懷孕會讓人大腦縮水？一孕傻三年！
Women who are pregnant often report feeling a little fuzzy, a little dim and more forgetful than usual, but medical research has produced mixed data to support the so-called “baby brain” phenomenon.
孕婦常會覺得有些迷糊，較懷孕之前健忘不少，而針對這樣的“孕傻”現象，醫學研究給出了有多重數據支持的解釋。
Now a study that used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) confirms that mothers lose brain volume when they’re pregnant, adding to the debate.
最近，一項研究藉助功能性磁共振成像，證實了孕婦的大腦會縮水，由此引發一場熱議。
The authors of the new study, which was published in Nature Neuroscience, suspect the reductions they’ve detected may be a side-effect of “synaptic pruning,” which also happens to humans at age three and again during adolescence.
這項全新的研究被刊登在《自然神經學》雜誌上，其研究團隊猜想該現象是由“神經元剪切”導致的副作用 — 一般來說，人類會在三歲時經歷第一次“神經元剪切”，懷孕時經歷第二次。
In pregnant women, they speculate, the gray matter shrinkage may function as a similar kind of decluttering, but one that would optimize a woman’s ability to sense what’s going on for other people, what their moods are, and when the emotional weather is shifting.
研究人員推測，孕婦的灰質萎縮現象有點類似於“清理內存”，實際上會有助於她們去感知他人的狀態與情緒的變化。
This change would benefit a woman on the cusp of becoming a mother, as it would allow her to better anticipate and understand her baby’s needs.
而這種變化對於初爲人母的女性來說，利大於弊 — 它能幫助女性更好地感知與理解自己孩子的需求。
The authors say that shrinking plays out different in rodents. A mother’s brain changes in ways that tweak her ability to forage and hunt for food.
研究人員稱，（灰質）萎縮現象對於齧齒動物而言意義非比尋常。而母親大腦的變化則是爲了增強其覓食與哺食的能力。
“Sometimes less is more. Loss of volume does not necessarily translate to loss of function.”
“有些時候，少點要比多點好。腦容量減小並不意味着功能的缺失。”
Previous studies have suggested that pregnant women are better able to understand emotions encoded in faces, especially during late-stage pregnancy, while other scientists believe pregnancy turns women into better organizers.
在此之前曾有研究提出，孕婦（特別是處於妊娠晚期的孕婦）更擅長察言觀色。但也有很多科學家認爲，妊娠增強了女性的組織能力。
The potential upsides to “baby brain” keep adding up.
關於“孕傻”問題的潛在致使因素，可謂衆說紛紜。
