Scientists have shown that there is a degree of truth in the old adage that love is blind.

    科學(xué)家們證明，那句古老的格言“愛(ài)是盲目的”有一定的道理。

    They have found that feelings of love lead to a suppression of activity in the areas of the brain controlling critical thought.

    他們發(fā)現(xiàn)愛(ài)的感覺(jué)會(huì)抑制大腦控制批判性思維區(qū)域的活躍性。

    It seems that once we get close to a person, the brain decides the need to assess their character and personality is reduced.

    似乎我們一旦接近一個(gè)人，大腦就會(huì)決定降低對(duì)他性格特征的評(píng)判需求。

    The study, by University College London, is published in NeuroImage.

    倫敦大學(xué)學(xué)院的這項(xiàng)研究發(fā)表在《神經(jīng)成像》期刊上。

    The researchers found that both romantic love and maternal love produce the same effect on the brain.

    研究者們發(fā)現(xiàn)，浪漫的愛(ài)情和母愛(ài)對(duì)大腦產(chǎn)生的影響是相同的。

    They suppress neural activity associated with critical social assessment of other people and negative emotions.

    它們會(huì)抑制神經(jīng)中樞中與對(duì)他人進(jìn)行批判性社會(huì)評(píng)價(jià)和消極情緒有關(guān)的活動(dòng)。

    The UCL team scanned the brains of 20 young mothers while they viewed pictures of their own children, children they were acquainted with, and adult friends.

    當(dāng)20位年輕母親在看自己的孩子，熟識(shí)的孩子和成年朋友的照片時(shí)，倫敦大學(xué)學(xué)院的研究小組對(duì)他們的大腦進(jìn)行了掃描。

    The team found that the patterns of brain activity were very similar to those identified in an earlier study looking at the effects of romantic love.

    研究小組發(fā)現(xiàn)這種大腦活動(dòng)的模式與他們先前研究愛(ài)情的作用時(shí)確定的模式非常相似。

    Both studies recorded increased activity in parts of the brain's "reward system".

    這兩項(xiàng)研究都記錄了大腦“回報(bào)機(jī)制”部分活躍性增強(qiáng)。

    When these areas are stimulated--as they can be by food and drink, or even monetary gain--they produce feelings of euphoria.

    這些區(qū)域受到刺激時(shí)會(huì)產(chǎn)生愉悅的感覺(jué)，食物、飲料、甚至金錢利潤(rùn)都會(huì)刺激這些區(qū)域。

    But perhaps more surprisingly, both studies also showed reduced levels of activity in the systems necessary for making negative judgements.

    但更令人驚訝的或許是，這兩項(xiàng)研究也顯示，用于做出消極判斷的系統(tǒng)的活躍性水平降低。

    Lead researcher Dr Andreas Bartels said it was crucial that both romantic and maternal love were viewed by the brain in a highly positive way--because both were crucial to the perpetuation of the species.

    主任研究員安德里亞·巴特爾博士說(shuō)，至關(guān)重要的是，大腦用一種非常積極的方式來(lái)看待浪漫的愛(ài)情和母愛(ài)，因?yàn)樗鼈兌紝?duì)物種的永久延續(xù)十分重要。