《科学美国人60秒》解读系列丨电脑如何影响我们的运动

For most people, learning to use a computer mouse comes quickly. Our brains match hand movements with the cursor on the screen.Now we know that this connection can be easily generalized to other kinds of computers and mouse movement—like how some saxophone players can switch seamlessly to a clarinet.Scientists had seasoned computer users and novices move a cursor while their hand was hidden from view.

对于大部分人而言，很快就能学习使用鼠标操作电脑。我们的大脑将手部移动和屏幕上的光标移动完美配合。现在我们知道这种联系可以很容易的应用到其它类的电脑操作和鼠标移动之间的关系上—比如一个吹萨克斯的乐手可以很容易的学会吹单簧管。科学家们让电脑老手和初学电脑的菜鸟分别分成一组，测试他们在隐藏手部动作的视觉情况下如何移动电脑光标。

- cursor [ˈkɜːsə] n.光标;（测量仪器上的）游标，指针

- seamlessly  [ˈsiːmlɪslɪ] adv.不间断地；平滑流畅地

- seasoned  [ˈsiːznd] adj.经验丰富的；老练的

- novices  [ˈnɒvɪs] n.新手；初学者

Experienced users quickly generalized what they learned about the cursor's movement to perform other kinds of functions with that cursor. Novices took longer to catch on. Not too surprising. But then the researchers had a second group of novices use a mouse to play a video game for two hours a day. In just two weeks they were able to generalize their mouse skills to rival experienced computer users. For instance they could control other mouse types, and do it on different Macs and PCs, with different kinds of screens.

有经验的一组人可以迅速掌握他们学习的如何操控光标移动进行其它种类的应用型操作。菜鸟组的人学会这项技能要慢一些。这也不奇怪。但是，之后研究人员们让另外一组菜鸟们每天花两小时使用鼠标玩视频游戏。短短两周后，他们操作鼠标的娴熟程度足以匹敌有经验的那一组人了。例如他们能控制鼠标类型，在不同的苹果机和其它台式机的不同类型屏幕下进行灵活运用。

- catch on 理解，明白

- rival  [ˈraɪvl] n.竞争对手 vt.堪与......竞争

The study is in the journal Current Biology. The researchers say this study shows how using a mouse can affect the neural representation of our movements, and how natural it can feel.Apparently, our long history of tool use comes in…handy.

该研究已在《当代生物学》杂志上发表。研究人员们表示，这项研究结果显示使用鼠标时如何影响神经系统操作我们的运动活动并且能自然感知这种联系。显然，我们使用工具的漫长发展史也使我们的手变灵巧了呢。

- neural  [ˈnjʊərəl] adj.神经的；神经系统的