Our pupils, the black holes which let light into the eyes, don't just help us see, they also signal what's going on in our minds.

瞳孔，那個(gè)控制光亮入眼的小黑洞，不僅能幫助我們看見(jiàn)世界，還同樣能反映出心理活動(dòng)。

Here are 10 pieces of psychological research which show how changes in pupil size reveal many aspects of thought.

心理學(xué)研究列出了10項(xiàng)瞳孔變化與心理活動(dòng)的關(guān)系。

1. I'm thinking hard

1.我在努力思考

Look into my eyes and ask me to name the cigar-smoking founder of psychoanalysis and you won't see much change in my pupil size. The name Sigmund Freud comes easily to my lips.

假如你盯著我的眼睛問(wèn)道：那個(gè)愛(ài)抽雪茄的心理分析奠基人叫啥?我會(huì)不假思索地答道：弗洛伊德。與此同時(shí)，我的瞳孔和先前相比，不會(huì)有太大變化。

But ask me to explain the laws of cricket and watch my pupils expand.

但假如你問(wèn)的是：板球規(guī)則是什么?與此同時(shí)，你會(huì)看到：我的瞳孔擴(kuò)大了。

That's because research has shown that the harder your brain works, the more your pupils dilate. When Hess and Polt gave participants more and more difficult tasks to complete, their pupils got bigger and bigger.

這是因?yàn)椋貉芯勘砻?，?dāng)人思考得越努力，瞳孔就會(huì)變得越大。當(dāng)Hess和Polt(譯注：1960年研究瞳孔大小與心智歷程的兩位主要研究者)接連給出受試者越來(lái)越難的任務(wù)時(shí)，他們觀察到，受試者的瞳孔變得越來(lái)越大了。

My brain is overloaded

2.我的腦子負(fù)荷太大了

Keep watching my eyes closely and you'll spot the point when explaining the laws of cricket gets too much.

仔細(xì)看著我的眼睛，你會(huì)注意到，在和我詳細(xì)解釋板球規(guī)則的某個(gè)時(shí)刻，我的瞳孔有了變化，它正在向你傳遞這樣一個(gè)信息：我腦子不夠用了。

Poock reported that when participants' minds were loaded to 125% of their capacity, their pupils constricted.

Poock的研究顯示：當(dāng)人們接受的信息達(dá)到了最大負(fù)荷的125%時(shí)，他們的瞳孔會(huì)縮小。

It'll be trying to explain a googly that will do it. (Don't ask).

估計(jì)話題換成曲棍球規(guī)則后，結(jié)果也一樣。(所以還是別問(wèn)了吧)

3. I'm brain damaged

3.腦損傷

The reason doctors and paramedics flash a light in patients' eyes is to check their brains are working normally (and because it's such an easy test to do). They use the acronym PERRL: the Pupils should be Equal, Round and Reactive to Light.

為什么醫(yī)生和護(hù)理人員們會(huì)用一個(gè)手電筒照眼睛?為了檢查腦功能是否正常。它操作起來(lái)非常簡(jiǎn)便易行。他們用PERRL的縮寫(xiě)來(lái)表示：即，瞳孔(Pupil)應(yīng)該雙側(cè)等大(Equal)，等圓(Round)，對(duì)光反射存在(Reactive to Light)。

If my brain is broken, say, because I've had a bump on the noggin, you won't see PERRL. There may well be other extremely subtle clues, like the blood pouring from my head.

若大腦受到損傷，比如我醉酒后腦子被撞了一下，那么我的PERRL便不存在了。其他的征象也能提示腦損傷，比如頭部出血。

4. You're holding my interest

4. 你激起了我的興趣

The size of my pupils can also signal whether I'm interested in what you're saying.

瞳孔的大小同樣能提示我對(duì)你的言論是否有興趣。

White and Maltzman had participants listening to excerpts from three books: one was erotic, another involved mutilation while a third was neutral.

White和Maltzman讓受試者聆聽(tīng)三本不同的書(shū)本章節(jié)：分別為色情、傷殘和不痛不癢的三種內(nèi)容。

Their pupils widened at first for all three. But they only remained wide for the passages that were erotic or involved mutilation.

受試者的瞳孔起初都放大了。但只有聆聽(tīng)色情和傷殘部分的受試者瞳孔持續(xù)在擴(kuò)大狀態(tài)。

I'm likely to be interested in anything new, so my pupils will dilate a bit at first, but they'll only stay dilated if I continue to be interested.

人們?cè)诮佑|感興趣的新事物時(shí)瞳孔會(huì)放大，但除非你一直很感興趣，否則瞳孔就會(huì)縮小。

5. You're turning me on

5.你讓我有欲望

If things take a sexual turn then our eyes are also involved. Both men and women's pupils expand when they are sexually aroused.

扯上一個(gè)“性”字，我們的眼睛也會(huì)變化。無(wú)論男女，只要他們感到“有欲望了”，那么瞳孔便會(huì)擴(kuò)大。

However, not everyone agrees big pupils are a signal of sexual arousal. It tends to get tested by showing nude pictures to people and some argue that we're just really interested in the nude form.

然而，并不是所有人都同意這個(gè)觀點(diǎn)。因?yàn)樵摻Y(jié)論是通過(guò)給受試者放裸體圖片得到的，因此有些人認(rèn)為，我們的瞳孔會(huì)放大，只不過(guò)是因?yàn)槲覀儗?duì)裸體圖片感興趣罷了。