大脑中有一部分总是说“是”

大脑中有一部分总是说“是”

Sometimes, you just can't say no to another spoonful of ice cream. And maybe one more after that. Why not? You deserve it. And since the tub is almost empty anyway, why not just finish the whole thing?

有时候，你就是不能对另一勺冰淇淋说不。之后可能还有一个。为什么不呢?这是你应得的。既然胃里几乎是空的，为什么不把整个蛋糕吃完呢?

There's no need to beat yourself up about it later — although you probably will. The truth is you were probably doomed from that very first spoonful.

以后没必要再为此而自责了——尽管你可能会的。事实上，你可能从第一勺就注定要失败。

Messing up the brownie 'design' seems like a good excuse to eat another one. The brain has other mechanisms at play that make it hard not to. (Photo: jan j. photography/Shutterstock)

That's because there may be a switch in the brain, and for whatever reason, it can get stuck in the "on" position.

这是因为大脑可能有一个开关，不管出于什么原因，它可能会卡在“开”的位置。

In a paper published this week in the journal Nature, researchers suggest that impulse control may come down to a very specific circuit in the brain. And that circuit always says yes.

在本周《自然》杂志上发表的一篇论文中，研究人员提出，冲动控制可能归结于大脑中一个非常特殊的回路。这个部分总是说“是的”。

"We discovered the brain connections that keep impulsivity in check," Scott Kanoski, a neuroscientist at the University of Southern California explains in a news release. "The key to this system is a neuropeptide that we've been focusing on, melanin-concentrating hormone, in studies on appetite and eating."

“我们发现了控制冲动的大脑联系，”南加州大学神经科学家斯科特·卡诺斯基在新闻发布会上解释说。“这个系统的关键是我们一直关注的一种神经肽，黑色素集中激素，在食欲和饮食方面的研究。”

The upshot? There's a physical mechanism for impulsiveness — and understanding how it works could lead to major breakthroughs in the fight against everything from obesity to gambling to drug abuse.

结果呢?冲动是有生理机制的，了解它是如何运作的，可能会在对抗肥胖、赌博、吸毒等各种疾病的斗争中取得重大突破。

Now, how to control it.

现在说说，如何控制它。

"By manipulating this circuit it is possible that one day we might be able to develop therapeutics for overeating that help people stick to a diet without reducing normal appetite or making delicious foods like donuts less delicious," adds lead author Emily Noble of the University of Georgia in Athens.

该研究的第一作者、雅典乔治亚大学的埃米莉•诺布尔补充说:“通过控制这一回路，我们有可能在将来某一天开发出治疗暴饮暴食的方法，帮助人们在不降低正常食欲或减少甜甜圈等美味食品的美味程度的情况下坚持节食。”

It may not have a lot of real estate in the brain. but the hypothalamus carries a lot of weight on our decisions because of the hormones it releases. (Photo: Sebastian Kaulitzki/Shutterstock)

A second experiment offered the rats two dining options. Push Lever A and get an immediate small reward. Pushing Lever B meant waiting for around 40 seconds, but the food reward would be much bigger.

第二个实验为老鼠提供了两种食物选择。推动A杆，立即得到一个小奖励。推操纵杆B意味着要等大约40秒，但食物奖励要大得多。

Guess which lever those impatient rats were most furiously fond of? That's right. They picked the now-now-now switch.

猜猜那些没耐心的老鼠最喜欢哪根杠杆?这是正确的。他们选择了now-now-now开关。

Through brain scans, the team zeroed in on a neural pathway that conducted MCH from the hypothalamus to the ventral hippocampus, the part of the brain where self-control likely resides.

通过脑部扫描，研究小组锁定了一条神经通路，这条通路将MCH从下丘脑传导到海马体的腹侧，海马体是大脑中自我控制能力可能存在的部分。

There's a part of the brain that always wants another serving, even if we don't need it. (Photo: Fabio Berti/Shutterstock)

Researchers can now see where that conversation between the brain's reward system and its impulse control center takes place. The next step will be to map it — and potentially influence the discussion. It may ultimately be possible to throttle down a food-eating frenzy. Or, as the researchers suggest, counteract the impulsive behaviors often seen with psychiatric diseases like schizophrenia and depression, and even Parkinson's disease.

研究人员现在可以看到大脑的奖励系统和冲动控制中心之间的对话发生在哪里。下一步将是绘制地图——并可能影响讨论。也许最终有可能抑制暴饮暴食。或者，正如研究人员所建议的那样，与精神疾病(如精神分裂症和抑郁症，甚至帕金森病)中常见的冲动行为相抵消。

"We are not quite in a place where we can target therapeutics to specific brain regions yet," Noble says. "But I think that day will come."

诺布尔说:“我们目前还不能针对特定的大脑区域进行治疗。”“但我认为那一天会到来。”