60秒科学:人脑通过观察就可以见闻

When my toddler hears a strange noise, he’ll say, “Mom, what does that sound look like?” His amusing phrasing innocently mixes sight and sound. But now a study in the journal Nature Neuroscience suggests that the brain actually links the audio with the visual. Because simply seeing a vase shatter activates¹ the part of the brain that handles sound.

If I asked you to imagine a rooster crowing, you’d probably hear the [audio of rooster crowing] in your head. But what’s happening in your brain? We know which brain regions handle sound waves that come in through your ears. Are the same areas active when you simply imagine the sound?

Scientists [Antonio Damasio et al.] placed volunteers in an MRI scanner and showed them a series of nine silent videos. The clips showed things like the breaking vase, a cow mooing or a violin being played. And in the subjects’ brains, the auditory cortex—which handles sounds—was not only activated² by the sights, but it would categorize them. So the patterns of activity that represent a howling dog and a chainsaw were distinct.

That means that Hamlet could hear the difference between a hawk³ and a handsaw—even if he only saw them.
 

1 activates   

使活动，起动，触发( activate的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Activates the window and displays it in its current size and position. 激活窗口，保持当前的大小及位置不变。
• Pulling out the alarm switch activates alarm and pushing it deactivates it. 闹钟的开和关是通过拔出和按入闹铃开关实现的。

2 activated   

adj. 激活的 动词activate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The canister is filled with activated charcoal.蒸气回收罐中充满了活性炭。

3 hawk   

n.鹰，骗子；鹰派成员

参考例句：

• The hawk swooped down on the rabbit and killed it.鹰猛地朝兔子扑下来,并把它杀死。
• The hawk snatched the chicken and flew away.老鹰叼了小鸡就飞走了。