你見過裝在薯片袋裡的聖誕老人嗎？ 為什麼我們總是在物體中看到人臉？ 這篇文章揭示了大腦妄想的奧秘，探索了人類對面孔的敏感性。 讓我們來探索一下大腦如何區分真實和虛幻！
今天的TED精讀]：is seeing something that doesn't exist a fantasy trompe l'oeil?看到不存在的東西是幻想錯視畫嗎？
** 雙語字幕）。
更換密封件。
以原文閱讀（附翻譯）。
imagine opening a bag of chips only to find santa claus looking back at you.
想象一下，當你開啟一袋薯片時，卻發現聖誕老人在看著你。
or turning the corner to see a smile as wide as a building.
或者走在街角，看到建築物上的微笑。
humans see faces in all kinds of mundane objects, but these faces aren't real — they're illusions due to a phenomenon known as face pareidolia.
在各種平凡的物體中都可以看到面孔，但這些都不是真實的——它們是由“烏托邦式的人臉錯視畫”引起的幻覺。
so why exactly does this happen, and how far can this distortion of reality go?
那麼為什麼會發生這種情況，這種對現實的扭曲在多大程度上？
humans are social animals, and reading faces is an important part of our ability to understand each other.
人是社會性動物，閱讀面孔是人們用來相互理解的重要能力。
even a glimpse of someone's face can help you determine if you've met them before, what mood they're in, and if they're paying attention to you.
即使瞥見乙個人的臉，你也可以知道你以前是否見過他們，他們當時的心情，以及他們是否在關注你。
we even use facial features to make snap-judgments about a person's potential trustworthiness or aggression.
我們甚至使用面部特徵來快速判斷這個人的可信度和暴力傾向。
to capture all this vital information, humans h**e evolved to be very sensitive to face-like structures.
為了捕捉這些重要資訊，人類已經進化到對面部結構非常敏感。
whenever we see something, our brain immediately starts working to identify the new visual stimuli based on our expectations and prior knowledge.
每當我們看到某物時，我們的大腦就會根據我們的期望和先驗知識立即開始識別新的視覺刺激。
and since faces are so important, humans h**e evolved several regions of the brain that enable us to identify them faster than other visual stimuli.
由於面部如此重要，人類已經進化出許多大腦區域，使我們能夠比其他視覺刺激更快地識別它們。
whereas recognizing most objects takes our brain around a quarter of a second, we can detect a face in just a tenth of a second.
雖然大腦識別大多數物體大約需要四分之一秒，但我們可以在十分之一秒內識別一張臉。
it makes sense that we'd prioritize identifying faces over everything else.
我們優先考慮人臉識別是合乎邏輯的。
but brain imaging studies h**e revealed that regions may actually be too sensitive, leading them to find faces where they don't exist.
但腦成像研究表明，這些區域可能有點過於敏感，使它們能夠憑空識別人臉。
in one study, participants reported seeing illusory faces in over 35% of pure-noise images shown to them, despite the fact that nothing was there.
在一項研究中，參與者報告說，在提供的純隨機模式中，有超過35%的人臉，即使影象中什麼都沒有。
it might seem concerning that our brains can be so wrong so often, but these illusory faces might actually be a byproduct of something evolutionarily advantageous.
我們的大腦經常出錯似乎令人擔憂，但這些想象中的面孔可能是進化優勢的***
since processing all the visual input we encounter quickly and correctly is an enormous computational effort for the brain, this kind of hypersensitivity might act as a useful shortcut.
因為準確快速地處理我們接收到的所有視覺資訊對大腦來說是乙個巨大的負擔，所以這種超敏反應可能是合適的捷徑。
after all, seeing illusory faces is usually harmless, while missing a real face can lead to serious issues.
畢竟，看到一張臉的幻覺通常是無害的，但錯過一張真實的臉會導致嚴重的後果。
but for hypersensitivity to be more helpful than harmful, our brains also need to be quick at determining when a face is real and when it isn't.
但是，為了讓超敏反應超過弊端，我們的大腦需要快速辨別一張臉是真的還是假的。
so how fast can our brains tell when they've been duped?
那麼，大腦能多快意識到自己被欺騙了呢？
to answer this question, researchers used a form of brain imaging known as magneto encephalo graphy.
為了回答這個問題，研究人員使用了一種稱為腦磁力計（MEG）的腦成像技術。
by measuring the magnetic fields caused by electric currents in the brain, this technique allows us to track changes in brain activity at the scale of milliseconds.
通過測量由大腦中電流引起的磁場，這項技術使我們能夠在幾毫秒內跟蹤大腦活動的變化。
with this tool, researchers revealed that the brain generally recognizes a face as illusory within a quarter of a second — around the same time that we can identify most non-face visual stimuli.
使用這個工具，研究人員發現，大腦通常在四分之一秒內識別出想象中的面孔，這與我們識別非人類視覺刺激所需的時間相似。
however, even after our brain knows the face is fake, we can still see it in the object.
然而，即使我們的大腦意識到一張臉是假的，我們仍然可以在物體中看到它。
and by messing with these brain areas, we can further impact our ability to differentiate between fact from fiction.
如果這些大腦區域受到影響，我們將更難區分現實和幻覺。
in one study, researchers stimulated a participant's fusiform face area while they were looking at a non-face object.
在一項研究中，研究人員刺激了參與者的梭形面部區域，當他們是非面部物體時。
as a result, the participant reported momentarily seeing facial features despite the object remaining unchanged.
結果，受試者報告說他短暫地看到了一些面部特徵，儘管物體沒有任何變化。
and while looking at a real face, stimulation of this same area created perceived distortions of the eyes and nose.
當看一張真實的臉時，對這個區域的刺激會在眼睛和鼻子之間造成混淆。
these studies suggest that certain features are crucial to face detection.
這些研究表明，某些特徵對於面部識別極為重要。
just three dots can be enough to represent eyes and a mouth.
只需三個點就足以代表眼睛和嘴巴。
people will even assign gender, age, and emotion to illusory faces.
人們甚至在想象中的面孔上新增性別、年齡和情感。
it's unclear whether a person's culture or individual history impacts these perceptions, but we do know that pareidolia isn't unique to the human experience.
我們不知道乙個人的文化和背景如何影響這些看法，但我們知道“烏托邦錯視畫”不僅僅發生在人類身上。
rhesus macaque monkeys show eye movements similar to our own when observing pareidolia-inducing objects and real faces, suggesting that this phenomenon is baked deep into our social primate brains.
恆河猴在看到物體和真實面孔時會做出與我們相似的眼球運動，這些物體和真實面孔會產生“烏托邦錯視畫”和真實面孔，這表明這種現象在我們的靈長類動物大腦中根深蒂固。
so, next time you see an unexpected face in a coffee, car, or cabinet, remember that it's just your brain working overtime not to miss the faces that really matter.
所以，下次當你在咖啡、汽車或櫥櫃裡看到一張意想不到的面孔時，請記住，這只是因為你的大腦在加班，所以不要錯過真正重要的面孔。
關鍵詞彙短語
關鍵詞： 1pareidolia p r do li ： 面孔錯覺。
2.超敏反應 HA P R S NS T V TI ： 超敏反應。
3.computational k mpj te nl ： 計算。
4.illusionary lu n ri ： 幻覺。
5.有利的 DV N TE D S ： 有利的。
6.快捷方式 RTK T ：快捷方式。
7.刺激 st MJ la ：刺激物。
8.梭形 fju z f RM ： 顳上溝。
9.副產品 BA PR D KT ： 副產品。
10.腦磁圖 m ɡ ni to n s f l ɡr fi ： 腦磁圖.
關鍵詞： 1面部麻痺症：面部錯覺。
2.進化優勢：進化優勢。
3.腦成像研究。
4.虛幻的面孔。
5.區分事實和虛構。
小練習
1. the phenomenon of __occurs when people see faces in everyday objects due to the brain's sensitivity to facial features.
a) face recognition
b) pareidolia
c) illusionary perception
d) visual distortion
2. brain imaging studies h**e revealed that certain brain regions might be too __leading to the perception of faces where they don't actually exist.
a) hypersensitive
b) inert
c) resilient
d) indifferent
3. humans h**e evolved to be very sensitive to face-like structures, and the ability to recognize faces is crucial for social interaction and __understanding.
a) emotional
b) cognitive
c) spatial
d) temporal
答案分析：1答案：b）麻痺症
解釋：這種現象被稱為麻痺症，當人們由於大腦對面部特徵的敏感性而在日常物品中看到面孔時。
2.答：a）過敏
解釋：腦成像研究表明，某些大腦區域可能過於敏感，導致面部錯覺實際上並不存在。
3.答案： b） 認知
解釋：人類已經進化到對類似面孔的結構非常敏感，識別面孔的能力對於社互動動和認知理解至關重要。
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