像時所做出的潛意識選擇的實驗中得出來的。

Volunteers who had inherited two copies of the "long”variant of 5-HTTLPR, a gene that controls transport of the mood-affecting neurotransmitter serotonin showed clear avoidance of negative images, such as fierce animals, and a clear preference for positive ones, such as puppies. People with this variant combination are dubbed "LL" carriers.

擁有兩對“長”變異5-HTTLPR基因(5-HTTLPR基因能夠控制影響人情緒的神經遞質血清素的傳遞)的志願者表現出對消極圖像的明顯排斥，如兇猛的動物，和對積極圖像的明顯偏愛，如小狗。帶有這種變異基因組合的人被稱為“LL"攜帶者。

The effect wasn't seen in volunteers with at least one version of the "short"variant of the same gene these people showed no strong preference whatever the content of the images.

這種趨“利”避“害”的特性在遺傳了至少一條“短”變異5-HTTLPR基因的志願者身上則看不到，這樣的人對不同圖片並沒有明顯的喜好。

Time lapse

慢速拍攝

In repeated tests, the 97 volunteers had less than a second to identify dots hidden in one or other of a pair of adjacent images. Each pair contained a neutral image alongside one that was either positive or negative.

在重複實驗中，97名志願者需在不超過一秒的時間裡分辨出隱藏在一對相鄰圖像中任意一張裡的黑點。每一對圖像都是一張中立的和一張或積極或消極的圖像。

The researchers found that LL volunteers took 18.3 milliseconds longer on average to spot the dots in a negative rather than neutral image, suggesting a subliminal aversion to bad images.

研究發現，攜帶LL基因的志願者找出消極圖像中的黑點要比在中立圖像中找到黑點多用時I 8.3毫秒，這就表明這部分志願者在潛意識裡不喜歡看到負面的圖像。

Conversely, they noticed the dots 23.5 milliseconds sooner in the positive images, such as cuddly puppies, than in the neutral ones, suggesting they were subliminally drawn to them."It sounds very small, but in terms of attentional time,it's consistent,”says team leader Elaine Fox of the University of Essex in Colchester, UK.

相反地，這些志願者在積極的圖像—如可愛的小狗—中找到黑點比找出中立圖像中的黑點用時短23.5毫秒，這意味著他們潛意識裡被正面圖像吸引。對此，英國科爾切斯特市埃塞克斯大學的研究小組組長伊萊恩·福克斯說道:“聽起來差別很小，但說到集中注意力的時間，這個研究結果前後則是一致的。”

Optimistic streak

樂觀的記號

Fox and her colleagues conclude that the LL volunteers may be primed to seek out positive events and ignore negative events.

福克斯和她的同事們作出結論:攜帶LL基因的志願者也許天生就能尋找積極向上的事情，而忽略所有有負面影響的事件。

Earlier studies had revealed a tendency for negativity and anxiety among individuals with at least one short variant of the gene, but the study is the first to reveal an optimistic streak in LL individuals.

早期有研究顯示擁有至少一條短變異5-HTTLPR基因的個體在性格上有消極和抑鬱的趨勢，不過這次的研究第一次揭示了樂觀個性和LI基因攜帶者之間的關係。

"A number of mechanisms may contribute to this difference, and the authors have provided good evidence that attentional bias in the processing of emotional stimuli may be one of those mechanisms,”says Turban Canli, who has studied the same phenomenon at Stony Brook University in New York.

“有許多運行機制都可能造成這種個性上的差異，作者為我們提供了切實的證據來說明，情緒刺激過程中出現的的注意力偏見也許是其中一種運行機制。”紐約斯托尼布魯克大學的圖漢·參利，一位同樣研究這一現象的學者如是說。