“人類的大腦只開發了10%”——這一說法廣為流傳，許多人甚至對此深信不疑。然而事實果真如此嗎？聽古典音樂真的可以讓人變聰明嗎？下面5個關於人類大腦的傳言其實都是假的。
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1. A BIGGER BRAIN IS A BETTER BRAIN.
大腦越大越聰明。
Nope. After all, humans believe we’re the smartest animals on the planet, but elephant brains are three times larger than ours. And whale brains? Forget it.
並不是。畢竟，人類相信自己是地球上最聰明的動物，但大象的大腦比人類的大三倍。鯨魚的大腦呢？不用說了。
Intelligence isn’t about relative size, either. Human brains make up about 2 percent of our body mass, which is pretty impressive. But tree shrew brains are a full 10 percent of their body mass, and they drink beer for a living.
智力也與大腦的相對大小無關。人腦約佔人類體重的2%，這個佔比已經很厲害了。但是樹鼩的大腦相當於它們體重的10%，它們以喝啤酒為生。
So when it comes to brains, size isn't the most important thing. Hominid brain size did increase as we evolved, but scientists say that the secret to our smarts is complexity. And nobody can beat us there; neuroscientist Gerard Edelman has even described the human brain as “the most complicated object in the universe.” Your cerebral cortex alone has between 19 and 23 billion neurons, and each neuron can connect to other neurons tens of thousands of times.
所以說，大腦的大小並不是最重要的。人類大腦的大小確實隨著我們的進化而變大，但科學家們說，人類聰慧的秘密在於大腦的複雜性。這一點我們是無敵的；神經科學家傑拉德·埃德爾曼甚至將人腦描述為“宇宙中最複雜的物體”。僅大腦皮層就有190億到230億個神經元，每個神經元可以與其他神經元連線數萬次。
2. WE ONLY USE 10 PERCENT OF OUR BRAINS.
人類的大腦只開發了10%。
Oh yeah? Which part are you using right now? The entire brain may not be active every second of every day, but if you want to breathe, sleep, and digest your food, you need the whole thing.
哦，是嗎？你現在用的是哪一部分大腦？整個大腦可能不會在每天的每一秒都處於活躍狀態，但如果你想呼吸、睡眠和消化食物，你需要整個大腦運轉。
Modern brain imaging techniques have given us actual pictures of the whole brain in action, which should have put this myth to bed. Instead, the 10 percent legend has persisted for years and years, in part thanks to movies and psychics who argue that the “other 90 percent" of your brain must be reserved for some supernatural purpose. This is absolute bunk.
現代大腦成像技術為我們呈現了整個大腦活動的真實影象，這本該讓這種傳言破滅的。但人類的大腦只開發了10%的傳說已經持續了很多年，部分原因是電影和通靈師認為，你大腦的“其他百分之九十”一定是為了某種超自然的目的而保留的。這完全是無稽之談。
3. CLASSICAL MUSIC MAKES YOU SMARTER.
古典音樂讓你更聰明。
Making yourself (or your baby) sit through symphonies won’t do anything for your IQ. A 1993 study did show that listening to Mozart improved spatial reasoning—but only spatial reasoning, and only for 15 minutes. Even that modest effect might have been overstated. A 2010 review of 40 studies on the subject found that none of them could reproduce the results of the original experiment.
讓自己（或孩子）聽交響樂對智商沒有任何幫助。1993年的一項研究確實表明，聽莫扎特的音樂可以提高空間推理能力，但只能提高空間推理能力，而且只能提高15分鐘。即使是這種輕微的影響也可能被誇大了。2010年對40項關於這一主題的研究進行的回顧發現，沒有一項研究能夠重現原始實驗的結果。
And those classical music videos for babies aren’t doing anybody any favors. Infants and toddlers who watch TV—even Baby Mozart—learn fewer words than their peers.
那些為嬰兒播放的古典音樂影片對任何人都沒有任何幫助。看電視的嬰兒和幼童（甚至是嬰兒莫扎特）比同齡人學到的單詞更少。
4. CROSSWORD PUZZLES WILL KEEP YOU SHARP.
填字遊戲可以讓你保持思維敏捷。
Like classical music, crossword and Sudoku puzzles are terrific—but only if you actually enjoy them.
和古典音樂一樣，十字填字遊戲和數獨遊戲也不錯，但前提是你真正喜歡它們。
In an interview on the subject with The New York Times, neuroscientist Molly Wagster of the National Institute on Aging was unequivocal: “People who have done puzzles all their lives have no particular cognitive advantage over anyone else.”
美國國家老齡化研究所神經科學家莫莉·瓦格斯特在接受《紐約時報》採訪時明確表示：“一生都在玩智力遊戲的人在認知上並不比其他人有更大的優勢。”
There is one thing that doing crossword puzzles will make you good at: doing crossword puzzles.
玩填字遊戲只會讓你擅長一件事：玩填字遊戲。
5. MEN ARE NATURALLY BETTER THAN WOMEN AT MATH.
男性的數學天生比女性好。
Just like women are naturally better at washing the dishes, right? No. Come on.
就像女性天生更擅長洗碗一樣，對吧？當然不是。
Study after study has shown that the gap in math and science test scores between girls and boys can be attributed not to natural ability, but to cultural messages. It’s called the stereotype threat: When a member of a group is exposed to negative stereotypes about that group, they perform poorly. Just requiring girls to check “female” before beginning a standardized test has been shown to significantly reduce their scores. The more a person is bombarded with expectations of failure, the more likely it is that he or she will fail.
一項又一項的研究表明，女生和男生在數學和科學考試上的成績差距不是因為天生的能力，而是因為文化資訊。這被稱為刻板印象威脅：當一個群體的成員面對外界的負面刻板印象時，他們的表現就會很差。僅僅要求女孩在開始一項標準化考試前確認她們的性別就可以顯著降低她們的分數。一個人對失敗的期望越高，他或她失敗的可能性就越大。
Researchers from the University of Wisconsin analyzed test scores from 86 countries and found that average math scores for girls and boys were equal. Even in the United States, the gap has begun to narrow.
威斯康星大學的研究者分析了來自86個國家的測試成績，發現男女生數學平均成績相同。即使在美國，差距也開始縮小。
來源：Mental Floss編輯：董靜
來源：中國日報網
