So what does science say?

所以科學是如何解釋的呢？

Is hypnosis a real thing?

催眠是真的嗎？

Take a second to close your eyes and imagine a lemon. Imagine the smells of that lemon, its color, its shape. Picture the texture and feel the lemon on your skin.

現在閉上你的眼睛並想像一顆檸檬。想像它的氣味、顏色、形狀，然後感受它的觸感。

Now take a knife and slowly cut into it, releasing the juices.

現在拿一把刀慢慢切開，讓檸檬汁流出來。

Take the slice you just cut and squeeze the lemon into your mouth. Now open your eyes.

拿起剛剛切下來的那片檸檬往嘴裡頭擠。現在，睜開雙眼。

Is your mouth watering at all? You see, despite being presented in the media as a form of mind control, scientific researchers describe hypnotism differently.

你在流口水了嗎？了解了吧，儘管催眠總是被包裝成一種心智控制，但科學研究人員卻有著不同的見解。

Hypnotism is a state of consciousness involving highly focused attention minimizing competing thoughts and allowing an enhanced ability to respond to suggestions.

催眠是一種高度專注並讓其他干擾極小化的狀態，藉此提高對於他人建議的反應能力。

Hypnosis, from a scientific perspective then, is similar to the kind of focus your brain feels when reading a book or watching a television show, where the rest of the world seems to "slip away".

催眠，用科學的角度來看，就跟你全神貫注在讀一本書或看電視時一樣，如同與世隔絕一般。

And research has shown that it's actually capable of shutting down our automatic responses.

研究也指出我們確實能夠暫時關閉我們的直覺反射。

Like reading words right in front of us. In this test, try and say the name of the color, not what's written on screen. So in this case you'd say "blue" as fast as possible.

像是唸出我們眼前的字。在這個測驗中，試著說出字的顏色,而不是螢幕上顯示出的字本身。所以在這個情況下，你要儘快的說出「藍色」。

Try it on your own.

試試看吧！

It's kind of tricky, right? This is known as the Stroop effect.

有點困難對吧？這就是著名的史楚普效應。

It's difficult because our automatic process of wanting to read the word trips us up in our ability to name the color quickly.

這會有點困難是因為我們「自然會想要唸出單字」的反應影響了我們講出實際顏色的速度。

However, if the words were in another language like dutch, then you would have no problem naming the colors as the words don't have meaning to you ... unless you speak dutch.

然而，如果那些字是其他語言，例如荷蘭語，由於你不懂那些單字的意思，所以很容易就能唸出顏色，除非你會講荷蘭語。

In one study hypnotized participants were given the Stroop test after being told that would see the words as gibberish and meaningless.

在一個研究中，被催眠的史楚普受測者在測試前被告知等等看到的字都是沒有意義的。

As a result the stroop effect was temporarily eliminated, and participants could name the color without error or delay.

結果，史楚普效應暫時的失效了，受測者能夠迅速的回答出正確的顏色。

When this test was run in an FMRI, participants showed lower activation in the anterior cingulate cortex, an area in the brain involved in resolving conflict and competing demands; as well as a reduction in the visual cortex, which is crucial for recognizing words.

當用核磁共振來檢測時，會發現受測者腦中的前扣帶迴較不活躍。這是腦中負責解決衝突與干擾的地方；此外，視覺皮質是負責辨識單字的地方，也變得較不活躍。

The Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility shows that hypnotizability follows a normal bell curve distribution.

「哈佛群體催眠感受性量表」指出催眠能力呈一般的常態分佈。

Very few people experience no sensation during hypnotism, many people will respond to ideomotor-ideosensory direct suggestions, such as lifting your arm involuntarily, and a small group of people will respond to cognitive suggestions which impact memory and perception and can create hallucinations and selective amnesia.

極少數的人在催眠時會完全無知覺，多數人會對由中樞神經直接示意的反射行為有所反應，像是不知不覺地把手舉起來，少數人會對經過大腦的認知示有所反應，這會影響記憶和感知，且會產生幻覺和選擇性失憶。

It can even be used to modulate pain. In one study, while hypnotized, participants were given a painful heat stimulus on their right hand and rated their level of pain.

催眠甚至可以被用來緩和疼痛。在一個研究中，他們在受測者的右手被灼熱的痛覺刺激後測量其疼痛程度。

They were then told they would be given the same heat stimulus, when it was actually a non painful temperature, and they rated their level of pain the same.

接著他們被告知要再被刺痛一次，但其實這次的溫度並不會造成疼痛，結果測量到的疼痛程度卻是相同的。

In fact, their brain showed the same level of activation in the anterior cingulate cortex.

也就是說事實上，他們腦中的前扣帶迴表現出了相同的活躍程度。

Scientists have also scanned the brains of people faking leg paralysis as if hypnotized, and then again later when they were actually hypnotized, and saw increased brain activation in the right orbitofrontal cortex, right cerebellum, left thalamus, and putamen.

科學家還掃描了一位在被催眠說雙腿癱瘓前的受測者其頭腦，等他們被催眠後再掃描一次，會發現腦中的右眼窩前額皮質、右小腦、左丘腦、和硬核都變活躍了。

Meanwhile, when faking it, they showed no such changes - which suggests hypnosis has a different neural basis than those imitating it.

同時，如果癱瘓是裝的，活躍度就不會有變化，告訴了我們催眠跟模仿催眠有著不同的神經基礎。

So while many hypnotists or subjects could seemingly fake hypnosis, and I'm sure it happens under a brain scan it becomes clear who is lying and who is actually hypnotized.

所以，當催眠者騙人時，只要掃描頭腦就能發現誰在騙人、誰是真的被催眠了。

If you want to see US get hypnotized by a professional for the first time in our lives check out our video on Asap THOUGHT where we do exactly that! It was a... interesting experience!

如果你想看到我們第一次被專家催眠，請看我們的 Asap THOUGHT 影片。那是個 ... 很有趣的經驗！

Click on the screen or use the link in the description to see that video.

點擊畫面或是用我們簡介中的連結。

And subscribe for more weekly science videos!

並訂閱更多每週科學影片！