7 Surprising Ways Senses Shape Perception1

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Every bit of information we know about the world we gathered with one of our five senses.2这是一个倒装句，从every到world是后面gathered的宾语。But even with perfect pitch3perfect pitch是个短语，thoughtco网站的解释是：Perfect pitch (also referred to as absolute pitch) is the incredibly rare ability of a person to instantaneously identify or sing any given musical note without a reference pitch. It is estimated that 1/10,000 people in the USA are born with this cognitive trait.。也就是说，这个短语既指可分辨各种音高的听力，也可以指发出各种音高的能力。结合上下文来看，这里肯定指的是听力。or 20/20 vision, our perceptions don’t always reflect an accurate picture of our surroundings. Our brain is constantly filling in gaps and taking shortcuts, which can result in some pretty wild illusions.

我们了解的有关世界的所

有信息都是用我们的五种感官获得的。但是即使有完美的辨音能力或是20/20的视力，我们的感知也并不总能准确地反映周围的世界。我们的大脑一直不断地填补空白，走捷径，这就可能导致非常离谱的错觉。

That’s the subject of “Our Senses: An Immersive Experience,” a new exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.4这句话有三层意思。一是博物馆位于纽约，二是博物馆举办了一个新展览，三是新展览的主题就是上一句的内容。注意引号中的内容是新展览的名称，而不是主题。Mental Flossrecently took a tour of the sensory

funhouse to learn more about how the brain and the senses interact.

这就是纽约市的美国自然历史博物馆新展览的主题。该展览名为“我们的感官：沉浸式体验”。为了进一步了解大脑和感官相互作用的机制，《心理牙线》杂志最近参观了这一感官游乐园。

1. Lighting reveals hidden images.

Under normal lighting, the walls of the first room5room这个词的翻译应该符合汉语的习惯，即译为“展室”，而不是简单的翻译为“房间”。of “Our Senses” look like abstract art. But when the lights change color, hidden illustrations are revealed. The three lights—blue, red,and green—used in the room activate the three cone cells in our eyes, and each color highlights a different set of animal illustrations, giving the viewers the impression of switching between three separate rooms while standing still.

1. 灯光会显现隐藏的图像。

在正常灯光下，“我们的感官”第一个展室的墙壁看起来像抽象艺术。但灯光改变颜色时，隐藏的图画就会显现出来。房间里使用的三种灯光——蓝色、红色和绿色相应地激活了我们眼睛中的三种锥细胞，每种颜色都突出一组不同的动物图画，给参观者一种自己站着没动却在三个不同房间之间切换的感觉。

2. Certain sounds take priority6 priority不应该按照字面翻译为优先权，因为“权”字容易让人产生法律上的联想，这不符合此处上下文的含义。不如这么意译。 .

We can “hear” many different sounds at once, but we can only listen to a couple at a time. The AMNH exhibit demonstrates this with an audio collage7audio collage这是个词组，汉语固定的译法是“声效拼贴”。of competing recordings8competing recordings拼贴里有多种声音，每种声音都希望被别人听到。但“拼贴”（collage）一词已经暗示了这一层意思。所以competing这个词也可以不译出来，译出来反而更生硬。.Our ears automatically pick out noises we’re conditioned to react to, like an ambulance siren or a baby’s cry. Other sounds, like individual voices and musical instruments, require more effort to detect.

2. 有些声音会优先识别。

我们可以同时“听见”许多不同的声音，但我们一次只能听其中的一两种。自然历史博物馆展览用一段声效拼贴展示了这一点，这段声效中同时有许多不同的声音。我们的耳朵会自动地挑出我们习惯于做出反应的声音，比如救护车的警笛声或婴儿的哭声。要发现其他声音，比如某个人和乐器的声音，则需要更努力地去听。

3. ... As do certain images9这是接第二小节的标题来的，完整的形式为Certain sounds take priority, as do certain image。下文“...And so does sound”与此类似。.

When looking at a painting, most people’s eyes are drawn to the same spots. The fi rst things we look for in an image are human faces. So after staring at an artwork for fi ve seconds, you may be able to say how many people are in it and what they look like, but would likely come up short10come up short是个词组，朗文词典的解释是to fail to win or achieve something，即不能干什么事。when asked to list the inanimate object in the scene.

3. ……图像也是如此。

我们看一幅画的时候，多数人的眼睛会被吸引到同一个地方。在一幅图像中，我们会首先寻找人脸。所以，盯着一个艺术品五秒钟以后，你或许可以说出上面有多少人，他们长什么样，但是如果要求你列出图中的无生命物体时，你就可能说不上来了。

4. Color inf l uences taste...

Every cooking show you’ve watched is right—presentation11和前文room类似，应该按照汉语的习惯翻译为“品相”，汉语烹饪节目中一般都会这么说。really is important. One look at something can dictate your expectations for how it should taste. Researchers have found that we perceive red food and drinks to taste sweeter and green food and drinks to taste less sweet regardless of chemical composition. Even the color of the cup we drink from can influence our perception of taste.

4. 颜色会影响味觉……

你看过的每一档烹饪节目都讲得对，品相真的很重要。对于一样东西，只要一眼，就会对其味道形成一种期望。研究人员发现无论食物中的化学成分是什么，我们都会认为红色的食物和饮料要更甜一点，而绿色的则没那么甜。甚至饮品杯子的颜色也会影响我们的味觉。

5. ... And so does sound.

Sight isn’t the only sense that plays a part in how we taste. According to one study, listening to crunching noises while snacking on chips makes them taste fresher. Remember12这里在“记得”后面添加“试试”，译文会更生动，也符合逻辑。that trick before tossing out a bag of stale junk food.

5. ……声音也是如此。

并不只有视觉会影响我们的味觉。一项研究表明，吃薯片时听着“嘎吱嘎吱”的声音，人们会觉得薯片更可口。下次扔变味的垃圾食品之前，记得试试这个小窍门。

6. Things get weird when senses contradict each other.

The most mind-bending room in the “Our Senses” exhibit is practically empty. The illusion comes from the black grid pattern painted onto the white wall in such a way13in such a way与后面的that形成呼应，不能按照字面死译为“如此……以致”。that straight planes appear to curve. The shapes tell our eyes we’re walking on uneven ground while our inner ear tells us the floor is stable. It’s like getting seasick in reverse: This conflicting sensory information can make us feel dizzy and even nauseous.

6. 感官互相矛盾时，事情就怪异起来。

“我们的感官”展览中最让人神经错乱费解的展室实际上是空的。错觉来自于白色墙壁上的黑色格子图案，这些图案的排列似乎让直的平面弯曲了，让我们的眼睛以为，我们走在凹凸不平的地面上，而我们的内耳却告诉我们地面是平坦的。这跟晕船恰好相反：这种互相矛盾的感官信息会让我们感觉头晕，甚至恶心。

7. We see faces everywhere.

The human brain is really good at recognizing human faces—so good it can make us see things that aren’t there.This is apparent in the Einstein hollow head illusion. When looking at the mold of Albert Einstein’s face straight on, the features appear to pop out rather than sink in. Our brain knows we’re looking at something similar to a human face,and it knows what human faces are shaped like, so it automatically corrects the image that it’s given. ■

7. 我们到处都能看出人脸。

人类的大脑非常擅长识别人脸，擅长到能让我们看到不存在的东西。这在爱因斯坦凹脸头像错觉中就很明显。当我们从正前方看阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦模型的面部时，五官似乎是凸出来的而不是凹进去的。我们的大脑知道我们正在看与人脸相似的东西，并且知道人脸是什么样的，所以它会自动校正它得到的图像。 □