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Maybe you've heard the advice, "write drunk, and edit sober."
也许你听过这样的建议，“醉时写文章，醒时再编辑。”
Or about the "Ballmer peak" — that people write computer code best if they calibrate their blood alcohol level to be just right.
或者说“鲍尔默峰”，即如果人们把血液中的酒精含量调整到合适的水平，他们编写电脑代码的能力就最好。
Even if these are meant as jokes, lots of writers and artists use alcohol to try to get their creative juices flowing.
即使这些都是开玩笑，但许多作家和艺术家也会用酒来让他们的创意思维流动起来。
And it turns out researchers have, in fact, spent some time studying whether some alcohol can make you more creative — and they've found that it does, at least in some ways.
事实上，研究人员花时间研究了某些酒水是否能让人更有创造力。他们发现，至少在某些方面是这样的。
But as you might guess, there are limits to this, and you shouldn't go overboard.
但正如你可能猜到的那样，其效果是有限度的，你不应该做得太过火。
To start, it helps to know what alcohol actually does in your brain.
首先，了解酒精在大脑中的作用是有帮助的。
And from animal studies, we know that alcohol stimulates the release of the neurotransmitter GABA, short for gamma-aminobutyric acid,
从动物研究中，我们知道酒精会刺激神经递质GABA的释放，这是γ-氨基丁酸的缩写，
which is an inhibitory neurotransmitter, meaning it makes neurons a little less likely to fire.
它是一种抑制性神经递质，意味着它可以使神经元不太可能激活。
That's actually one of the main ways it lowers your inhibitions.
这实际上是降低抑制的主要方法之一。
Turns out, restraining yourself takes thought.
事实证明，克制自己需要花费脑力。
Studies have found people who have been drinking do worse at something called a go/no-go task, for example.
例如，研究发现，喝酒的人在一项叫做“去/不去”的任务中表现更糟糕。
That's a game where people usually have to press a button if a rule is followed, but not if it breaks a second rule.
在这个游戏中，如果人们遵循了一条规则，通常需要按一个按钮，但如果打破了第二条规则，就不去动按钮。
Like for example, push a button if you see a red shape, but not if it's a red square
例如，如果你看到一个红色的形状，就按下一个按钮，但如果那是一个红色正方形，就不要按。
So most people get an urge to click, but then need to pull back from it.
所以，大多数人都会有按的冲动，但需要冷静处理。
In a 2014 study of 50 volunteers, this struggle to follow the rules was linked to reduced activation of two brain regions: the insula and occipito-temporal cortex.
在2014年对50名志愿者进行的一项研究中，是否要遵守规则的抉择与两个大脑区域（脑岛和枕颞皮层）的激活度下降相关。
Sober participants activated those areas a lot more when they were keeping themselves from pushing a button;
清醒的参与者在不让自己按按钮时，激活这些区域的次数要更多；
the participants with a blood alcohol content between 0.06 % and 0.07% had less activation, and were more likely to push the button when they shouldn't.
血液中酒精含量在0.06%到0.07%之间的参与者，激活次数较少，更可能在不应该按的时候按下按钮。
Since alcohol lowers inhibitions, you might think it makes sense that it could help you be more creative.
既然酒精能降低抑制度，你可能会认为它能帮助你变得更有创造力。
After all, if it helps the words flow out of your mouth to that random person at the bar, it might also help words flow out of your brain onto a piece of paper.
毕竟，如果它能让单词从你的口中说给酒吧里的某个人听，它也有助于单词从大脑中流淌到一张纸上。
And researchers have looked into this — but since it's hard to test whether writing or art become objectively better,
研究人员对此进行了研究，但由于很难检验文字或艺术是否客观上变得更好，
they turned to some measures psychologists use to gauge creative thinking‚ like the remote associates test.
他们使用心理学家用来衡量创造性思维的一些指标，比如远程联想测试。
That's where you have to figure out how 3 different things are related.
所以你要弄清楚三个不同事物是如何相互联结的。
Like, if I said foul, ground, and mate, you might want to come up with "play" as a word that commonly goes with all of them.
比如，如果我说“犯规”、“防守”和“队友”，你可能会想用“打球”这个词来和它们搭配。
Basically, it's a challenge that requires some creative thinking.
基本上，这是一项需要创造性思维的挑战。
In a 2012 study, researchers recruited 20 people as drinkers, and 20 others to serve as controls who stayed sober.
在2012年的一项研究中，研究人员招募了20人作为饮酒者，另外20个清醒者作为对照组。
Then, and this is just what they did, they gave the drinking group vodka cranberries while they watched Ratatouille until their blood alcohol level got to about 0.075%
他们的做法是给饮酒组喝伏特加蔓越莓，同时让他们观看电影《美食总动员》，直到他们血液中的酒精含量达到0.075%，
— close, but not over the legal driving limit in the U.S. Sounds like a good day.
这个数值接近、但没有超过美国驾驶的法定饮酒限度，这听起来真是个好日子。
Compared to the group who only watched the movie, those who drank solved way more of the remote associates problems, and did so more quickly, too.
与那些只看电影的人相比，喝酒者解决了更多远程联想测试中的问题，而且速度也更快。
Follow-up research looked at why this works.
后续研究调查了其中的原因。
This time, they aimed for a lower blood alcohol level of about 0.03, and this allowed them to use a placebo control group
这一次，他们的目标是将血液中的酒精含量降低到0.03左右，这样他们就可以使用安慰剂对照组。
— that's low enough that people might not have known whether they were drinking or not.
这一酒精含量极低，人们可能不知道他们是否正在饮酒。
Oh, and they replaced vodka cranberries with beer, and Ratatouille with a documentary about South Africa.
哦，他们用啤酒代替了伏特加和蔓越莓，还用一部有关南非的纪录片替换了电影《美食总动员》。
It's in a paper, so I thought guess we just mention it.
它发表在一篇论文中，所以我想我们提一下就好。
They found the same thing as before — improved scores on a remote associates test.
他们发现了和之前一样的结果，远程联想测试的得分提高了。
But the drinkers didn't improve on a test designed to measure divergent thinking: naming as many uses as possible for common items like a shoe.
但在一项旨在衡量发散性思维的测试中，即说出鞋子等常见物品的用途，越多越好，饮酒者的得分并未提高。
So it's not that alcohol makes you universally more creative — it's more like it makes it harder for you to keep your attention in one place.
所以，并不是酒精让你变得更具创造力，更像是酒精让你更难把注意力集中在一个地方。
And when you're looking for random connections, that might actually be a good thing.
当你在寻找随机性的关联时，这可能是一件好事。
The buzzed participants also did worse on a test of executive control, which is a set of abilities you use when you're doing some effortful thinking, like working memory and response inhibition.
微醉的参与者进行执行控制能力测试时，表现得也更糟糕。执行控制能力，是你在努力思考时用到的一组能力，比如工作记忆和反应抑制。
Specifically they took a two-back test.
具体地说，他们是做了一个双背测试。
Basically, they had to report whether a letter they were given was the same as the one two before it.
他们必须报告，收到的一封信是否和之前的信件一样。
All of which goes to show the small amount of alcohol was impairing their thinking — just in a way that made them do better on one measure of creativity.
所有这些都表明，少量的酒精会削弱他们的思维——只是让他们在创造力的某个方面做得更好。
And that's because, in the end, "creativity" isn't a single process in our brains.
这是因为，归根结底，“创造力”不是大脑中的单一过程。
There are parts of it that require some real thought, and others where you might do better if you don't overthink it.
其中有些部分需要真正地去思考，而有些部分如果你不去考虑过多，你可能会做得更好。
And alcohol is great at helping you not think things.
不需要思考时，酒精倒是可以帮到你。
But even this isn't the whole story, because alcohol also has expectancy effects.
即使这不是全部结果，因为酒精也有预期效应。
Basically, you have some expectations of what will happen when you drink, and then you behave accordingly.
基本上，你对喝酒时会发生的事情如果有一些预期，那么你也会相应地表现出来。
One study of 116 men manipulated both whether they were assigned to get alcohol or not, and whether they were told they were going to be drinking or not.
在一项对116名男性进行的研究中，研究者将他们分到饮酒组和不饮酒组，有些人被告知会饮酒，有些则不知道。
They even brushed the rims of glasses with vodka in the placebo group — those that were told they were getting alcohol but didn't — to make it convincing.
他们甚至在安慰剂组，把伏特加刷在玻璃杯的边缘。这样可以使那些被告知自己在喝酒，但其实并没有的人能够相信。
And the participants' performance on a creative card sorting task improved when they thought they'd been drinking — but not necessarily when they actually were.
当参与者认为自己在喝酒时，他们在一项创造性卡片分类任务上的表现提高了。但他们不一定是真的喝了酒。
Which is to say that most of the time when you drink, you're not in a randomized, placebo-controlled trial — you know you're drinking.
也就是说，当你喝酒时，大多数情况下不是在随机、安慰剂对照的试验中。你知道自己在喝酒。
So you might overestimate how much your abilities improve as a result.
所以你可能会高估自己能力的提升。
And you might overestimate how awesome your alcohol-inspired creativity is it in the moment, too.
你也可能会高估酒精激发的惊人创造力。
Like, in that first study with the vodka crans and Ratatouille, the participants who had been drinking rated their correct answers as way more insightful than the sober folks did.
比如，在第一次对伏特加蔓越莓搭配电影《美食总动员》的研究中，饮酒者认为他们的正确答案比清醒者更有洞见。
And that might be because alcohol stimulates the release of dopamine and serotonin — both of which are often called feel-good neurotransmitters.
这可能是因为酒精刺激多巴胺和血清素的释放，这两种物质通常被称为“让人感觉良好的神经递质”。
They're probably why people like to drink in the first place, since dopamine is a key part of your brain's reward system.
这可能是人们喜欢喝酒的原因，因为多巴胺是大脑奖励系统的关键部分。
And research has linked it to things like curiosity and the experience of insight.
研究也把它与好奇心和洞察力联系起来。
But the flood of dopamine you get from drinking could falsely make you think you've done something incredible,
但是，你通过饮酒中得到的大量多巴胺，可能会让你错误地认为自己做了一些不可思议的事情，
because you might feel that glorious "Aha!" you get when you create beautiful things from the booze instead of your work.
因为你可能感觉是酒让你创造出美好的事物，而不是你的工作。
And even if drinking might improve some elements of your thinking, it's good to remember it impairs others.
即使饮酒可能会改善思维的一些要素，但要记住，酒也会损害其它要素。
Like, one study found that having a 0.05% blood alcohol level made performance on memory and learning tests worse than staying awake for 24 hours.
比如，一项研究发现，血液中酒精含量为0.05%的人在记忆和学习测试中的表现，比24小时都保持清醒的人更糟。
So if you've been drinking, you might not remember the details of, say, what you wrote on the previous page.
所以，如果你一直在饮酒，你可能不记得你在上一页写过的细节内容。
Alcohol seems to have the effect of making complicated situations seem simple — so like if you're writing the next big mystery novel,
酒精似乎能让复杂情况变得简单。比如，你正在写下一部伟大的神秘小说，
drinking too much might make it harder for you to weave in the right amount of misdirection for your M.-Night-Shyamalan-style plot twist.
饮酒过多可能会使你更难为主人公的剧情发展找对方向。
In the end, it's possible alcohol can help you a little, but it's good to remember, obviously not to go overboard.
总而言之，酒精可能会对你有些许帮助。但要记得，不要喝得太多。
All of these studies were testing blood alcohol levels below the usual legal driving limit.
所有这些研究中测试的血液中酒精含量，都低于驾驶时法定的饮酒限制。
And hopefully, we're not the first to tell you that there are some health risks to drinking too much alcohol.
希望我们不是第一个告诉你，过量饮酒会对健康造成危害。
So drink responsibly.
所以，请负责任地喝酒。
And if you do have a glass of wine to help the words flow a little more easily, be sure you edit your work in the morning.
如果你确实是在喝着一杯葡萄酒时，更容易文思泉涌，那么一定要在早上编辑写好的东西。
If you're thinking about how creative you are or aren't with a little booze, I have a feeling you're a curious person in general.
如果你在考虑你有多么富有创造力，或是不喝一点酒，我会觉得你是一个蛮好奇的人。
And if that's the case, you'll probably enjoy a lot of the videos you can watch with Curiosity Stream.
如果真是这样的话，你可能会喜欢用Curiosity Stream观看很多视频。
You see, CuriosityStream is a subscription streaming service that offers over 2400 documentaries and nonfiction titles from some of the world's best filmmakers, including exclusive originals.
CuriosityStream 是一个订阅式流媒体服务，提供2400多部纪录片和纪实视频，其中一些由全球最好的电影制作人制作，包括独家原创视频。
And they have videos on nature, history, technology, and society and lifestyle, too.
他们也有关于自然、历史、技术、社会和生活方式的视频。
Like, if you're already thinking about alcohol, you could check out "Master Of Wine".
如果你已经在考虑饮酒的事，可以去看看“葡萄酒大师”。
This Curiosity Stream original documentary follows candidates seeking the coveted title of 'Master Sommelier' to show just how hard it is to be a true wine expert.
这部Curiosity Stream上的原创纪录片，讲述的是追寻令人垂涎的“品酒大师”头衔的候选者们，历经千辛万苦成为真正的葡萄酒专家的故事。
And for as little as $2.99 a month, you can get access to it and all of their other videos.
每月只要2.99美元，就可以访问Curiosity Stream，并观看他们其他方面的所有视频。
And if that's not enough, as a SciShow Psych viewer, your first 31 days could be completely free!
如果这样还不够的话，作为一个心理科学秀的观众，前31天可以免费收看！
All you have to do is sign up at curiositystream.com/Psych and use the promo code 'psych' during the sign-up process.
你只需在curiositystream.com/ Psych注册，并在注册时使用促销代码“psych”。
