研究顯示 暈車與大腦有關 是中毒的自然反應

Traveling makes us feel sick because modern transport tricks the brain into thinking we have been poisoned, a neuroscientist has said.

一位神經系統科學家近日表示，現代交通工具會誘導大腦認爲我們已經中毒，所以旅行常常使我們感到不舒服。

Being in a car, train, boat or plane causes conflicting signals in the brain which trigger a reaction similar to that which occurs when someone is poisoned.

乘坐汽車、火車、船舶或飛機的體驗會在大腦中形成相互矛盾的信號，這會引發和人們中毒時相似的反應。

Dr Dean Burnett, of Cardiff University, said the feeling of nausea is caused because the brain thinks the body needs to remove a toxin through vomiting.

卡迪夫大學的迪安·伯內特博士表示，大腦認爲人體需要通過嘔吐排毒，於是便造成了這種噁心感。

But in fact, the 'poisoning' effect is caused by the mixed messages from the muscles – which tell the brain the body is motionless – and the ears, which sense movement.

但事實上，這種“中毒”效應是由肌肉中的混合信息所引發的，肌肉向大腦傳達身體靜止的信息，而耳朵卻察覺到身體在運動。

Speaking on the US radio show Fresh Air, Dr Burnett said that the body had not yet evolved to cope with the sensation of being in vehicles, where the body is being moved without performing movements itself.

伯內特博士在美國廣播電臺節目《新鮮空氣》中表示，在交通工具中人們的身體在被移動，而本身卻未執行任何行動，人體還未進化到能夠適應這種感覺。

He said: "When we're in a vehicle like a car or a train or a ship especially, you're not actually physically moving... Your muscles are saying 'we are stationary'."

他說：“當我們乘坐尤其是汽車、火車或是輪船這樣的交通工具時，你的身體事實上沒有在運動，因此你的肌肉也認爲'我們是靜止的'。”

"If you are sitting in a ship, you're looking at a static environment, so there's no information for the eyes to say 'we are moving'. But the fluids in your ears, they obey the laws of physics. And they are sort of rocking around and sloshing because you are actually moving."

“如果你坐在船上，你是看着一個靜態的環境，因此並沒有傳遞給眼睛'我們正在運動'的信息。但是你耳朵裏的液體遵循物理定律，你確實在移動，因此它們四處搖擺、晃動。

"So what's happening there is the brain's getting mixed messages. It's getting signals from the muscles and the eyes saying 'we are still' and signals from the balance sensors saying 'we're in motion'. Both of these cannot be correct. There's a sensory mismatch there."

“所以問題就是大腦得到了混合信息。肌肉和眼睛告訴它'我們是靜止的'，而從平衡感知器官傳來的信號又說'我們在運動'。這兩者不可能同時正確，所以知覺就不相匹配。

"And in evolutionary terms, the only thing that can cause a sensory mismatch like that is a neurotoxin or poison. So the brain thinks, essentially, it's been being poisoned. When it's been poisoned, the first thing it does is get rid of the poison, aka throwing up."

“從進化角度來看，唯一能夠引起感知矛盾的就是神經毒素或中毒，因此大腦判斷其根源在於中毒了。當中毒的時候，首先要做的就是排毒，也就是嘔吐。”

He explained that reading in a car made the sensation of travel sickness worse, because the eyes were focused on a small, static space and gave the brain no information to explain that the body was moving. The feeling of sickness could be relieved by looking out of a car window because this showed the brain movement was taking place.

他進一步解釋，在車上閱讀會惡化暈車的症狀，因爲眼睛始終盯着一塊小而靜止的空間，讓大腦無從解釋爲什麼感到身體正在移動。看車窗外卻能夠緩解暈車的感覺，因爲這告訴大腦人體正在運動當中。

Dr Burnett, who was discussing his new book 'Idiot Brain: what your head is really up to', said brain systems became more refined and efficient as people aged but that children were more susceptible to travel sickness because their brains were still developing.

伯內特博士在新書《愚蠢的大腦：你的頭究竟怎麼了》中說道，隨着人們歲數的增大，腦部系統變得越來越精煉和高效，而孩子們更容易暈車，因爲他們的大腦仍在發育當中。