你见过装在薯片袋里的圣诞老人吗？ 为什么我们总是在物体中看到人脸？ 这篇文章揭示了大脑妄想的奥秘，探索了人类对面孔的敏感性。 让我们来探索一下大脑如何区分真实和虚幻！
今天的TED精读]：is seeing something that doesn't exist a fantasy trompe l'oeil?看到不存在的东西是幻想错视画吗？
** 双语字幕）。
更换密封件。
以原文阅读（附翻译）。
imagine opening a bag of chips only to find santa claus looking back at you.
想象一下，当你打开一袋薯片时，却发现圣诞老人在看着你。
or turning the corner to see a smile as wide as a building.
或者走在街角，看到建筑物上的微笑。
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.
在各种平凡的物体中都可以看到面孔，但这些都不是真实的——它们是由“乌托邦式的人脸错视画”引起的幻觉。
so why exactly does this happen, and how far can this distortion of reality go?
那么为什么会发生这种情况，这种对现实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.
人是社会性动物，阅读面孔是人们用来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.
即使瞥见一个人的脸，你也可以知道你以前是否见过他们，他们当时的心情，以及他们是否在关注你。
we even use facial features to make snap-judgments about a person's potential trustworthiness or aggression.
我们甚至使用面部特征来快速判断这个人的可信度和暴力倾向。
to capture all this vital information, humans h**e evolved to be very sensitive to face-like structures.
为了捕捉这些重要信息，人类已经进化到对面部结构非常敏感。
whenever we see something, our brain immediately starts working to identify the new visual stimuli based on our expectations and prior knowledge.
每当我们看到某物时，我们的大脑就会根据我们的期望和先验知识立即开始识别新的视觉刺激。
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.
由于面部如此重要，人类已经进化出许多大脑区域，使我们能够比其他视觉刺激更快地识别它们。
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.
虽然大脑识别大多数物体大约需要四分之一秒，但我们可以在十分之一秒内识别一张脸。
it makes sense that we'd prioritize identifying faces over everything else.
我们优先考虑人脸识别是合乎逻辑的。
but brain imaging studies h**e revealed that regions may actually be too sensitive, leading them to find faces where they don't exist.
但脑成像研究表明，这些区域可能有点过于敏感，使它们能够凭空识别人脸。
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.
在一项研究中，参与者报告说，在提供的纯随机模式中，有超过35%的人脸，即使图像中什么都没有。
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.
我们的大脑经常出错似乎令人担忧，但这些想象中的面孔可能是进化优势的***
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.
因为准确快速地处理我们接收到的所有视觉信息对大脑来说是一个巨大的负担，所以这种超敏反应可能是合适的捷径。
after all, seeing illusory faces is usually harmless, while missing a real face can lead to serious issues.
毕竟，看到一张脸的幻觉通常是无害的，但错过一张真实的脸会导致严重的后果。
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，为了让超敏反应超过弊端，我们的大脑需要快速辨别一张脸是真的还是假的。
so how fast can our brains tell when they've been duped?
那么，大脑能多快意识到自己被欺骗了呢？
to answer this question, researchers used a form of brain imaging known as magneto encephalo graphy.
为了回答这个问题，研究人员使用了一种称为脑磁力计（MEG）的脑成像技术。
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.
通过测量由大脑中电流引起的磁场，这项技术使我们能够在几毫秒内跟踪大脑活动的变化。
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.
使用这个工具，研究人员发现，大脑通常在四分之一秒内识别出想象中的面孔，这与我们识别非人类视觉刺激所需的时间相似。
however, even after our brain knows the face is fake, we can still see it in the object.
然而，即使我们的大脑意识到一张脸是假的，我们仍然可以在物体中看到它。
and by messing with these brain areas, we can further impact our ability to differentiate between fact from fiction.
如果这些大脑区域受到影响，我们将更难区分现实和幻觉。
in one study, researchers stimulated a participant's fusiform face area while they were looking at a non-face object.
在一项研究中，研究人员刺激了参与者的梭形面部区域，当他们是非面部物体时。
as a result, the participant reported momentarily seeing facial features despite the object remaining unchanged.
结果，受试者报告说他短暂地看到了一些面部特征，尽管物体没有任何变化。
and while looking at a real face, stimulation of this same area created perceived distortions of the eyes and nose.
当看一张真实的脸时，对这个区域的刺激会在眼睛和鼻子之间造成混淆。
these studies suggest that certain features are crucial to face detection.
这些研究表明，某些特征对于面部识别极为重要。
just three dots can be enough to represent eyes and a mouth.
只需三个点就足以代表眼睛和嘴巴。
people will even assign gender, age, and emotion to illusory faces.
人们甚至在想象中的面孔上添加性别、年龄和情感。
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.
我们不知道一个人的文化和背景如何影响这些看法，但我们知道“乌托邦错视画”不仅仅发生在人类身上。
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.
恒河猴在看到物体和真实面孔时会做出与我们相似的眼球运动，这些物体和真实面孔会产生“乌托邦错视画”和真实面孔，这表明这种现象在我们的灵长类动物大脑中根深蒂固。
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，下次当你在咖啡、汽车或橱柜里看到一张意想不到的面孔时，请记住，这只是因为你的大脑在加班，所以不要错过真正重要的面孔。
关键词汇短语
关键词： 1pareidolia p r do li ： 面孔错觉。
2.超敏反应 HA P R S NS T V TI ： 超敏反应。
3.computational k mpj te nl ： 计算。
4.illusionary lu n ri ： 幻觉。
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 ： 颞上沟。
9.副产品 BA PR D KT ： 副产品。
10.脑磁图 m ɡ ni to n s f l ɡr fi ： 脑磁图.
关键词： 1面部麻痹症：面部错觉。
2.进化优势：进化优势。
3.脑成像研究。
4.虚幻的面孔。
5.区分事实和虚构。
小练习
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）麻痹症
解释：这种现象被称为麻痹症，当人们由于大脑对面部特征的敏感性而在日常物品中看到面孔时。
2.答：a）过敏
解释：脑成像研究表明，某些大脑区域可能过于敏感，导致面部错觉实际上并不存在。
3.答案： b） 认知
解释：人类已经进化到对类似面孔的结构非常敏感，识别面孔的能力对于社交互动和认知理解至关重要。
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