NEW YORK, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- Mental exertion leads to irritation, frustration or other negative feelings in many situations, supporting the concept that it hurts to think, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association.
紐約 8 月 5 日（UPI）--根據美國心理學會發表的新研究，在許多情況下，腦力消耗會導致煩躁、沮喪或其他負面情緒，這支援了思考會很痛苦的概念。
The study, conducted by Radboud University in the Netherlands, appeared Monday in the association's monthly journal, Psychological Bulletin.
這項研究由荷蘭拉德堡德大學（Radboud University）進行，週一發表在該協會的月刊《心理學公報》（Psychological Bulletin）上。
Managers and educators frequently encourage individuals to exert mental effort, prompting them to often choose mentally challenging activities.
管理者和教育者經常鼓勵個人付出腦力勞動，促使他們經常選擇具有腦力挑戰的活動。
While this may indicate that people tend to enjoy thinking hard, the new study suggests the opposite, senior author Erik Bijleveld, a psychologist and associate professor at Radboud University, told UPI via email.
雖然這可能表明人們傾向於喜歡努力思考，但新研究表明情況恰恰相反，資深作者、心理學家、拉德堡德大學副教授埃裡克·比利夫德 （Erik Bijleveld） 通過電子郵件告訴 UPI。
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"So, it is useful to realize that, when it is really necessary to ask people to exert substantial mental effort, it is best to support or reward them," Bijleveld said.
“因此，重要的是要認識到，當確實需要要求人們付出大量的腦力勞動時，最好是支持或獎勵他們，”Bijleveld 說。
He pointed out that "there is a longstanding controversy in psychology about mental effort. Many psychologists assume that people avoid mental effort whenever they can."
他指出，「心理學中關於腦力勞動的長期爭議由來已久。許多心理學家認為，人們會盡可能避免腦力勞動。
They may take "mental shortcuts, like going with their gut feeling when making a decision, about something -- say, about which restaurant to go to -- rather than to weigh all relevant pieces of information, which is a lot of mental work," Bijleveld said.
他們可能會採取「心理捷徑，比如在做決定時憑直覺去做某件事——比如說，去哪家餐廳——而不是權衡所有相關的資訊，這是大量的腦力勞動，」Bijleveld 說。
Earlier studies indicate that people who can choose between two activities are more likely to opt for the one that requires less effort, he noted, adding, "In short, we know, generally, people prefer the path of least resistance, also mentally. So, it may well be true that people dislike mental effort."
他指出，早期的研究表明，可以在兩項活動之間進行選擇的人更有可能選擇需要較少努力的活動，並補充說：「簡而言之，我們知道，一般來說，人們更喜歡阻力最小的道路，在精神上也是如此。所以，人們不喜歡腦力勞動很可能是真的。
Bijleveld added that "on the other hand, psychologists also assume that people can easily learn associations between mental effort and rewards." He cited an example of students often receiving compliments in schools and universities after they have exerted mental effort.
Bijleveld 補充說，“另一方面，心理學家也假設人們可以很容易地瞭解腦力勞動和獎勵之間的關聯。他舉了一個例子，學生在付出了腦力勞動後，在學校和大學里經常受到表揚。
"So, in life, there are plenty opportunities to learn that mental effort is linked to reward," he said. "If this is true, people may well be able to learn to enjoy mental effort."
“所以，在生活中，有很多機會可以瞭解腦力勞動與回報有關，”他說。“如果這是真的，人們很可能能夠學會享受腦力勞動。”
To address this issue, Bijleveld and his collaborators decided to summarize and analyze a large amount of previous data on people who exerted mental effort.
為了解決這個問題，Bijleveld 和他的合作者決定總結和分析大量關於付出腦力勞動的人的先前數據。
They performed a "meta-analysis" of 170 studies, published between 2019 and 2020 and consisting of 4,670 participants, to examine how people generally experience mental effort.
他們對 2019 年至 2020 年間發表的 170 項研究進行了「薈萃分析」，該研究由 4,670 名參與者組成，以研究人們通常如何體驗腦力勞動。
A meta-analysis is a method for combining data from multiple studies to develop a single conclusion that has more statistical power.
薈萃分析是一種將來自多項研究的數據結合起來以得出具有更多統計效力的單一結論的方法。
The research team tested whether mental effort is associated with unpleasant feelings and whether that link depends on the task or the population involved.
研究小組測試了腦力勞動是否與不愉快的感覺有關，以及這種聯繫是否取決於任務或所涉及的人群。
These studies involved a variety of participants -- for instance, healthcare workers, military employees, amateur athletes and college students -- from 29 countries.
這些研究涉及來自29個國家/地區的各種參與者，例如醫護人員、軍人、業餘運動員和大學生。
The research team collected data from 358 different cognitive tasks -- learning a new technology, finding one's way around an unfamiliar environment, practicing golf swings and playing a virtual reality game, to name a few.
研究小組從 358 種不同的認知任務中收集了數據——學習新技術、在不熟悉的環境中找到自己的路、練習高爾夫揮杆和玩虛擬實境遊戲等等。
In all studies that researchers analyzed, participants reported the level of effort they exerted and the extent to which they had unpleasant feelings, such as frustration, irritation, stress or annoyance.
在研究人員分析的所有研究中，參與者都報告了他們付出的努力程度以及他們有不愉快感覺的程度，例如沮喪、煩躁、壓力或煩惱。
Across all populations and tasks, the more significant the mental effort, the higher the unpleasantness that participants experienced.
在所有人群和任務中，腦力勞動越重要，參與者經歷的不愉快就越高。
"The most striking finding was that mental effort feels unpleasant in such a wide range of settings and contexts," Bijleveld said.
“最引人注目的發現是，在如此廣泛的環境和環境中，腦力勞動會讓人感到不愉快，”Bijleveld 說。
"We really looked hard for possible exceptions -- maybe effort feels nice just in some tasks, or just for some people -- but we found no compelling evidence for this."
“我們真的在努力尋找可能的例外情況 -- 也許只是在某些任務中努力感覺很好，或者只是對某些人來說 -- 但我們沒有找到令人信服的證據。”
However, Bijleveld noted that mental effort seemed to feel slightly less unpleasant in Asian populations compared to their North American and European counterparts.
然而，Bijleveld指出，與北美和歐洲人群相比，亞洲人群的腦力勞動似乎感覺不那麼令人不快。
"This finding is intriguing," he said. "It could be explained by differences in school systems. Most of the data from Asia in our study was from China and Japan, and in those countries, children and adolescents do spend comparatively a lot of time on schoolwork."
“這個發現很有趣，”他說。這可以用學校系統的差異來解釋。在我們的研究中，來自亞洲的大部分數據來自中國和日本，在這些國家，兒童和青少年確實花了很多時間在功課上。
As a result, "exposure to mental effort early in life may train people to become more able to withstand higher levels of mental effort later on," Bijleveld said, while cautioning that other explanations may exist.
因此，“在生命早期接觸腦力勞動可能會訓練人們在以後變得更有能力承受更高水準的腦力勞動，”Bijleveld 說，同時警告說可能存在其他解釋。
For instance, the words "effort," "frustration" and "irritation" could have different connotations in other languages. Nonetheless, "mental effort was still clearly associated with negative feelings, also in Asia," he said.
例如，“effort”、“frustration” 和 “irritation” 等詞在其他語言中可能具有不同的含義。儘管如此，“腦力勞動仍然明顯地與負面情緒有關，在亞洲也是如此，”他說。
Intuitively, it makes sense that people would avoid demanding pursuits, said Stephanie Cox, a professor and clinical psychologist at the Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute at West Virginia University School of Medicine in Morgantown. She was not involved in the study.
從直覺上講，人們會避免苛刻的追求是有道理的，摩根敦西弗吉尼亞大學醫學院洛克菲勒神經科學研究所的教授兼臨床心理學家斯蒂芬妮·考克斯（Stephanie Cox）說。她沒有參與這項研究。
"This fact may also correlate with the overall rise in more passive forms of entertainment, media and leisure," Cox said. However, people shouldn't necessarily avoid something inherently strenuous, she added, citing exercise as an example.
“這一事實也可能與更被動的娛樂、媒體和休閒形式的整體興起有關，”考克斯說。然而，人們不一定應該避免本質上是劇烈的事情，她補充說，並以鍛煉為例。
"We do not want to steer clear of all activities that are meaningful and valuable in our lives just because they may be taxing," she said.
“我們不想僅僅因為它們可能會帶來負擔而避開所有對我們生活有意義和有價值的活動，”她說。
Simplifying things can help people struggle less mentally and experience better mood, said Michael Hoerger, an associate professor of psychology at Tulane University in New Orleans, who complimented the comprehensive study.
新奧爾良杜蘭大學（Tulane University）心理學副教授邁克爾·霍格（Michael Hoerger）說，簡化事情可以幫助人們減少精神上的掙扎，體驗到更好的情緒，他對這項全面的研究表示讚賞。
"The findings have broad implications," Hoerger said. "For example, a well-organized job application that is easy to read can help a hiring manager expend less mental effort, maintain a good mood and offer a job.
“這些發現具有廣泛的意義，”Hoerger 說。“例如，一份組織良好且易於閱讀的工作申請可以説明招聘經理減少腦力勞動，保持好心情並提供工作。
Also, he observed that "when shoppers are making purchases, they may be more satisfied if given only a few good options rather than everything under the sun."
此外，他觀察到，「當購物者進行購買時，如果只提供少數幾個好的選擇，而不是陽光下的所有選擇，他們可能會更滿意。
David Rosmarin, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School in Boston, said it's important to differentiate between mental challenges and anxiety, depression or other serious distress that warrants professional help.
波士頓哈佛醫學院（Harvard Medical School）的副教授大衛·羅斯馬林（David Rosmarin）說，區分心理挑戰和焦慮、抑鬱或其他需要專業説明的嚴重痛苦是很重要的。
"Challenges -- mental or otherwise -- are almost always part of the package when people are pursuing their goals and dreams," said Rosmarin, who also is a clinical psychologist at McLean Hospital, which serves communities in eastern, southeastern and central Massachusetts.
“當人們追求自己的目標和夢想時，挑戰——無論是精神上的還是其他方面的——幾乎總是一攬子計劃的一部分，”羅斯馬林說，他也是麥克萊恩醫院的臨床心理學家，該醫院為馬薩諸塞州東部、東南部和中部的社區提供服務。
"Our culture is simultaneously allergic to aversion," he added. "But ironically, we pride ourselves on performance and success, which require withstanding adversity and being resilient in the face of stress."
“我們的文化同時對厭惡過敏，”他補充說。“但具有諷刺意味的是，我們為表現和成功感到自豪，這需要承受逆境並在面對壓力時保持韌性。”
