（参考信息：美国国家公共广播电台NPR 2025-10-17）A new study shows that cognitive training can increase the levels of a key chemical messenger in the brain responsible for decision-making.
一项新研究表明，认知训练可以提高大脑中负责决策的关键化学信使的水平。
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST: 玛丽・路易斯・凯利，主持人：
Scientists have produced the first compelling evidence that mental exercise can cause biological changes in a human brain. NPR’s Jon Hamilton reports on a new study showing that intensive cognitive training reversed a process associated with aging.
科学家们提出了第一个令人信服的证据，表明心理锻炼可以引起人类大脑的生物学变化。NPR 的 Jon Hamilton 报道了一项新的研究，表明强化的认知训练可以逆转与衰老相关的过程。
JON HAMILTON, BYLINE: The internet is filled with brain-training programs that promise to improve thinking and memory. But Etienne de Villers-Sidani of McGill University in Canada says it’s been hard to know whether they really work.
乔恩・汉密尔顿，BYLINE: 互联网上充满了承诺改善思维和记忆力的大脑训练项目。但加拿大麦吉尔大学的埃蒂安・德・维勒斯 – 西达尼表示，很难确定这些项目是否真的有效。
ETIENNE DE VILLERS-SIDANI: They had a positive impact on some cognitive measures, but then the question was, how much is it changing the brain, and how is it changing the brain?
埃蒂安・德・维勒斯 – 西达尼：他们对一些认知测量产生了积极影响，但随后的问题是，它在多大程度上改变了大脑，以及它是如何改变大脑的？
HAMILTON: So De Villers-Sidani and a team of researchers decided to see whether mental exercise could increase levels of a chemical messenger that’s closely associated with cognitive performance. It’s called acetylcholine. He says levels tend to fall starting in middle age.
汉密尔顿：所以德维勒斯 – 西达尼和一组研究人员决定看看心理锻炼是否能提高与认知表现密切相关的化学信使水平。这种信使被称为乙酰胆碱。他说，这种水平从中年开始往往会下降。
DE VILLERS-SIDANI: For every decade after the age of 40, 45, you get around 2.5% decline in this neurotransmitter in key brain areas.
德・维勒斯 – 西达尼：在 40、45 岁之后的每 10 年，大脑关键区域的这种神经递质水平会下降约 2.5%。
HAMILTON: The decline is much faster in people with Alzheimer’s disease. The researchers studied 92 healthy people who were at least 65 years old. De Villers-Sidani says during the 10-week study, half of the participants spent 30 minutes a day doing mental exercises. These came from a science-backed cognitive training program called Brain HQ.
哈密尔顿：阿尔茨海默病患者的衰退速度要快得多。研究人员研究了 92 名至少 65 岁的健康人。德维勒斯 – 西达尼表示，在这项为期 10 周的研究中，一半的参与者每天花 30 分钟进行心理练习。这些练习来自一个名为 “大脑总部” 的科学认知训练项目。
DE VILLERS-SIDANI: Which is really targeted at attention and speed of processing, and its characteristic is that it kind of pushes you to the limit.
德・维勒斯 – 西达尼：这个项目真正针对的是注意力和处理速度，其特点是它会将你推向极限。
HAMILTON: By asking you to remember more and more in less and less time – other participants spent their time playing video games like Solitaire and Candy Crush. The researchers used a special kind of PET scan to detect changes in acetylcholine levels. De Villers-Sidani says they focused on the anterior cingulate cortex, a brain region that’s important for making decisions and detecting errors.
哈密尔顿：通过要求你在越来越短的时间内记住越来越多的内容，其他参与者将时间用于玩电子游戏，如《单人纸牌游戏》和《糖果传奇》。研究人员使用了一种特殊的正电子发射断层扫描 (PET) 技术来检测乙酰胆碱水平的变化。德维勒斯 – 西达尼表示，他们将注意力集中在前扣带回皮层，这是一个对决策和检测错误至关重要的大脑区域。
DE VILLERS-SIDANI: I was not sure we would find anything, to be honest.
德・维勒斯 – 西达尼：说实话，我不确定我们能发现什么。
HAMILTON: But they did. In people who played video games, acetylcholine levels were unchanged. But De Villers-Sidani says in people who did cognitive training, there was a meaningful increase.
汉密尔顿：但确实如此。在玩电子游戏的人中，乙酰胆碱水平没有变化。但德维勒斯 – 西达尼说，在进行认知训练的人中，乙酰胆碱水平有了显著增加。
DE VILLERS-SIDANI: It was about 2.3%, which is not huge, but it’s significant considering that you get a 2.5% decrease per decade, normally just with aging.
德维勒斯 – 西达尼：大约是 2.3%, 这并不是很大，但考虑到你每十年会下降 2.5%, 而且通常只是随着年龄增长，这已经很显著了。
HAMILTON: So at least in this brain area, cognitive training appeared to turn back the clock by about 10 years. Acetylcholine levels also increased in other brain areas, including the hippocampus, which plays a key role in memory. The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, appears in the journal JMIR Serious Games. Michael Hasselmo, a neuroscientist at Boston University, says he was impressed by the result.
哈密尔顿：因此，至少在这个大脑区域，认知训练似乎将时钟逆转了约 10 年。其他大脑区域的乙酰胆碱水平也有所增加，包括海马体，它在记忆中起着关键作用。这项由国立卫生研究院资助的研究发表在《JMIR 严肃游戏》杂志上。波士顿大学的神经科学家迈克尔・哈塞尔莫表示，他对这一结果印象深刻。
MICHAEL HASSELMO: It was compelling enough that I looked up the task myself and thought, maybe I need to be doing this task.
迈克尔・哈塞尔莫：它足够吸引人，以至于我自己查看了这个任务，然后想，也许我需要亲自完成这个任务。
HAMILTON: Hasselmo has spent much of his career studying acetylcholine, which is a chemical messenger that also modulates the behavior of neurons.
哈密尔顿：哈塞尔莫将大部分职业生涯都用于研究乙酰胆碱，这是一种化学信使，也能调节神经元的行为。
HASSELMO: If you block the neuromodulator function in the brain with a drug such as scopolamine, a person can’t even think. You basically go into a delirious state.
哈塞尔莫：如果你用东莨菪碱等药物阻断大脑中的神经调节功能，一个人甚至无法思考。你基本上会进入一种谵妄状态。
HAMILTON: Low levels of acetylcholine are a hallmark of Alzheimer’s and appear to contribute to the declines in memory and thinking. But Hasselmo says even small increases in this neurotransmitter can noticeably improve cognitive function. He says a cup of coffee boosts levels enough to improve attention and speed up reactions.
汉密尔顿：低水平的乙酰胆碱是阿尔茨海默病的一个特征，似乎导致了记忆力和思维能力的下降。但哈塞尔莫表示，即使是这种神经递质的微小增加也能显著改善认知功能。他说，一杯咖啡就能提升足够的水平，提高注意力并加快反应速度。
HASSELMO: Changing things by 2.5% could have a pretty profound and notable effect even on a subjective level.
哈塞尔莫：即使在主观层面，将事物改变 2.5% 也可能产生相当深远和显著的影响。
HAMILTON: Hasselmo says the first Alzheimer’s drugs reduce symptoms by increasing acetylcholine. Now, he says, it looks like hardcore brain training can offer a similar benefit. Jon Hamilton, NPR News.
汉密尔顿：哈塞尔莫说，第一种阿尔茨海默病药物通过增加乙酰胆碱来减轻症状。他说，现在看来，硬核大脑训练也能提供类似的益处。乔恩・汉密尔顿，NPR 新闻。