Brain Responds to Driving Routes Repeatedly
驾多就熟
Learning detailed navigation information causes the hippocampus to interact with other regions of the brain involved in location
记忆详细的路线资料会引起海马体与其他跟识别位置相关的脑部部位相互作用。
撰文/播音 伊莱卡?贝拉斯（Erika Beras）
翻译 M
审核 邰伦玥
From the backseat of a cab, the moves a driver makes may at times seem, let’s say, daring. In fact, cabbies may actually be better, more agile drivers than the rest of us. Because they know their streets so well.
坐在出租车的后座，有时我们会觉得，他的驾驶真是大胆。事实上，计程车司机们的驾驶技术确实比我们更灵活娴熟。因为他们对道路非常熟悉。
Previous research found that the hippocampus in the brain of a typical cab driver is enlarged. That’s the part of the brain used in navigation. But now a study confirms that learning detailed navigation information does indeed cause that part of the brain to grow. The findings are in the journal NeuroImage. [Timothy A. Keller and Marcel Adam Just, Structural and functional neuroplasticity in human learning of spatial routes]
过去的研究发现，一般的计程车司机大脑的海马体较常人发达。而海马体在大脑中与导航作用有关。而最新的研究证实了，通过记忆详细的导航信息，可以促进海马体发育。这个发现发表在《神经影像》学报上。
Researchers had young adults who were not regular gamers play a driving simulation game. Some practiced maneuvering the same route 20 times, while other players were confronted with 20 different routes. The participants’ brains were scanned before they performed the simulated driving and again after.
研究人员找到一群不常玩游戏的年轻人，让他们玩模拟驾驶游戏。一部分人练习驾驶20次同样的路线；另一部分则要面对20条不同的路线。参与者的大脑在模拟驾驶前后都会经过扫描。
Researchers found that subjects who kept repeating the same route increased their speed more than those driving multiple routes. The single-route drivers were also much better able to put in order a sequence of random pictures taken along the way and to draw a map of the route.
研究人员发现，重复驾驶同一路线的对象的驾驶速度增加高于驾驶多条路线的对象。同时，驾驶单一路线的司机能够将随机选出的街景照片进行排序，并画出行驶路线的地图。
The investigators also found increases in the single-route drivers in the functional connectivity between the hippocampus and other parts of the brain involved with navigation. And the amount of change was directly related to the amount of improvement each participant displayed.
研究人员同样发现，对行驶在单一路线的驾驶者，他们的海马体与其他掌管导航的大脑部位间的功能性连接有所增加。并且，这些连接的增加量与参与者所表现出的进步呈现正相关。
These findings may explain why your Uber driver can eventually get you from point A to point B, but may lack the seemingly effortless mental flexibility that a yellow cabbie displays on the streets. Veterans have been there, done that—and their brains show it.
这些发现可能能解释为什么虽然Uber司机最终能够把你从A点带到B点，但却不能像计程车司机在路上表现出的那样轻松自如。毕竟是老手，他们开过那段路，也开得更轻松——他们的大脑也能证明这一点。
（题图来源：unwrittenrulesoftheroad.com）
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