And I started reading up and when I looking at literature and there's a lot of research on it,
我开始阅读这方面内容,我查看文献时,看到很多关于这方面的研究
it actually started off centuries ago in religious practices,
实际上在几世纪前宗教实践时就出现
was brought to athletics through east European athletes who would imagine themselves, say,
被东欧运动员引入到体育运动中他们会想象自己,比如
running around the track and then standing on the podium, receiving the gold medal.
在跑道上跑然后站在颁奖台上领取金牌
And more and more psychologists started to implement it.
越来越多的心理学家把它应用起来
Sales people use it very effectively, seeing themselves actually striking the deal, going through with it, doing it and succeeding.
销售人员很有效地使用它,想象自己真的谈成了生意,经历困难,去做,并获得成功
And that made it much more likely to come true.
那让它更有可能成为现实
The question is why? What's the mechanism behind visualization?
为什么?形象化背后有什么原理?
Why is it so important? Why is it so good?
为什么这么重要?为什么它这么好?
Why is it so effective?
为什么它这么有效?
Why it being used so widely and successfully?
为什么被这么广泛而成功地使用?
And the answer goes back to the structure of our brains.
答案归结到我们大脑的结构上
This is research done by the head of psychology department, Professor Steven Kosslyn.
这个研究是由心理系主任,史蒂芬·考斯林教授做的
What he shows was that when we see something, so let's say I'm looking at my hand right now.
他说当我们看某样东西时,比如说我现在看着我的手
There are certain neurons in my brain that are firing, that actually take on the shape of this hand.
我大脑中的某些神经元被激活,实际上记住了这只手的形状
My visual cortex, the back.
我的视觉皮质,后部
Now, if I close my eyes and imagine that I'm looking at this hand,
现在,如果我闭上眼想象我在看这只手
even if it's not here, if I imagine that I look at this hand, the exact same neurons are firing.
即使它不在那,如果我想象看这只手相同的神经元会激活
In other words, my brain does not know the difference between the real thing and the imaginary thing.
换句话说,我的大脑无法区别真实的事物和想象的事物
Which explains why dreams can be so vivid, in the middle of the night, pitch dark, and you are dreaming about mid of the day, walking around the yard.
这解释了为什么梦境会那么生动,在漆黑的深夜,你正梦到中午在院子里散步