生活中最容易產生的錯覺:手機震動

Many mobile phone users keep checking their mobile phones thinking it has vibrated, only to find no one has called. This sensory hallucination has a name - Phantom Vibration Syndrome (PVS) and it is a common phenomenon with people carrying pagers or cell phones kept on 'vibrate' mode.
人生有三大錯覺：手機震動，有人敲門，他/她喜歡我。不少手機使用者老以爲自己的手機震動了，結果看了之後才發現根本沒人打電話來。這種幻覺名爲——幽靈震動綜合症(Phantom Vibration Syndrome,PVS),佩戴傳呼機和手機的人常常會有這種情況。

PVS is also called 'ringxiety' most probably because this syndrome is not limited to phones in 'vibrate' mode but include ring tones as well. So much so, Phantom Vibration Syndrome has been named the Macquarie Dictionary's Word for the Year 2012.
PVS這種現象不僅僅限於手機“震動”，還有響鈴。這一現象如此普遍，因此2012年，幽靈震動綜合症還被評爲年度熱詞。

Mobile phones, suggest psychologists, are now recognized as a form of self-expressive identity. The younger generations of mobile phone users personalize their phones to express their identity by decorating their phones and having unique ring-tones.
心理學家認爲，手機現在已經成爲了自我表達的一種形式。年輕一代的手機用戶裝飾自己的手機或者採用獨一無二的鈴聲，來表現自己的個性。

Secondly, many young people believe use of mobile phones enhances social inclusion by allowing them to remain in contact with friends and peers at all times. They report feeling loved and valued when they receive contact on their mobile phone. Thus, validation from others sort of enhances feelings of self-worth in these people.
另一方面，很多年輕人認爲使用手機讓他們和親友一直保持聯絡，可以增強自己的社交性。他們稱他人通過手機聯繫他們的時候，自己感受到被愛和被需要。因此，他人的認可某種程度上讓他們感受到了自我價值。

Research has shown that people who receive validation from others via their mobile phone become over-involved with their mobile phone in a manner similar to an addictive pattern of behavior.
研究顯示，那些從手機上收到他人認可的人，變得過度依賴手機，這種情緒和強迫症有點像。

A survey conducted by Michael B Rothberg and his colleagues suggest that nearly 70 percent of the surveyed medical students and house staff in hospitals experienced phantom vibrations in their cell phones or pagers, and the perceptions were most common among those who used it most often or carried the device in a breast pocket. For some of them, however, changing the location of the device stopped these imaginary vibrations.
Michael B Rothberg和他的團隊所作的一項調查中顯示，70％接受調查的醫學生和醫院住院醫師稱有過手機/傳呼機震動的錯覺。這一比例也是常常使用手機和隨身攜帶手機的人中感受過PVS的比例。對於他們中的一些人來說，換個地方放手機就能免受錯覺的困擾。

So, how does it happen? Researchers believe that phantom vibration syndrome may result from a misinterpretation of incoming sensory signals by the brain. 'In order to deal with the overwhelming amount of sensory input, the brain applies filters based on what it expects to find. In the case of phantom vibrations, because the brain is anticipating a call, it misinterprets sensory input'. The actual stimulus for this sensation could be the pressure from clothing, muscle contractions, or other sensory stimuli.
那麼，這一狀況究竟如何發生的呢？研究者認爲，可能是因爲大腦對所接收的感官信號產生了誤讀。“爲了處理接受到的海量的感官信號，大腦根據自己的需求來進行篩選。在手機震動錯覺中，就是因爲大腦希望接到電話，所以誤讀了接收到的信號。”而誘發這一錯覺的信號可能是服裝對身體的壓迫感，肌肉的震顫，或其他感官信號。

But it is still not known why some experience PVS while others don't or why some body locations are more PVS-prone than others. What is obvious is that younger generations are more susceptible to PVS. One theory is that neural plasticity (the brain's ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections) of younger people makes them more susceptible to imagine vibrations.
但是這還是不能解釋爲什麼有的人或者有的情況下PVS更容易發生。比較顯著的是年輕人更容易感受到這種錯覺。一種理論是年輕人的神經可塑性(大腦通過構建新的神經元聯繫來進行重塑的能力)更強，因此也更容易產生震動錯覺。

According to neuroscientists, plasticity in the brain is at its peak in the growing and learning individuals. Communication between nerve cells changes in response to brain activity generated by new and repeated experiences, in this case, ringing or vibrating of phones. It is very much like the new mothers who constantly imagine they hear their babies crying. In the same way young people addicted to mobile phones think their phone is vibrating or ringing as their brain becomes conditioned to respond to a phone ring or vibration.
根據神經科學家的研究，大腦的適應力在成長期和學習期的個體身上達到巔峯。全新且不斷重複的經驗而引起的大腦活動，會導致神經細胞之間的聯繫也隨之改變。在這一情況下，就是聽到手機響鈴或震動的經驗。這就像剛剛做媽媽的女性一直覺得自己的小孩在哭。同樣，離不開手機的年輕人總覺得自己的手機在向，因爲他們的大腦正在適應手機鈴聲或震動的聲音。

Neurological problem or not, maybe in the near future, when phantom vibration syndrome is better understood, there will be a cure for this condition.
不管這是不是神經的問題，在不久的將來這一問題可能會有更好的解答，也會有擺脫這一錯覺的方法。

Wait, is that my phone vibrating! Nope.
等等，我的手機震了！哦，沒有。