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In many countries around the world, reading is a major part of modern life,
在世界上许多国家，阅读都是现代生活的重要组成部分。
so it kind of stinks that our brains don’t come with reading skills, like, pre-installed.
因此，我们的大脑不具备预装的阅读技能，这让人觉得很糟糕。
Instead, we have to spend years slogging over our letters and sounding out every word piece by piece.
相反，我们得花上数年的时间苦读文字，逐字逐句地读出来。
But, hey. If you’ve learned how to read, you’ve got a lot to be proud of.
但如果你学会了阅读，就会有很多值得骄傲的东西。
For one, you’ve learned a new skill!
首先，你学会了一项新技能！
But also, you’ve successfully re-trained an entire area of your brain.
而且，你已经成功地重新训练了大脑中的一个区域。
This region is called the Visual Word Form Area, or VWFA for short.
该区域称为视觉词形区，简称VWFA。
It’s located on the left fusiform gyrus, which is a part of the brain that’s really great at processing complex patterns.
它位于左侧梭状回，这是大脑处理复杂模式的一部分。
And until recently, it was kind of confusing to psychologists.
一直到最近，心理学家还对它感到困惑。
Beginning in the late 1800s, researchers began to realize
从19世纪末开始，研究人员开始意识到，
that people who’d lost their ability to read through something like a stroke often had damage to the VWFA or its general area.
那些因中风等原因丧失阅读能力的人，常常在视觉词形区或其整个区域存在损伤。
And eventually, they began to wonder if this spot was somehow vital to reading.
最后，他们开始怀疑该部位是否对阅读有着重要的意义。
Except, as modern psychologists realized, that would have just been weird.
但是，正如现代心理学家所意识到，这样很奇怪。
After all, reading has only become a common skill in the last few hundred years,
毕竟，阅读是在过去几百年的时间里才成为一种普通技能，
which is way too recent for it to have evolved its own brain area.
它要发展出相应的大脑区域还为时过早。
So, what was going on here?
那这是怎么回事呢？
Well, more recent studies revealed that the VWFA didn’t evolve for reading at all.
最近的研究表明，视觉词形区根本不是为阅读发展出来的。
It can respond to colors, grating patterns, and line drawings, among other things.
该区域可以对颜色、栅格测试图和线条图等做出反应。
And it’s great at taking lower-level input and turning it into something your brain can use.
它还能很好地接受较低层次的输入，并将其转化为大脑可以使用的东西。
But word processing isn’t one of its original skills.
但文字处理并不是它的一项原始技能。
Instead, our current best explanation suggests that to learn how to read, you have to retrain it yourself through hours of practice.
相反，我们目前最好的解释是，要学会阅读，你必须通过数小时的练习来重新训练该部位。
Which arguably, is a lot cooler.
可以说，这样要酷得多。
Researchers have figured this out through various studies, like a 2010 study published in Nature Reviews Neuroscience.
研究人员已经通过各种研究发现了这一点，比如2010年发表在《自然神经科学评论》期刊的一项研究。
In it, scientists examined the brains of 63 Portuguese and Brazillian adults with various levels of literacy.
在该研究中心，科学家们检查了63名不同文化程度的葡萄牙和巴西成年人的大脑。
Some had been readers since childhood, others learned to read as adults, and the third group couldn’t read at all.
有些人从小就阅读，有些人成年后学会阅读，而第三组根本不会阅读。
Using fMRIs, which can help measure changes in brain activity, the scientists studied the participants’ VWFAs while they read.
科学家使用功能磁共振成像帮助测量大脑活动的变化，从而研究参与者阅读时的视觉词形区。
And they found that those with lower levels of literacy showed much lower levels of activation in that area than those who were expert readers.
他们发现，那些识字水平较低的人，该区域的活跃程度要比善于读书的人低得多。
Their VWFA was just sort of like “Well, I guess that looks like a pattern,” while the readers’ brains were like, “Hey, look! Letters! Time to activate!”
他们的视觉词形区是这样工作的，“嗯，我猜这看起来像个图案”，而读书人的大脑则是“嘿，快看！字母！该启动了！”
This suggests that a preference for letters and words in this brain area is only really achieved by putting in tons of hard work and learning to read.
这表明，只有付出大量的努力学习阅读，才能真正实现大脑对字母和单词的偏好。
Some psychologists suggest that this training happens through something called neuronal recycling.
一些心理学家认为，这种训练是通过一种叫做神经元循环的方式进行的。
The neuronal recycling hypothesis is the idea that newer brain functions can build off of existing structures and functionality.
神经循环假说是，较新的大脑功能可以建立在现有结构和功能的基础上。
In this case, it means our brains take an area that’s especially good at processing patterns,
在这种情况下，我们的大脑占据了一个特别擅长处理模式的区域，
and repurpose some of its function to start processing letters specifically.
并重新利用一些功能来开始专门处理字母。
But like, why the VWFA in particular?
但为什么是视觉词形区呢？
There are plenty of places in the brain that process visual information,
大脑中有很多处理视觉信息的部位，
so it might seem a little weird that all readers end up training this one specific spot.
所有读者最终都训练这个特定的区域，这看起来有点奇怪。
Like they say in the world of real estate, that seems to come down to location, location, location.
就像房地产界所说的，这似乎归结为位置。
For a pattern-recognizing area, the VWFA lives in a prime spot.
对于模式识别区域，视觉词形区处在一个重要的位置。
Its home on the left fusiform gyrus has all kinds of speedy white matter connections to both language and visual areas,
它位于左侧梭形回，与语言和视觉区域都有各种快速的白质联结。
two areas that are often really important to reading.
语言和视觉区域通常对阅读都非常重要。
That means it’s easy for this region to get visual input from regions in the back of your brain, turn that information into letters and words,
这意味着它很容易从大脑后部的区域获得视觉输入，将信息转换成字母和单词，
and then shuttle those letters along to other regions that can give those things sound and meaning.
然后将这些字母传递到其他区域，这些区域可以给字母赋予声音和意思。
So even though the brain does have other visual areas, the VWFA is sitting at the sweet spot.
因此，尽管大脑确实有其他视觉区域，但视觉词形区的位置最佳。
It’s great at recognizing patterns, and it’s highly connected to the other areas needed for reading comprehension.
它很擅长识别图案，它还与阅读理解所需的其他部位高度相关。
Now, like any other region of the brain, the VWFA is complex, and we still don’t understand everything about its function or development.
视觉词形区和大脑的其他区域一样，非常复杂，我们仍然不能完全理解它的功能或发展过程。
But it does tell us that with hard work and perseverance, we can change the way we process the world.
但它确实告诉我们，只要努力并坚持不懈，我们就能改变处理世界的方式。
Reading isn’t the only way you can learn to see things differently, though.
不过，阅读并不是你学会以不同的方式看待事物的唯一方法。
There are also plenty of great films that can show you a new side of the world,
还有很多超棒的电影，可以向你展示世界的全新面貌。
and if you want an easy place to watch them, you can check out CuriosityStream.
如果你想找个方便的地方观看，可以用CuriosityStream。
CuriosityStream is a subscription-based streaming service with hundreds of titles about everything from science to history to culture.
CuriosityStream是一个订阅式的流媒体服务，包含有关科学、历史和文化等各个方面的数百个主题。
It’s available worldwide, it’s pretty affordable, and it has a bunch of exclusive content.
它在全球范围内都可以使用，价格相当便宜，还拥有很多独家内容。
Like, this year, they released a series called On the Edge, which explores how far people can push their bodies.
比如，今年他们发布了一个叫做《边缘》的系列节目，探索人们如何挑战自己身体的极限。
They look at things like temperature, reflex speed, and altitude, and we don’t recommend trying their experiments at home.
他们考察诸如温度、反射速度和海拔高度等条件，我们不建议在家中尝试他们的实验。
You can get unlimited access to CuriosityStream starting at just $2.99 a month,
每月仅需支付2.99美元，就能无限制地访问CuriosityStream。
and as a thank-you to our SciShow Psych viewers, you can get the first 31 days for free.
作为对心理科学秀观众的答谢，你可以免费使用31天。
To do it, sign up at curiositystream.com/psych and use the promo code “psych” during the sign-up process.
只需在curiositystream.com/psych注册，并在注册过程中使用优惠代码“psych”即可。
We hope you find something that makes you more curious about the world around you!
我们希望你能找到一些让自己对周围世界更好奇的东西！
