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Many mobile phone users keep checking their mobile phones thinking it has vibrated, only to find no one has called. This sensory hallucination has a name - Phantom Vibration Syndrome (PVS) and it is a common phenomenon with people carrying pagers or cell phones kept on 'vibrate' mode.
人生有三大错觉：手机震动，有人敲门，他/她喜欢我。不少手机使用者老以为自己的手机震动了，结果看了之后才发现根本没人打电话来。这种幻觉名为——幽灵震动综合症(Phantom Vibration Syndrome,PVS),佩戴传呼机和手机的人常常会有这种情况。
PVS is also called 'ringxiety' most probably because this syndrome is not limited to phones in 'vibrate' mode but include ring tones as well. So much so, Phantom Vibration Syndrome has been named the Macquarie Dictionary's Word for the Year 2012.
PVS这种现象不仅仅限于手机“震动”，还有响铃。这一现象如此普遍，因此2012年，幽灵震动综合症还被评为年度热词。
Mobile phones, suggest psychologists, are now recognized as a form of self-expressive identity. The younger generations of mobile phone users personalize their phones to express their identity by decorating their phones and having unique ring-tones.
心理学家认为，手机现在已经成为了自我表达的一种形式。年轻一代的手机用户装饰自己的手机或者采用独一无二的铃声，来表现自己的个性。
Secondly, many young people believe use of mobile phones enhances social inclusion by allowing them to remain in contact with friends and peers at all times. They report feeling loved and valued when they receive contact on their mobile phone. Thus, validation from others sort of enhances feelings of self-worth in these people.
另一方面，很多年轻人认为使用手机让他们和亲友一直保持联络，可以增强自己的社交性。他们称他人通过手机联系他们的时候，自己感受到被爱和被需要。因此，他人的认可某种程度上让他们感受到了自我价值。
Research has shown that people who receive validation from others via their mobile phone become over-involved with their mobile phone in a manner similar to an addictive pattern of behavior.
研究显示，那些从手机上收到他人认可的人，变得过度依赖手机，这种情绪和强迫症有点像。
A survey conducted by Michael B Rothberg and his colleagues suggest that nearly 70 percent of the surveyed medical students and house staff in hospitals experienced phantom vibrations in their cell phones or pagers, and the perceptions were most common among those who used it most often or carried the device in a breast pocket. For some of them, however, changing the location of the device stopped these imaginary vibrations.
Michael B Rothberg和他的团队所作的一项调查中显示，70％接受调查的医学生和医院住院医师称有过手机/传呼机震动的错觉。这一比例也是常常使用手机和随身携带手机的人中感受过PVS的比例。对于他们中的一些人来说，换个地方放手机就能免受错觉的困扰。
So, how does it happen? Researchers believe that phantom vibration syndrome may result from a misinterpretation of incoming sensory signals by the brain. 'In order to deal with the overwhelming amount of sensory input, the brain applies filters based on what it expects to find. In the case of phantom vibrations, because the brain is anticipating a call, it misinterprets sensory input'. The actual stimulus for this sensation could be the pressure from clothing, muscle contractions, or other sensory stimuli.
那么，这一状况究竟如何发生的呢？研究者认为，可能是因为大脑对所接收的感官信号产生了误读。“为了处理接受到的海量的感官信号，大脑根据自己的需求来进行筛选。在手机震动错觉中，就是因为大脑希望接到电话，所以误读了接收到的信号。”而诱发这一错觉的信号可能是服装对身体的压迫感，肌肉的震颤，或其他感官信号。
But it is still not known why some experience PVS while others don't or why some body locations are more PVS-prone than others. What is obvious is that younger generations are more susceptible to PVS. One theory is that neural plasticity (the brain's ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections) of younger people makes them more susceptible to imagine vibrations.
但是这还是不能解释为什么有的人或者有的情况下PVS更容易发生。比较显著的是年轻人更容易感受到这种错觉。一种理论是年轻人的神经可塑性(大脑通过构建新的神经元联系来进行重塑的能力)更强，因此也更容易产生震动错觉。
According to neuroscientists, plasticity in the brain is at its peak in the growing and learning individuals. Communication between nerve cells changes in response to brain activity generated by new and repeated experiences, in this case, ringing or vibrating of phones. It is very much like the new mothers who constantly imagine they hear their babies crying. In the same way young people addicted to mobile phones think their phone is vibrating or ringing as their brain becomes conditioned to respond to a phone ring or vibration.
根据神经科学家的研究，大脑的适应力在成长期和学习期的个体身上达到巅峰。全新且不断重复的经验而引起的大脑活动，会导致神经细胞之间的联系也随之改变。在这一情况下，就是听到手机响铃或震动的经验。这就像刚刚做妈妈的女性一直觉得自己的小孩在哭。同样，离不开手机的年轻人总觉得自己的手机在向，因为他们的大脑正在适应手机铃声或震动的声音。
Neurological problem or not, maybe in the near future, when phantom vibration syndrome is better understood, there will be a cure for this condition.
不管这是不是神经的问题，在不久的将来这一问题可能会有更好的解答，也会有摆脱这一错觉的方法。
Wait, is that my phone vibrating! Nope.
等等，我的手机震了！哦，没有。
