Probably won't even have to say "epithelial" today.

今天或許不用說「上皮組織」這個詞。

Epithelial. Epithelial.

上皮、上皮。

Oh hi there! Don't mind me, I'm just talking. To myself.

喔嗨！別介意，我只是在跟自己 ... 講話。

And it's not because I'm losing my marbles, I promise — despite the popular stereotype that talking to yourself means you have a serious problem.

我沒有發瘋 ... 我發誓儘管一般人都有刻板印象，那就是自言自語代表自身有嚴重的問題 ...。

Because it turns out that talking to yourself — aka self-directed or private speech — can actually be super helpful.

因為事實上 ... 自言自語可被視為「自我導向或個人的言語」，而且貢獻很大。

Scientists have been trying to make sense of private speech for a while because it's kind of weird that we talk to ourselves at all.

科學家嘗試去解讀自言自語已有一段時日了，因為跟自己說話真的蠻奇怪的。

You can talk to yourself inside your head — that's what's called "inner speech".

你可以在腦海中跟自己說話，而這被稱作為「內在語言」。

So why say the words out loud?

所以到底為什麼要把話講出來呢？

Well, part of the reason is that it's important for cognitive development.

部分的原因是因為這對認知發展來說是重要的。

In the early 20th century, Soviet psychologist Lev Vygotsky proposed that we develop private speech because when we first learn to talk, our thoughts and speech aren't really connected.

20 世紀初期，蘇聯的心理學家李夫．維高斯基 (Lev Vygotsky) 提出我們會去發展個人言語能力，是因為當我們第一次學習講話時我們的思想和言語並不是很切合的。

He speculated that around age 3, we start talking to ourselves to help connect our inner thoughts to our outer speech.

他推測大概在 3 歲左右，我們會開始自我對話以幫助我們將內在想法以及外在言論做出連結。

That's when inner speech emerges, and our thoughts become more like verbal sentences.

當內在語言產生時，我們的想法變成類似說出來的句子。

After that, we don't tend to talk to ourselves out loud as much.

之後，我們就很少再把對自己講的話講出來。

Since Vygotsky's time, researchers have found that private speech is involved in other aspects of development, too, like learning social skills and practicing language.

從此以後，研究者發現自言自語與其他層面的發展，也是息息相關的。像是學習社交技能以及磨練語言能力等。

But there are some situations where private speech can be really helpful, even for adults.

然而在某些情況下，自言自語其實是很有幫助的，即使是對大人也一樣。

One of the most useful benefits of talking to yourself is that it helps you concentrate — although it depends what you're saying.

其中一項最顯著的益處是：自言自語能讓你專注，不過這還是取決於你的言談內容。

Researchers often study how speaking affects our behavior using a technique called "articulatory suppression".

研究者為了探討說話如何影響我們的行為，大多採用一種叫作「抑制發音」的技術來做研究。

Basically, they tell people to repeat a bunch of nonsense while they're trying to perform a task — for example, to say “blah blah blah” over and over again while you're separating a deck of cards into suits.

基本上，他們會在人們試著完成一件事情時，叫他們去重複一串沒意義的話語，像是一邊反覆去說 blah blah blah ，一邊將一副紙牌分類成堆。

And it's probably not too surprising that a lot of the time, saying the words makes it harder to do something else, especially if the task is complicated.

你或許不會感到訝異，就是大多數時候一邊說話時，會較難去做其他事情，特別是當事情較為複雜時。

Humans are terrible multitaskers.

人類很難一心二用。

But researchers have also found that if you use your speech to direct your actions, it can actually help you concentrate.

但研究者同時也發現，當你用言語去指揮自己的行動時，實際上能幫助你專注。

For example, one 2011 study asked 24 subjects to quickly determine either the shape or color of an object on a screen.

舉例來說，一份 2011 年的研究曾要求 24 位實驗對象快速選取螢幕上一件物體的形狀或顏色。

The screen would flash either the words “red/blue” or “square/circle” to let them know which characteristic to focus on, and then show them a red or blue circle or square.

螢幕上會閃過「紅色/藍色」或是「方形/圓形」兩類單字，讓受試者知道該聚焦於哪一項特質，然後給他們看一個紅或藍色的圓或方形。

So if the cue was red/blue and then a red circle appeared, they had to press the button for “red”, not for “circle”.

當提示是給「紅色/藍色」，而之後出現的是一個紅色圓形時，他們必須按下「紅色」的按鈕，而非「圓形」的。

The researchers told participants whether to read the cues silently or say them aloud, and they found that people who read them aloud had much faster response times.

研究人員告訴受試者可以默讀原先的指示，或是大聲把他們講出來，而後他們發現那些大聲讀出來的人，反應時間會比較快。

This was just one small study, but the results suggest that talking to yourself can help you concentrate — maybe because having to actually say the words keeps you from getting bored or distracted.

這只是個小小的實驗而已，但從研究結果可推測自言自語能幫助人變專注，或許是因為當我們把話確實說出來時，能夠讓自己免於變得無聊或是分散心神。

Other experiments have shown that private speech can also change the way you process visual information.

其他實驗顯示：自言自語能改變你處理影像訊息的方式。

In a 2012 study, researchers had 22 subjects find a specific object, like a chicken, in a group of other objects.

在一項 2012 年的研究中，研究人員要求 22 位實驗對象找出一個特定物件，例如在一堆東西裡找出一隻雞。

Basically like "Where's Waldo?" for science … with chickens.

基本上就像科學版的《威利在哪裡？》... 但是換成在找雞。

People found things faster when they repeated the object's name out loud instead of just thinking the word, which supports the idea that talking to yourself helps you concentrate.

當人們反覆唸出物件的名稱，而不是單純想著那個單字時，會比較快找到，這便支持了自言自語能幫。

But the results were kind of strange: the less familiar the name of the object was to the person, the longer it took them to find it.

但部分的研究結果還蠻怪的：當物件的名稱對受試者而言越陌生，他們就必須花更久的時間才能找出。

If talking out loud helps you focus, then saying the name of something you're less familiar with should be more helpful, since you need to concentrate harder to find it.

若是自言自語能幫助人專心，那麼唸出較不熟悉的名稱應該會更有幫助，因為你必須更專注去找尋。

According to the researchers, that could mean talking to yourself affects your visual processing, too.

根據研究人員所述，這可能意味著自言自語也會影響影像處理的能力。

When you name something you're familiar with, that might help you visualize it — and then find it.

當你舉出你熟悉的事物時這可能會讓你在腦海中浮出影像，然後找到該物。

But if it's something you're not familiar with, saying its name out loud doesn't help you picture what you're looking for.

然而當那件東西是你不熟悉的物品時，唸出物品名稱並不會讓你想像出你想找的東西的樣貌。

So now you have a scientific reason for wandering around the house mumbling “keys keys keys,” like, every morning.

現在你便獲得了一個科學的靠山，每天早上可以在家裡走來走去，碎念著「鑰匙、鑰匙，你在哪兒？」

And there are good reasons to talk to yourself even when you're not trying to concentrate: it can increase your confidence and motivation.

另外，即使你沒有在專注時，自言自語仍有其他正當理由做墊背。那就是：它能提高你的自信心和動力。

That's what I was doing in the start of this video.

這正是我在影片開始時所做的。

But it's important to talk to yourself in the third person — meaning instead of saying something like “I can do this,”you should say, “Hank, you can do this.”

但重要的是，你必須以他人的角度與自己對談，意味著不是講「我可以做到。」而是該說：「漢克，你辦得到。」

Except probably use your name instead of mine.

不過你應該要用你的名字，而非我的。

A meta-analysis published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in 2014 looked at multiple studies on this, with almost 600 subjects in total.

一項 2014 年發表於《性格與社會心理學期刊》的統合分析探討了多份相關的研究，達到總共將近 600 位的實驗對象。

And it found that talking to yourself in the third person increased what's known as "self-distancing", which is how well you can judge things objectively or without bias.

結果發現，以他人的角度來自言自語，可以增加所謂的「自我遠離」，也就是你能多客觀去評論事情，或是不帶任何偏見。

In one of the studies, for example, 97 people were told to reflect on their feelings about an upcoming meeting with a stranger — either by referring to themselves in the first person or in the third person.

舉例來說，在其中一項研究中，97 位實驗者被告知去回想他們對於與一位即將來訪的陌生人會面的感覺並且以自己或是他人的視角來思考。

People who were told to use the third person had less anxiety during the meeting.

那些被要求使用他人視角的人，在會面時會有較低的焦慮感。

It's possible that referring to themselves in the third person helped the subjects see the situation from an outside point of view, which made them realize there was nothing to worry about.

以他人的角度來介紹自己可能會幫助受試者以外界的角度來看這狀況，這讓他們意識到自己根本無須多慮。

There's still a lot of research left to be done before we fully understand how talking to yourself affects your brain, but so far, we've found that it can benefit your reasoning, performance, and well-being.

在我們全盤了解自言自語如何影響大腦前，還有許多研究需要去完成。但目前，我們已經知道自言自語能夠對推理論證、行為表現、健全的身心有益。

So stop keeping it in!

所以別再悶在心裡啦！

The next time you're worried about making a good first impression, just look at yourself in the mirror and say, “Hank, you're a beautiful butterfly and you're gonna kill it tonight.”

下次當你擔心是否能留下好的第一印象時就去看看鏡子裡的自己，並且說：「漢克，你是隻美麗的蝴蝶，並且你今晚一定會成功！」

Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow Psych.

感謝您今天收看 SciShow Psych 的影片。

To learn more about the weird reasons behind all the weird things you do, you can go to youtube.com/scishowpsych and subscribe.

想知道更多有關你所有做的怪事背後的怪理由，你可以前往 youtube.com/scishowpsych 並且訂閱我們。