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It turns out we're not just awkward, our brains actually can't handle the tasks of thinking of the right words and focusing on a face at the same time.

事实上，我们并不只是尴尬，而是大脑无法同时兼顾“思考恰当词汇”和“眼神接触”的任务。

The effect becomes more noticeable when someone is trying to come up with less familiar words, which is thought to use the same mental resources as sustaining eye contact.

当人们努力搜索不太熟悉的词汇时，这个效应会更加明显。科学家认为，这两项任务占用同样的心理资源。

Scientists from Kyoto University in Japan put this to the test in 2016 by having 26 volunteers play word association games while staring at computer-generated faces.

2016年，日本京都大学的科学家们为此进行了一项实验。他们让26名志愿者在玩词汇联想游戏的同时，盯着由计算机生成的脸庞。

When making eye contact, the participants found it harder to come up with links between words.

在进行眼神接触时，受试者更难想出词汇之间的关联。

"Although eye contact and verbal processing appear independent, people frequently avert their eyes from interlocutors during conversation," wrote the researchers.

研究人员写道：“尽管眼神交流和语言处理似乎是独立的，但人们经常在谈话中避开对话者的眼睛。”

"This suggests that there is interference between these processes."

“这表明，这两个过程之间存在干扰。”

The volunteers were tested while looking at both animations of faces making eye contact and animations of faces looking away. They were also asked to think of links between easily associated words and words where there are a lot of competing associations.

志愿者在测试中盯着的图画脸庞既有直视镜头的，也有看向其他方向的。他们进行联想的词汇也有容易联想的词，和存在大量竞争联想词。

For example, thinking of a verb for 'knife' is relatively easy, because you can't do much more than cut or stab with one. Coming up with an associated verb for 'folder' is harder, considering you could open, close, or fill them.

举例而言：联想和“刀（knife）”有关的动词比较简单，我们通常只能用刀来“切（cut）”或者“刺（stab）”。联想和“文件夹（folder）”有关的动词更加困难，因为你可以打开（open）”、“合上（close）”或者“填充（fill）”文件夹。

The volunteers took longer to think of words when they were making eye contact, but only when difficult word associations were involved. The researchers suspect the hesitation indicates the brain is handling too much information at once.

志愿者在进行眼神接触时，需要花更长时间才能想出答案——但这种效应只发生在困难任务中。研究人员推测：这种迟疑意味着，大脑同时处理太多信息了。

So while making eye contact and holding a conversation is certainly possible, this is evidence that they can both draw on the same pool of cognitive resources, and sometimes that pool starts to run a little dry.

虽然人们的确能在交流时保持眼神接触，但这个证据表明，这两个过程能从相同的认知资源池中提取信息，以至于有时候这个池子开始有些见底了。

The sample size used was pretty small, but it's an interesting hypothesis.

实验采用的样本非常少，但这是一个很有意思的假设。

In 2015, Italian psychologist Giovanni Caputo demonstrated that staring into someone else's eyes for just 10 minutes induced an altered state of consciousness. Participants saw hallucinations of monsters, their relatives, and even their own faces.

2015年，意大利心理学家乔瓦尼•卡普托证明，只要盯着某人眼睛10分钟，就会诱发意识改变状态。受试者会看到各种幻想，如怪物、亲人、甚至自己的脸庞。

It seems that a process called neural adaptation is the cause, where our brains gradually alter their response to a stimulus that doesn't change – so when you put your hand on a table, you immediately feel it, but that feeling lessens as you keep your hand there.

这似乎与一个被称为“神经适应”的过程有关，即如果刺激保持不变，大脑会逐渐改变对它的反应——因此，当你把手放在桌上时，会立刻有所感觉；但如果手一直放在桌上，感觉就会逐渐减弱。

The volunteers making eye contact and associating words may also be experiencing some kind of neural adaptation, but for now the Kyoto University researchers are calling for further study into the links between verbal and non-verbal communication.

在京都大学的实验中，志愿者同时进行眼神接触和联想词汇时，可能也经历了某种神经适应。京都大学的研究人员目前正在呼吁进一步研究语言交流和非语言交流之间的联系。

And in the meantime, if someone looks away while they're talking to you, they might not be being rude – they could just have an overloaded cognitive system.

同时，如果有人在谈话过程中看向别处，他们可能不是不礼貌，只是认知系统超载了。

英文来源：sciencealert.com

编译：董静

审校：yaning

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