human beings only use 10 percent of their brain capacity.

想想這段陳述：

Well, as a neuroscientist, I can tell you

人類的大腦只開發了 10%。

that while Morgan Freeman delivered this line

身為神經科學家，我可以告訴各位，

with the gravitas that makes him a great actor,

雖然摩根費里曼在說這句臺詞時，

this statement is entirely false.

是帶著讓他成為偉大 演員的那份認真嚴肅，

(Laughter)

但這句陳述完全是錯的。

The truth is, human beings use 100 percent of their brain capacity.

（笑聲）

The brain is a highly efficient, energy-demanding organ

事實是，人類用了 100% 的大腦。

that gets fully utilized

大腦是個效率很高 且非常需要能量的器官，

and even though it is at full capacity being used,

它被充分利用，

it suffers from a problem of information overload.

而且雖然大腦已經被充分利用了，

There's far too much in the environment than it can fully process.

仍然要面對資訊過載的問題。

So to solve this problem of overload,

環境中有太多資訊， 大腦無法全部處理。

evolution devised a solution,

為了要解決過載的問題，

which is the brain's attention system.

進化就想出了一個解決方案，

Attention allows us

那就是大腦的注意力系統。

to notice, select and direct the brain's computational resources

注意力讓我們

to a subset of all that's available.

能夠注意、選擇， 並引導大腦的運算資源，

We can think of attention as the leader of the brain.

成為所有可得資源的一個子集。

Wherever attention goes, the rest of the brain follows.

我們可以把注意力 想成是大腦的領導人。

In some sense, it's your brain's boss.

注意力到哪裡， 大腦的其他部分就會跟隨。

And over the last 15 years,

在某種意義上，它是你大腦的老闆。

I've been studying the human brain's attention system.

在過去十五年間，

In all of our studies, I've been very interested in one question.

我一直在研究大腦的注意力系統。

If it is indeed the case that our attention is the brain's boss,

在我們所有的研究中， 我一直對一個問題非常感興趣，

is it a good boss?

如果我們的注意力 的確是大腦的老闆，

Does it actually guide us well?

它是個好老闆嗎？

And to dig in on this big question, I wanted to know three things.

它有好好引導我們嗎？

First, how does attention control our perception?

為了探究這個大哉問， 我想要知道三件事。

Second, why does it fail us,

第一，注意力如何控制我們的感知？

often leaving us feeling foggy and distracted?

第二，為什麼它會讓我們失望，

And third, can we do anything about this fogginess,

常常會讓我們困惑和分心？

can we train our brain to pay better attention?

第三，我們能否處理這種困惑，

To have more strong and stable attention in the work that we do in our lives.

我們能否訓練大腦有更佳的注意力？

So I wanted to give you a brief glimpse

在我們生活中做事情時 能有更強、更穩的注意力。

into how we're going to look at this.

我想給大家一個簡短概念，

A very poignant example

了解我們要如何來看待這件事。

of how our attention ends up getting utilized.

一個非常切中要害的例子，

And I want to do it using the example of somebody that I know quite well.

說明我們如何使用注意力。

He ends up being part of a very large group of people that we work with,

我想用一個熟人的例子來解釋。

for whom attention is a matter of life and death.

他後來成為我們合作的 一個大團體中的一員，

Think of medical professionals

對他來說，注意力攸關生死。

or firefighters

想想醫療專業人士，

or soldiers or marines.

或消防隊員，

This is the story of a marine captain, Captain Jeff Davis.

或士兵，或海軍陸戰隊。

And the scene that I'm going to share with you, as you can see,

這是海軍陸戰隊隊長 傑夫戴維斯的故事。

is not about his time in the battlefield.

各位從這個景可以看出

He was actually on a bridge, in Florida.

我要談的不是他在戰場上的事。

But instead of looking at the scenery around him,

他是在一座橋上，位在佛羅里達。

seeing the beautiful vistas

但他沒有看他周圍的景色，

and noticing the cool ocean breezes,

沒有看這漂亮的遠景，

he was driving fast and contemplating driving off that bridge.

沒有注意到清涼的海風，

And he would later tell me that it took all of everything he had not to do so.

他以非常快的速度， 蓄意開車衝下那座橋。

You see, he'd just returned from Iraq.

後來他告訴我， 他得使盡全力才能不這麼做，

And while his body was on that bridge,

他剛從伊拉克回來。

his mind, his attention, was thousands of miles away.

雖然他的身體在橋上，

He was gripped with suffering.

他的心、他的注意力 都還在數千英哩外。

His mind was worried and preoccupied

他因為痛苦而緊握著手。

and had stressful memories and, really, dread for his future.

他滿腦子擔心，所以很出神，

And I'm really glad that he didn't take his life.

他的記憶讓他很有壓力， 對未來感到恐懼。

Because he, as a leader, knew that he wasn't the only one

我很高興他沒有奪走自己的生命。

that was probably suffering;

因為，身為領導人， 他知道他並不是唯一

many of his fellow marines probably were, too.

在受苦的人；

And in the year 2008, he partnered with me in the first-of-its-kind project

他的海軍陸戰隊 伙伴們可能也是如此。

that actually allowed us to test and offer something called mindfulness training

2008 年，他和我搭擋 進行一個前所未有的計畫，

to active-duty military personnel.

讓我們測試並提供一種正念訓練，

But before I tell you about what mindfulness training is,

對象是現役軍事人員。

or the results of that study,

但在我告訴各位正念訓練是什麼，

I think it's important to understand how attention works in the brain.

或該研究的結果之前，

So what we do in the laboratory

我認為很重要的是要了解 在大腦中的注意力是怎麼運作的。

is that many of our studies of attention involve brain-wave recordings.

我們在實驗室中，

In these brain wave recordings, people wear funny-looking caps

許多關於注意力的研究 都有用到腦波記錄。

that are sort of like swimming caps, that have electrodes embedded in them.

在這些腦波記錄過程， 受試者要戴很可笑的頭罩，

These electrodes pick up the ongoing brain electrical activity.

有點像泳帽，有內建電極。

And they do it with millisecond temporal precision.

這些電極會取得 正在發生中的腦電活動。

So we can see these small yet detectable voltage fluctuations over time.

時間上的精準度可以到毫秒。

And doing this, we can very precisely plot the timing of the brain's activity.

我們就能看到很小，但能偵測到的 電壓波動隨著時間變化。

About 170 milliseconds

這麼做，我們就能非常精確地 畫出腦活動的時間圖。

after we show our research participants a face on the screen,

在我們給研究受試者在螢幕上

we see a very reliable, detectable brain signature.

看到一張面孔之後大約 170 毫秒，

It happens right at the back of the scalp,

我們發現有一個極可靠 且可偵測到的大腦特徵。

above the regions of the brain that are involved in face processing.

它就發生在頭皮後面。

Now, this happens so reliably and so on cue,

就在腦中處理面孔的區域上方。

as the brain's face detector,

這個現象的發生非常可靠且準時，

that we've even given this brain-wave component a name.

可以當作大腦的面孔偵測器，

We call it the N170 component.

我們甚至幫這個腦波要素 取了一個名字，

And we use this component in many of our studies.

我們叫它 N170 要素。

It allows us to see the impact that attention may have on our perception.

我們在許多研究中都用到這個要素。

I'm going to give you a sense of the kind of experiments

它讓我們能看見注意力可能 對我們的感知造成什麼影響。

that we actually do in the lab.

我想讓各位了解一下我們在實驗室中

We would show participants images like this one.

做的是什麼實驗。

You should see a face and a scene overlaid on each other.

我們會給受試者看類似這樣的影像。

And what we do is we ask our participants

你們應該可以看到一張臉 以及一個景重疊在一起。

as they're viewing a series of these types of overlaid images,

我們的做法是要求受試者

to do something with their attention.

在觀看一系列這類重疊影像時，

On some trials, we'll ask them to pay attention to the face.

控制他們的注意力。

And to make sure they're doing that,

在一些試驗中，我們請他們 把注意力放在臉孔上。

we ask them to tell us, by pressing a button,

為了確保他們有做到，

if the face appeared to be male or female.

我們請他們透過按鈕來告訴我們

On other trials,

這張臉是男性，還是女性。

we ask them to tell what the scene was -- was it indoor or outdoor?

在其他試驗中，

And in this way, we can manipulate attention

我們問他們，這個景 是在室內，還是室外？

and confirm that the participants were actually doing what we said.

這樣，我們就能操控注意力，

Our hypotheses about attention were as follows:

並確認受試者是否有 真的照我們說的去做。

if attention is indeed doing its job and affecting perception,

我們對注意力的假設是：

maybe it works like an amplifier.

如果注意力真的有盡到 它的本分並影響到感知，

And what I mean by this

也許它的作用會類似擴大機。

is that when we direct attention to the face,

這樣說的意思是，

it becomes clearer and more salient,

當我們把注意力引導到臉孔時，

it's easier to see.

臉孔就會變得更清楚且更突出。

But when we direct it to the scene, the face becomes barely perceptible

比較容易看到它。

as we process the scene information.

但當我們把注意力引導到景時， 面孔就幾乎不會被感知到了，

So what we wanted to do

因為我們正在處理景的資訊。

is look at this brain-wave component of face detection, the N170,

我們想要做的

and see if it changed at all

是去研究面部偵測的 腦波要素，N170，

as a function of where our participants were paying attention --

看看它會不會改變，

to the scene or the face.

是否是受試者注意力目標──

And here's what we found.

景或臉──的影響。

We found that when they paid attention to the face,

我們的發現如下。

the N170 was larger.

我們發現，當他們注意臉孔時，

And when they paid attention to the scene, as you can see in red, it was smaller.

N170 會變大。

And that gap you see between the blue and red lines

當他們注意景時， 是圖上紅色的部分，比較小。

is pretty powerful.

在藍線和紅線之間的落差，

What it tells us is that attention,

是很強大的。

which is really the only thing that changed,

它告訴我們注意力──

since the images they viewed were identical in both cases --

注意力是實驗中唯一有改變的，

attention changes perception.

因為他們在兩種情況下 看的影像都是同一張──

And it does so very fast.

因此是注意力改變了感知。

Within 170 milliseconds of actually seeing a face.

且它作用的速度很快。

In our follow-up studies, we wanted to see what would happen,

看到臉的 170 毫秒內就有反應。

how could we perturb or diminish this effect.

在我們的後續研究中， 我們想探究會發生什麼狀況、

And our hunch was that if you put people in a very stressful environment,

我們要如何擾亂或減少那效應。

if you distract them with disturbing, negative images,

我們的預感是，如果把人 放到一個很有壓力的環境中，

images of suffering and violence --

如果用很讓人不舒服、 負面的影像來讓他們分心，

sort of like what you might see on the news, unfortunately --

比如受苦或暴力的影像──

that doing this might actually affect their attention.

很不幸，就像在新聞上 會看到的那些──

And that's indeed what we found.

這麼做可能會影響他們的注意力。

If we present stressful images while they're doing this experiment,

而我們發現結果的確如此。

this gap of attention shrinks, its power diminishes.

如果受試者在進行實驗時， 我們展示很有壓力的影像，

So in some of our other studies,

這個注意力落差會縮小， 它的力量會減少。

we wanted to see, OK, great --

在我們的一些其他研究中，

not great, actually, bad news that stress does this to the brain --

我們想要探究的是，很好──

but if it is the case that stress has this powerful influence on attention

其實不好，壓力對大腦會有 這種影響，不是好消息──

through external distraction,

但如果壓力真的能透過 外在的分心來對注意力

what if we don't need external distraction,

產生這麼強大的影響，

what if we distract ourselves?

那要是我們不需要外在的分心，

And to do this,

而是讓自己分心呢？

we had to basically come up with an experiment

要做到這一點，

in which we could have people generate their own mind-wandering.

基本上，我們得要想出一種實驗，

This is having off-task thoughts

在實驗中受試者要能 產生出他們自己的神遊。

while we're engaged in an ongoing task of some sort.

也就是當我們正在進行某種任務時，

And the trick to mind-wandering is that essentially, you bore people.

產生和任務無關的想法。

So hopefully there's not a lot of mind-wandering happening right now.

而要讓人神遊的訣竅， 其實就是要讓他們很無聊。

When we bore people,

所以，希望現在這裡 沒有很多人正在神遊。

people happily generate all kinds of internal content to occupy themselves.

當人感到無聊時，

So we devised what might be considered

他們就會很樂意產生出 各種內容來讓自己忙著想。

one of the world's most boring experiments.

所以我們發明出一種可能是

All the participants saw were a series of faces on the screen,

世界上最無聊的實驗之一。

one after another.

所有的受試者要在 螢幕上看一系列的臉孔，

They pressed the button every time they saw the face.

一張接著一張。

That was pretty much it.

他們看到臉的時候就要按鈕。

Well, one trick was that sometimes, the face would be upside down,

大致上就這樣。

and it would happen very infrequently.

詭計在於，有時臉孔會上下顛倒，

On those trials they were told just to withhold the response.

發生的頻率非常低。

Pretty soon, we could tell that they were successfully mind-wandering,

他們被告知在這種情況下不要回應。

because they pressed the button when that face was upside down.

很快我們就能辨別出 他們是否成功在神遊了，

Even though it's quite plain to see that it was upside down.

因為連臉孔顛倒時 他們也會按下按鈕。

So we wanted to know what happens when people have mind-wandering.

即使臉孔顛倒是很容易看出來的。

And what we found was that,

所以我們想要知道 人在神遊時會發生什麼事。

very similar to external stress

我們的發現是，

and external distraction in the environment,

和環境中的外在壓力

internal distraction, our own mind wandering,

以及外在分心很相似，

also shrinks the gap of attention.

內在分心，也就是我們的神遊，

It diminishes attention's power.

也會讓注意力的落差縮小。

So what do all of these studies tell us?

它會減少注意力的力量。

They tell us that attention is very powerful

所有這些研究，告訴了我們什麼？

in terms of affecting our perception.

它們告訴我們，注意力在影響

Even though it's so powerful, it's also fragile and vulnerable.

我們的感知上是很強大的，

And things like stress and mind-wandering diminish its power.

雖然它很強大，它也很脆弱。

But that's all in the context of these very controlled laboratory settings.

像壓力以及神遊， 都能減少它的力量。

What about in the real world?

但那些都是在非常 受控制的實驗室環境中。

What about in our actual day-to-day life?

在真實世界呢？

What about now?

在我們的日常生活中呢？

Where is your attention right now?

現在呢？

To kind of bring it back,

現在你的注意力在哪裡？

I'd like to make a prediction about your attention

為了要把它帶回來，

for the remainder of my talk.

我想做個預測，預測你們在這場演說

Are you up for it?

剩下時間中的注意力。

Here's the prediction.

你們準備好了嗎？

You will be unaware of what I'm saying for four out of the next eight minutes.

預測如下。

(Laughter)

接下來的八分鐘，會有四分鐘 你都不會意識到我在說什麼。

It's a challenge, so pay attention, please.

（笑聲）

Now, why am I saying this?

這是個挑戰，請保持注意力。

I'm surely going to assume that you're going to remain seated

為什麼我會這麼說？

and, you know, graciously keep your eyes on me as I speak.

我肯定會假設你們 接下來都會一直坐著，

But a growing body of literature suggests that we mind-wander,

在我說話時，很親切地注視著我。

we take our mind away from the task at hand,

但越來越多研究指出，我們會神遊，

about 50 percent of our waking moments.

我們不會把心留在手邊的工作上，

These might be small, little trips that we take away,

我們清醒的時候， 有 50% 的時間都是如此。

private thoughts that we have.

有可能只是小小地神遊一下，

And when this mind-wandering happens,

有些私人的想法。

it can be problematic.

當神遊發生時，

Now I don't think there will be any dire consequences

可能會造成問題。

with you all sitting here today,

各位今天坐在這裡，神遊可能不會

but imagine a military leader missing four minutes of a military briefing,

有任何可怕的後果，

or a judge missing four minutes of testimony.

但想像一下，軍事領導人 在軍事簡報時錯過了四分鐘，

Or a surgeon or firefighter missing any time.

或法官在證詞時錯過了四分鐘。

The consequences in those cases could be dire.

或外科醫生或消防隊員 錯過任何時間。

So we might ask why do we do this?

這些情況的後果可能很可怕。

Why do we mind-wander so much?

我們可能會問，為何我們要這樣做？

Well, part of the answer is that our mind is an exquisite time-traveling master.

我們為什麼這麼常神遊？

It can actually time travel very easily.

部分答案是，我們的大腦 是個靈敏的時間旅行大師。

If we think of the mind as the metaphor of the music player, we see this.

它很容易就能做時間旅行。

We can rewind the mind to the past

如果把大腦比喻成音樂 播放器，我們會看到這個。

to reflect on events that have already happened, right?

我們可以把大腦倒帶回到過去，

Or we can go and fast-future, to plan for the next thing that we want to do.

去回想已經發生過的事件，對吧？

And we land in this mental time-travel mode of the past or the future

我們也可以快轉到未來， 去計畫我們接下來要做什麼。

very frequently.

我們經常會進入這種過去或未來的

And we land there often without our awareness,

心理旅行模式。

most times without our awareness,

我們常常進入了也不自覺。

even if we want to be paying attention.

多數時候都不自覺，

Think of just the last time you were trying to read a book,

即使在想保持注意力時也一樣。

got to the bottom of the page with no idea what the words were saying.

想想看上回你想要讀一本書的時候，

This happens to us.