Stressors inhibit curiosity and therefore block brain enrichment effects. Animals growing up in a stressful environment are also more sensitive to stress as adults .
压力因子会抑制好奇心,因此会阻碍大脑丰富的功能。如果幼年的动物们在一个充满压力的环境中长大,那么成年之后它们对压力也会更加地敏感。
Poverty is a complex stressor and it does a great deal to perpetuate social status differences in a society where social mobility mostly requires educational success.
贫穷是一个复杂的压力源,它与永久性的社会地位有很大的关系,在社会中,阶层的流动几乎全部依靠教育的成功。
遭受家庭暴力的孩子在IQ测试中的得分都很低,如果说心理压力与这个毫无关系,谁也不会相信。
Psychological stress may crimp intelligence, and school performance, through several different pathways, of which inhibiting intellectual curiosity and exploration is the most obvious.
心理压力可能会抑制智力、妨碍学习成绩。尽管有多种不同的途径妨碍学习,但其中抑制求知欲和探索欲是最明显的两方面。
Multiple Pathways
多重学习途径
We know that an enriched environment promotes growth and diversification in the connections formed by the brain's neurons.
我们知道丰富的环境可以促进成长,并且能够使大脑神经形成多样化的连接。
心理压力却有着反作用,并且这种反作用在老化现象研究专家眼中尤为明显,他们注意到,有严重压力的经历的老年人得老年痴呆会更加严重,这种压力经历包括与要好的朋友发生激烈的争执。
Stress hormones effectively undo the beneficial effects of enrichment and prune back the branching of dendrites. It is no exaggeration to say that high levels of stress hormones, such as cortisol, are toxic to the brain .
压力荷尔蒙能够有力地抵消丰富环境带来的有利影响,并且能删除神经树突的分支。可以毫不夸张地说,高水平的压力荷尔蒙,比如肾上腺皮质素,对大脑极其有害。
Stress in childhood can impair intellectual function much as lead poisoning does but the effects may not be direct.
童年的压力就像铅中毒一样能够削弱智力功能,但是这种影响是间接的。
This phenomenon was highlighted in a well-known study of IQ as a function of parental income .
这种现象在众所周知的IQ研究中被着重强调,而且被当做父母收入功能的影响来强调。
Parents in poorer homes spent a lot less time talking to their children that is negative for their academic prospects because it is the equivalent of subtracting what is likely one of the most enriching experiences for small children, namely being engaged by their parents.
贫穷家庭的父母很少会花时间和他们的孩子说话,这会对孩子未来的学习会产生消极影响,因为对小孩子来说,这种做法就相当于缺失了最丰富的经历,即父母的参与。
Even more disturbing is the fact that what parents had to say in poor homes was overwhelmingly negative, or scolding. In effect, they were piling on the neurotoxins whilst withdrawing the environmental enrichment.
甚至更多的障碍都是如此,贫穷家庭的父母说话都极度消极,或口出责备。事实上,他们在抽离环境丰富度的同时也堆积着大量的毒素。