多任务处理并不那么坏
Rare Multitasking Plus: Brain-Teasers Enhance Workout
多任务处理并不那么坏
Test subjects rode stationary bikes 25 percent faster when they simultaneously tackled some relatively easy cognitive challenges. Karen Hopkin reports
在一项实验中，受试者在骑行的同时进行了一些简单的认知测试，结果他们的速度增长了25%。
撰文/播音 凯伦·霍普金
翻译 李轩
If you’re like me, you know that multitasking does not always save time. You slow down or make mistakes that require fixing. But maybe I’m just doing the wrong things. Because a new study shows that people on a stationary bike pedaled faster when they simultaneously tackled some sort of mental test.
不知你是否和我一样，知道多任务处理并不一定会节约时间，因为你会慢下来而且更容易出错。但也许我是错的，因为一项新研究表明，如果在固定自行车上骑行的同时进行一些认知测试，人会骑得更快。
Even the researchers were surprised by that result. They had originally set out to demonstrate what other studies have shown: that when people try to do two things at once, they do both more poorly. Their counterintuitive finding is in the journal PLoS ONE. [Lori J. P. Altmann et al,Unexpected Dual Task Benefits on Cycling in Parkinson Disease and Healthy Adults: A Neuro-Behavioral Model]
研究人员对这个结果感到十分意外，他们本来是想演示前人的研究成果：当人们同时处理两件事，只会把两件事都弄糟。这个背离直觉的发现发表在了《PLoS ONE》期刊上。
In the experiment, subjects were asked to complete various cognitive jobs that ranged in difficulty—everything from saying ‘go’ when they saw a blue star on a projection screen to remembering a long list of numbers and then repeating them back in reverse order. They tackled these tasks once while sitting in a quiet room and again while on the bike.
在实验上，受试者被要求完成一系列不同难度的认知测试，从简单的看到投影上出现蓝色星星时说“GO”，到记忆一个长长的数列再将其逆序背出来。他们一边处理这些任务，一边在安静房间中的固定自行车上骑行。
Turns out, cyclists rode 25 percent faster when they were distracted by some mental gymnastics—but only when the tasks were relatively easy. When confronted with tough brain-teasers, their cycling speeds were about the same as when they had nothing in particular to think about. And in case you’re wondering, the participants’ cycling neither helped nor hindered their brain function.
结果，这些被脑力体操分心的受试者骑行速度会比专心骑行时快25%——不过只是当脑力训练相对简单的时候。当面对困难的测试，他们的骑行速度与专心骑行时相同。这似乎也说明，骑行既不促进，也不阻碍大脑功能。
The findings could point toward new programs in which we get better workouts simply by using our heads.
这些发现也许可以促成一些项目，研究如何更好地利用大脑做出绝佳的成绩。
（题图来源：inhabitat.com）
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京公网安备11010502039775号 信息网络传播视听节目许可证0111611号
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