美国科学60秒 SSS 2013-04-15
时间：2018-12-24 作者：英语课 分类：Scientific American(四)月
英语课
When you hear an unfamiliar 1 tune 2, how do you wind up(卷起；振奋) either tapping your foot or plugging your ears? A study finds that a specific brain region gives the song a thumbs up or down. The research is in the journal Science.
As 19 subjects listened to samples of unfamiliar songs, their brains were scanned with a functional 3 MRI machine. After hearing each clip, the subjects could bid between zero and two dollars to purchase the song. And the values participants assigned to songs were associated with activity in the nucleus 4 accumbens, a section of the brain's pleasure center. For more popular tunes 5, this region was more active and communicated more with the brain region that stores auditory information.
The scientists think the nucleus accumbens, which helps set expectations, draws on(利用；招来) stored musical knowledge to predict how a new tune will play out. When the music fulfills 6 or even exceeds these expectations, the listener feels rewarded. So your listening history helps determine whether you’ll like a new song - or tell it to hit the road(开始流浪).
1 unfamiliar
adj.陌生的，不熟悉的
- I am unfamiliar with the place and the people here.我在这儿人地生疏。
- The man seemed unfamiliar to me.这人很面生。
2 tune
n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整
- He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
- The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。
3 functional
adj.为实用而设计的，具备功能的，起作用的
- The telephone was out of order,but is functional now.电话刚才坏了，但现在可以用了。
- The furniture is not fancy,just functional.这些家具不是摆着好看的，只是为了实用。
4 nucleus
n.核，核心，原子核
- These young people formed the nucleus of the club.这些年轻人成了俱乐部的核心。
- These councils would form the nucleus of a future regime.这些委员会将成为一个未来政权的核心。