雙語：科學能解釋我們爲什麼閉着眼睛親吻嗎？

Can Science Explain Why We Kiss With Our Eyes Closed?

科學能解釋我們爲什麼閉着眼睛親吻嗎？

Rick and Ilsa in "Casablanca." Wills and Kate on their wedding day. The "Kissing Sailor" in Times Square on V-J Day. Iconic kisses all around. Now imagine all of those beautiful people locking lips with their eyes wide open. Intensely creepy mental images, right?

《卡薩布蘭卡》裏的裏克和伊爾莎的親吻；威廉王子和凱特王妃在婚禮當天的深情一吻。 抗日戰爭勝利日，時代廣場上的"親吻水手"，還有身邊各種標誌性的親吻。 現在想象一下，那些美麗的人們張大眼睛，緊緊地擁吻在一起。 真是令人毛骨悚然的畫面，對吧？

There's a reason the thought of kissing with your eyes peeled immediately makes you cringe (aside from the disturbingly close view of another human's facial features). Or at least there's a possible reason, rooted in a 2016 study from Holloway University of London.

有一個原因是睜着眼睛接吻會讓人感覺畏縮（觀察一個人面部特徵的近距離視圖會有種不安的感覺）。2016年倫敦霍洛威大學的一項研究顯示或者還有其他的原因。

When the paper was published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, media outlets quickly extrapolated the results to the world of make-outs (because, sure, why not). Some science writers were quick to point out that the original study made no mention of kissing, but see for yourself if the findings make sense in the context of swapping spit.

當這篇論文發表在《實驗心理學雜誌: 人類的感知和表現》上時，媒體很快就把結果推斷到了社交世界（這是必然的）。 一些科學作家很快指出，最初的研究並沒有提到接吻，但是大家發現這些研究結果在交換唾液的情況下也適用。

For the study, psychologists Polly Dalton and Dr. Sandra Murphy fitted participants' hands with small devices that emitted light vibrations.

在這項研究中，心理學家波莉·道爾頓和桑德拉·墨菲博士在實驗對象的手上安裝了發光振動的小裝置。

While wearing the devices, the participants were then tasked with completing both mental and visual tasks involving a letter search, and had to simultaneously report on the presence or absence of the vibrations.

在佩戴這些裝置的同時，實驗者被要求完成包括字母搜索在內的思維和視覺任務，並同時報告是否振動。

The researchers found that when participants were asked to complete more demanding visual tasks, they were far less sensitive to the vibrations.

研究人員發現，當實驗者被要求完成更高要求的視覺任務時，他們對震動的敏感度要低得多。

Again, the study itself wasn't intended as an investigation of kissing etiquette, but it does make sense why people eagerly adapted the results that way. 

再次強調，這項研究本身並不是爲了調查接吻禮儀，但是它確實解釋了爲什麼人們親吻時會閉上眼的本能反應。

Kissing is inherently intimate and clearly physical — for the brain to fully appreciate the intensity and sensation, the eyes would have to be shut to focus all the attention on the very visceral experience.

親吻本質上是親密而清晰的身體接觸——要讓大腦完全感受到親吻的強度和感覺，就必須閉上眼睛，將所有注意力集中在非常本能的體驗上。

 As Dalton told The Independent, "These results could explain why we close our eyes when we want to focus attention on another sense. Shutting out the visual input leaves more mental resources to focus on other aspects of our experience."

道爾頓在《獨立報》上說 ,"這些結果可以解釋爲什麼當我們想把注意力集中在另一種感官上時，我們會閉上眼睛。 關閉視覺輸入會留下更多的精神資源來關注我們體驗的其它方面。"

Of course, she was more likely referencing drivers' inability to perceive a vehicle's tactile drifting lane alerts when engaged in demanding visual tasks, but ... that's kind of romantic in its own way, isn't it?

當然，她更可能是指司機在執行視覺任務時無法感知車輛的觸覺漂移車道警報，但是... ... 這本身就是一種浪漫，不是嗎？

翻譯：櫻桃味榴蓮少女