为什么摸狗狗头会后仰？为什么抚摸狗狗会对大脑有益

秋天里，儿童拥抱着哈士奇。

On one side of the room sits the cutest life-size stuffed animal you’ve ever seen. On the other side rests a real dog — same size, shape and even the same name as the stuffed version.

房间的一角摆放着你见过的最可爱的真实大小的毛绒动物玩具。另一边躺着一只真狗——大小、形状、甚至名字都和毛绒玩具版的一样。

You get to sit next to both of these fluffy friends and pet their fur. Guess which one will make your brain light up?

你可以坐在这两个毛茸茸的朋友旁边，抚摸它们的毛。猜猜看哪一只会让你的大脑兴奋？

If you guessed the real dog, you’re right. Stuffed animals, as cute and cuddly as they may be, just don’t supercharge our frontal cortex, the part of the brain overseeing how we think and feel, according to a new study published Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE.

如果你猜是真狗，那你就对了。根据周三发表在《PLOS ONE》杂志上的一项新研究，填充的动物玩具，尽管它们可能很可爱，让人想抱抱，但就是不能给激发我们的额叶皮层，额叶皮层是大脑中监管我们如何思考和感受的部分。

“We chose to investigate the frontal cortex because this brain area is involved in several executive functions, such as attention, working memory, and problem-solving. But it is also involved in social and emotional processes,” said study lead author Rahel Marti, a doctoral student in the division of clinical psychology and animal-assisted interventions at the University of Basel in Switzerland, in an email.

“我们选择研究额叶皮层，因为这个大脑区域参与了一些执行功能，如注意力、工作记忆和问题解决。但它也参与社会和情感过程，”主要研究者、瑞士巴塞尔大学临床心理学和动物辅助干预部门的博士生 Rahel Marti 在一封邮件中说。

Why is this finding important? It provides additional evidence that live human-animal therapy interactions may boost cognitive and emotional activity in the brain, Marti said.

为什么这一发现很重要？Marti 说，它提供了额外的证据，证明人与动物的现场互动疗法可能会促进大脑中的认知能力和情感活动。