You want to be less anxious, you want to learn a new language, you want to be more functional in some way.

你想減少焦慮，你想學習一門新語言，你想在某些方面變得更實用。

The key thing is to bring focus to particular perception of something that's happening during the learning process.

關鍵是在學習過程中，要把注意力集中到對正在發生的事情的特殊感知上。

And the reason for that is that there's a neurochemical system involving acetylcholine, and it comes from these two little nuclei down in the base of the brain called nucleus basalis.

原因是有一個涉及乙酰膽鹼的神經化學系統，它來自大腦底部的兩個小核，叫做基底核。

All day long you're doing things in a reflexive way, but when you do something and you think about it very intensely, acetylcholine is released from basalis at the precise neurons that were involved in that behavior, and it marks those for change during sleep or during deep rest later.

你整天都在以條件反射的方式做事，但當你做了某件事情，並對其進行了深入思考時，乙酰膽鹼就會從巴薩利斯釋放到參與該行為的精確神經元上，並將這些神經元標記出來，以便在以後的睡眠或深度休息時進行改變。

So for people that want to change their brain, the power of focus is really the entry point, and the ability to access deep rest and sleep.

是以，對於想要改變大腦的人來說，專注力是真正的切入點，也是獲得深度休息和睡眠的能力。

Because most people don't realize this, but neuroplasticity is triggered by intense focus, but neuroplasticity occurs during deep sleep and rest.

因為大多數人並沒有意識到這一點，但神經可塑性是由高度集中的注意力引發的，但神經可塑性是在深度睡眠和休息時發生的。

So what exactly is focus and what triggers plasticity?

那麼，究竟什麼是專注力，什麼會引發可塑性？

The brain loves to be able to just do things, pick up coffee cups and drink and walk and talk and do things, and not put much energy into it.

大腦喜歡隨心所欲，拿起咖啡杯就能喝，邊走邊說邊做，不需要投入太多精力。

When we decide to focus, what the brain really does is it switches on a set of circuits that involve the frontal cortex and nucleus basalis and some others, and it's trying to understand duration, how long something's going to last, path, what's going to happen, and outcome, what ultimately is going to happen.

當我們決定集中注意力時，大腦真正做的是開啟一組電路，其中涉及額葉皮層、基底核和其他一些電路，它試圖理解持續時間，即某件事情將持續多久；理解路徑，即即將發生什麼；理解結果，即最終會發生什麼。

So duration, path, and outcome.

是以，持續時間、路徑和結果。

If it's a simple example like to learn a new language, a new motor skill, or a new way of conceptualizing something, duration, path, and outcome is built into the networks of the brain.

如果是一個簡單的例子，比如學習一門新語言、一項新的運動技能或一種新的概念化事物的方式，那麼持續時間、路徑和結果都會構建在大腦網絡中。

We can do that very easily, but it takes work, and it almost has a feeling of underlying agitation and frustration, and that's because the circuits that turn on before acetylcholine are of the stress system.

我們可以很容易地做到這一點，但這需要努力，而且幾乎有一種潛在的焦躁和沮喪的感覺，這是因為在乙酰膽鹼之前開啟的迴路屬於壓力系統。

So when you or I decide we're going to learn something and really dig in, norepinephrine, which is adrenaline, is secreted in the brainstem and in the body, and it brings about a state of alertness.

是以，當你或我決定要學習一些東西並真正深入進去時，去甲腎上腺素，也就是腎上腺素，就會在腦幹和體內分泌出來，並帶來一種警覺狀態。

Then our attention, which is mostly a diffuse light, is brought to a particular duration, path, and outcome analysis.

然後，我們的注意力（大部分是散射光）被帶到特定的持續時間、路徑和結果分析上。

This would be thinking about what somebody is saying.

這就是思考別人在說什麼。

What are they really trying to say?

他們到底想說什麼？

A hard passage of reading, a hard set of math problems, a challenging physical workout.

一段艱澀的閱讀、一組難題的數學、一次具有挑戰性的體育鍛煉。

When you do that, these two systems have to work very hard, and the adult brain doesn't really want to change the algorithms it learned in childhood.

當你這樣做時，這兩個系統就必須非常努力地工作，而成年人的大腦並不想改變它在童年時學到的算法。

But if you do those two things, you have alertness and focus, the acetylcholine and the norepinephrine converge to mark those synapses for change.

但如果你做了這兩件事，你有了警覺性和專注力，乙酰膽鹼和去甲腎上腺素就會匯聚到這些突觸上，為變化做標記。

The right approach is to bring as much focus to a behavior or to a thought or to an action pattern, and there has to be a sense of urgency.

正確的做法是，儘可能多地關注一種行為、一種思想或一種行動模式，而且必須有一種緊迫感。

If there's a serious contingency, like in order to get your ration of food each day, you have to learn this thing, the degree of plasticity is remarkable.

如果有嚴重的突發事件，比如為了獲得每天的定量食物，你必須學習這件事，那麼可塑性就會非常強。

But if there isn't an incentive, it just isn't going to happen.

但是，如果沒有激勵措施，就不可能實現。

So these circuits in the brain that Mother Nature set up are designed to be anchored to a real need.

是以，大自然母親在大腦中設置的這些迴路是為了滿足真正的需求。

And people always say to me, well, should I do something out of love and a real desire to learn, or should it be out of fear?

人們總是對我說，我是應該出於熱愛和真正的求知慾去做一件事，還是應該出於恐懼？

Either one works.

任何一種都可以。

The sense of urgency is just acetylcholine.

緊迫感只是乙酰膽鹼。

It's norepinephrine.

是去甲腎上腺素。

That's all it is.

就是這樣。

The brain doesn't have a recognition of whether or not something is pleasureful or not until later.

大腦直到後來才會識別某樣東西是否令人愉悅。

Once you start accomplishing your goal, the reward systems like dopamine start kicking in.

一旦你開始完成目標，多巴胺等獎勵系統就會開始發揮作用。

But I think if people are interested in modifying their brain for the better, at least some top contour understanding of how urgency and convergence for that to happen can be useful.

但我認為，如果人們有興趣改造自己的大腦，至少要對大腦改造的緊迫性和趨同性有一些頂層輪廓的瞭解，這樣才會有幫助。

Because I think there's a lot of attention paid to whether or not something feels like flow, or whether or not it's what I call highly desirable states.

因為我認為，很多人都在關注某件事情是否讓人感覺 "流動"，或者是否是我所說的 "非常理想的狀態"。

But what's missing is the focus component.

但缺少的是重點部分。

If that work is not done with a particular end goal in mind, you'll get plasticity.

如果不是帶著特定的最終目標去做這項工作，就會產生可塑性。

But you'll get plasticity in a kind of across the board.

但你會得到一種全面的可塑性。

It's like learning a little bit of nine languages all at once is not going to make you speak coherently in any one of them.

這就好比同時學一點九種語言，並不能讓你用其中任何一種語言連貫地說話。