大脑对爱的看法

大脑对爱的“看法” 发布时间：2012-03-28 文章出自：译言 原文链接：点击查看 亲密关系对大脑有着不可估量的作用，你可以看到，来自亲人、朋友、伴侣的爱是如 何改变了一个人的行为思考方式，甚至改变了大脑的“构造”。 人际关系神经生物学是一个相当新的领域，我们这个时代的一个伟大发现为这个领域 注入了活力：大脑根据日常生活而时常改变构造。最终，是那些我们更关注的东西定义了 我们。如何渡过不可重来的生命时光，对此所做的选择会真正地改变你。 所有的关系都会改变大脑 但最重要的是亲密关系，那些亲密关系成全或是挫败我 们，改变了塑造记忆、情绪的精密回路，也改变了最终的“纪念品” 自我。 每一场伟大的爱情都始于一声尖叫。在出生起，大脑就开始根据它在陌生世界中的冒 险而开拓新的神经通路。婴儿沉浸在明亮、轰鸣而又尖锐的感觉，原始的情绪还有它们所 释放的好奇感受中，沉浸在怪异的物体中，沉浸在面孔、朦胧画像和梦的交织变幻中 但大多数都是富有吸引力的主要监护人所变幻的魔术。 大脑扫描显示了母亲大脑与孩子大脑之间的同步；但它们无法显示彼此之间的内部联 系,这是一种融合，这种融合让人感到了不分彼此的相互渗透。不必言说，仅靠着心灵的密 语，母亲就能说出婴儿需要听到的一切，就能通过眼神、表情和声音进行交流。多亏了神 经影像技术的发展，如今我们有证据证明婴儿最初的依恋给它的大脑烙下了深刻的印记。 一生的行为模式、思想、自爱还有恋人的选择都开始于这场熔炼。 我们曾以为这是故事的结尾：先是遗传，然后是大脑铭记住童年时期的精神图谱，此 后你基本就是以此为最终蓝图来成长。 但随着对成像研究的关注，当我们成熟并结交朋友，涉足事物，听从浪漫爱情的旨意， 选择知己时，神经的魔力持续贯穿我们的一生。身体记住了曾与母亲合二为一的感觉，并 渴望在成年时获得同样的感受。 作为最具社交性的猿类，我们居住在一个镜像世界里，在这个世界里每一段重要关系 （无论是夫妻，朋友还是亲子关系）都塑造了大脑，继而塑造了我们的关系。丹尼尔J 西 格尔（Daniel J. Siegel ）和艾伦 N斯霍勒（Allan N. Schore）是加利福尼亚大学洛杉矶 分校（UCLA ）的同事，他们最近在某次校园会议上讨论了该领域的一项突破性工作。监 护并没有改变基因，它只是在儿童成长时影响了基因的表达。西格尔博士是一名神经精神 病学家，他提到我们在婴儿时期习得的“感到被感知”以及寻找浪漫爱情的那种不可磨灭的 感受，这是一种重建大脑构造和功能的相互作用。 这是否也会促进生理健康呢？西格尔博士说道：“对长寿、医药及精神健康、快乐甚至 智慧的科学研究表明，支持性的关系在整个人生中都是我们生命中这些积极特征最稳定的 预测。 ” 其中支持部分最为关键。恋爱关系对大脑的改变尤为显著。 想想看你在选择伴侣进行了多少学习。除了令人兴奋的依存关系，随之而来的还有用 另一种视角观看世界；摒弃一些习惯并获得另一些习惯（无论好坏） ；尝试新主意、新礼节、 新事物甚或新景色；增添了大量朋友和家庭成员；各式各样生理上的亲密接触和影响；还 有许多其他诱因，包括飓风般席卷而来的吸引力和情感激素 所有这一切都在改变大脑。 当两人成为伴侣之后，大脑拓展关于自我的意识用以包含另一半；不再用单薄的人称 代词“我”，取而代之以复数形式的自我，这个自我可以借用另一半的部分财产和力量。大 脑知道我们是谁。免疫系统则知道哪些不属于我们，它储存入侵者的片段作为记忆辅助工 具。我们在做爱或在传染流感或感冒病痛时，与爱人交换一部分身体特征，最终变为了某 种嵌合体。我们不仅深深影响伴侣，还会“吸收”他/ 她。 爱是最好的课堂，学费却是高昂的，而且很可能课业繁重。UCLA 神经科学家内奥 米艾森伯格（Naomi Eisenberger)的影像研究表明，当某人感到在社交方面被拒绝时大脑 活跃区域与生理疼痛时记录的活跃区域相同。这就是为什么被情人抛弃时你会全身疼痛却 指不出疼在哪里的原因；或者恰恰相反，你需要指出它在大脑中背侧前扣带回，在包裹着 胼胝体的冠状物前端，在记录拒绝和生理攻击的大脑半球之间传递信息的神经纤维束。 无论是说的是亚美尼亚语还是汉语，世界上的人们描述的心碎画面都是一样的 都 是那样的肝肠寸断。这不仅仅是情绪受打击的比喻。社交带来的伤痛可能引发如同胃疼或 骨折那样的痛苦。 但带着关爱的触碰能够改变一切。弗吉尼亚大学的神经科学家詹姆士科恩（James Coan）于 2006年进行了一项实验，在这项试验里，他在那些处在愉快而忠诚关系里的妇 女们脚踝处进行电击。实验记录了电击之前的焦虑，电击时的疼痛水平。 当她们再次受到电击时，让她们握住心上人的手。相同的电击水平在大脑中产生了明 显较低的神经反应。在混乱关系中，这种保护效果并未出现。如果你处在一段健康关系里， 握住伴侣的手，这就足以控制血压，减轻对压力的反应，改善健康状况并缓解生理疼痛。 我们改变了彼此的生理机能和神经功能。 然而，这并非全在秘密中进行。一个人可以让自己变得更加体贴而富有同情心的伴侣， 更留意对方的动机、伤痛和渴望。摈弃旧习并非易事，因为习惯深植于神经“捷径”中，你 不需要深思就可以迅速对细节做出反应。夫妻们常常有意改变他们的大脑“布线”（有时借 助临床医学家）来缓解冲突和增强凝聚力。 在石溪大学（Stony Brook University）心理学系，比安卡阿塞韦多（Bianca Acevedo）和亚瑟阿伦（Arthur Aron）扫描了那些结婚已久但仍把他们的关系描述为“ 疯 狂相爱”的夫妻们的大脑。正如所料，盯着夫妻合影会点亮他们大脑中的奖赏中枢；刚处于 热恋中的情侣（还有可卡因吸食者）也会出现相同反应。但是，对比新情侣和可卡因上瘾 者，老夫老妻们在与恐惧和焦虑相关情境中表现得更为沉着。同样，在有关愉悦和疼痛释 放的麻醉剂情境以及加入了母爱的情境中，家庭氛围更加浓厚。 美满的婚姻能缓解压力，让人像是受到呵护的宝贝一般倍感安全。难怪“宝贝”是成年 人最喜欢用的情话；而不是因为浪漫爱情只是婴儿关系的复制品。人们不需要有意将情人 当做慈母的替代者来获得关爱。身体能够记起，而大脑则负责回收和储存。 那么在实验室以外这种现象如何发生呢？笔者74岁的丈夫（也是一位作家）经历了左 半脑中风后他丧失了一生的语言能力，而在那不久之后我就见证了这种治疗作用。本来他 只能说出“mem”。我为那些共有时光的遗忘而哀叹，但随后即开始通过关怀的手势、哑语、 面部表情、幽默、游戏、同情还有大量的情感来探索新的交流方式 大脑对安全依赖关 系的缩影。这些努力再加上我那公认古怪的家庭教育以及他本人的勤奋练习，使他大脑的 改造达到了惊人地程度，最终我们能够再次交谈，他能够写书，甚至连视觉都有所提高。 大脑在我们的一生中都在随着经验而改变，伴侣、亲子、密友，大脑和身体正是所有这些 有爱关系中得以健壮成长。 在安逸的田园生活中，当大脑得知你正和信任的人在一起时，便不需要浪费宝贵的时 间应对紧张性刺激或威胁。相反它可以把精力花在学习新东西或精确地调整治疗过程，它 的感知之门大开着；其对立面则是，无论一个人能有多脆弱，爱的教育 无论甜蜜或恶 毒，都能对其留下深刻印象。结合在一起的心改变一切，甚至改变了大脑。 The Brain on Love 发布时间：2012-03-28 文章出自： 原文链接：点击查看 A RELATIVELY new field, called interpersonal neurobiology, draws its vigor from one of the great discoveries of our era: that the brain is constantly rewiring itself based on daily life. In the end, what we pay the most attention to defines us. How you choose to spend the irreplaceable hours of your life literally transforms you. All relationships change the brain but most important are the intimate bonds that foster or fail us, altering the delicate circuits that shape memories, emotions and that ultimate souvenir, the self. Every great love affair begins with a scream. At birth, the brain starts blazing new neural pathways based on its odyssey in an alien world. An infant is steeped in bright, buzzing, bristling sensations, raw emotions and the curious feelings they unleash, weird objects, a flux of faces, shadowy images and dreams but most of all a powerfully magnetic primary caregiver whose wizardry astounds. Brain scans show synchrony between the brains of mother and child; but what they cant show is the internal bond that belongs to neither alone, a fusion in which the self feels so permeable it doesnt matter whose body is whose. Wordlessly, relying on the hearts semaphores, the mother says all an infant needs to hear, communicating through eyes, face and voice. Thanks to advances in neuroimaging, we now have evidence that a babys first attachments imprint its brain. The patterns of a lifetimes behaviors, thoughts, self-regard and choice of sweethearts all begin in this crucible. We used to think this was the end of the story: first heredity, then the brains engraving mental maps in childhood, after which youre pretty much stuck with the final blueprint. But as a wealth of imaging studies highlight, the neural alchemy continues throughout life as we mature and forge friendships, dabble in affairs, succumb to romantic love, choose a soul mate. The body remembers how that oneness with Mother felt, and longs for its adult equivalent. As the most social apes, we inhabit a mirror-world in which every important relationship, whether with spouse, friend or child, shapes the brain, which in turn shapes our relationships. Daniel J. Siegel and Allan N. Schore, colleagues at the University of California, Los Angeles, recently discussed groundbreaking work in the field at a conference on the schools campus. Its not that caregiving changes genes; it influences how the genes express themselves as the child grows. Dr. Siegel, a neuropsychiatrist, refers to the indelible sense of “feeling felt” that we learn as infants and seek in romantic love, a reciprocity that remodels the brains architecture and functions. Does it also promote physical well-being? “Scientific studies of longevity, medical and mental health, happiness and even wisdom, ” Dr. Siegel says, “point to supportive relationships as the most robust predictor of these positive attributes in our lives across the life span.” The supportive part is crucial. Loving relationships alter the brain the most significantly. Just consider how much learning happens when you choose a mate. Along with thrilling dependency comes glimpsing the world through anothers eyes; forsaking some habits and adopting others (good or bad); tasting new ideas, rituals, foods or landscapes; a slew of added friends and family; a tapestry of physical intimacy and affection; and many other catalysts, including a tornadic blast of attraction and attachment hormones all of which revamp the brain. When two people become a couple, the brain extends its idea of self to include the other; instead of the slender pronoun “I, ” a plural self emerges who can borrow some of the others assets and strengths. The brain knows who we are. The immune system knows who were not, and it stores pieces of invaders as memory aids. Through lovemaking, or when we pass along a flu or a cold sore, we trade bits of identity with loved ones, and in time we become a sort of chimera. We dont just get under a mates skin, we absorb him or her. Love is the best school, but the tuition is high and the homework can be painful. As imaging studies by the U.C.L.A. neuroscientist Naomi Eisenberger show, the same areas of the brain that register physical pain are active when someone feels socially rejected. Thats why being spurned by a lover hurts all over the body, but in no place you can point to. Or rather, youd need to point to the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex in the brain, the front of a collar wrapped around the corpus callosum, the bundle of nerve fibers zinging messages between the hemispheres that register both rejection and physical assault. Whether they speak Armenian or Mandarin, people around the world use the same images of physical pain to describe a broken heart, which they perceive as crushing and crippling. Its not just a metaphor for an emotional punch. Social pain can trigger the same sort of distress as a stomachache or a broken bone. But a loving touch is enough to change everything. James Coan, a neuroscientist at the University of Virginia, conducted experiments in 2006 in which he gave an electric shock to the ankles of women in happy, committed relationships. Tests registered their anxiety before, and pain level during, the shocks. Then they were shocked again, this time holding their loving partners hand. The same level of electricity produced a significantly lower neural response throughout the brain. In troubled relationships, this protective effect didnt occur. If youre in a healthy relationship, holding your partners hand is enough to subdue your blood pressure, ease your response to stress, improve your health and soften physical pain. We alter one anothers physiology and neural functions. However, its not all sub rosa. One can decide to be a more attentive and compassionate partner, mindful of the others motives, hurts and longings. Breaking old habits isnt easy, since habits are deeply ingrained neural shortcuts, a way of slurring over details without having to dwell on them. Couples often choose to rewire their brains on purpose, sometimes with a therapists help, to ease conflicts and strengthen their at-one-ness. While they were both in the psychology department of Stony Brook University, Bianca Acevedo and Arthur Aron scanned the brains of long-married couples who described themselves as still “madly in love.” Staring at a picture of a spouse lit up their reward centers as expected; the same happened with those newly in love (and also with cocaine users). But, in contrast to new sweethearts and cocaine addicts, long-married couples displayed calm in sites associated with fear and anxiety. Also, in the opiate-rich sites linked to pleasure and pain relief, and those affiliated with maternal love, the home fires glowed brightly. A happy marriage relieves stress and makes one feel as safe as an adored baby. Small wonder “Baby” is a favorite adult endearment. Not that romantic love is an exact copy of the infant bond. One neednt consciously regard a lover as momlike to profit from the parallels. The body remembers, the brain recycles and restages. So how does this play out beyond the lab? I saw the healing process up close after my 74-year-old husband, who is also a writer, suffered a left-hemisphere strok