囧研究 吃雞蛋讓人變大方

If you are looking for a loan, serving your bank manager breakfast might just do the trick.
如果你想要貸款，請銀行經理吃個早餐說不定能幫你忙。

A compound found in eggs makes people much more generous, new research suggests.
最新研究表明，雞蛋裏含有的某種複合物會使人們變得更加慷慨大方。

Scientists say that tryptophan, an amino acid found in some foods, can change our behaviour.
科學家稱，一些食物中所含的一種叫做色氨酸的氨基酸能夠改變人們的行爲。

In experiments they found that consuming a small portion of tryptophan - the equivalent of that found in three eggs - doubled the sum volunteers gave to charity.
研究者們通過實驗發現，攝入少量色氨酸（大概是三個雞蛋中所含該物質的含量）能夠使被試捐款人的捐款數目增加一倍。

Eggs and other foods such as fish and milk are rich in tryptophan, an amino acid that is converted in the body into the feel-good chemical serotonin.
雞蛋、魚、牛奶等都富含色氨酸，色氨酸能在人體內轉化爲讓人感到愉快的化學物質5-羥色胺。

Psychologists from Leiden University in the Netherlands, writing in the Frontiers in Psychology journal, said: ‘For the first time, we investigated whether the administration of a compound contained in food such as fish, eggs, soy, and milk can promote charitable donating.
荷蘭萊頓大學的心理學家在發表於《心理學前沿》期刊裏的文章中寫道：“這是我們第一次研究如魚、雞蛋、豆和牛奶等食物中含有的化合物是否會對慷慨捐贈行爲產生促進作用。”

‘Our study is the first demonstration that charitable donating can be enhanced by serotonin-related food supplements.’
“我們的研究首次證明了，通過增加包含色氨酸的食物攝入量能夠促進人們的慈善捐贈行爲。”

The authors carried out an experiment on 32 men and women, in which half were given a powder containing 0.8 grams of TRP, and the others were given a harmless placebo powder.
該實驗包括男性、女性被試共32名，其中一半被試食用的是含有0.8克的色氨酸粉末，另外一半則食用一種無害的安慰劑粉末。

Each participant was given £7.50 ($11.25) for taking part in the research and asked whether they were willing to donate part of their financial reward to charity.
每個參與實驗的被試都被給予7.5英鎊，並被詢問是否願意把這些錢捐給慈善機構。

Four boxes for Unicef, Amnesty International, Greenpeace, and World Wildlife Fund were left on a table.
桌子上擺放着四個慈善機構的盒子，這四個慈善機構分別是聯合國兒童基金會，大赦國際，綠色和平組織和世界野生動物基金會。

When the psychologists counted the takings, they found that those given the TRP powder donated an average of 75p ($1.15), while those who received the placebo donated half as much.
心理學家計算捐款數額後發現，攝入色氨酸粉末的被試平均捐出了75便士，而食用安慰劑的被試則只捐出了一半的數額

Just how a food supplement could have such an effect is not clear, but the scientists suggest the involvement of oxytocin, the so-called ‘cuddle’ hormone produced by women during breastfeeding and lovemaking.
爲什麼一種食品添加劑可以產生這樣效果目前還不清楚，但科學家們認爲這可能與後葉催產素有關，後葉催產素是女性在哺乳和性交期間會產生的一種所謂的“擁抱”荷爾蒙。

They wrote: ‘It may be likely that the willingness to donate money to a charity is modulated by the effect that serotonin exerts on oxytocin levels.
他們寫道：“捐款的意願可能受5-羥色胺對後葉催產素水平影響的調控。”

‘Our results support the materialist approach that “you are what you eat”.
“我們的研究結果支持了唯物主義者的說法即‘吃什麼東西就會產生什麼行爲’。”

‘The idea [is] that the food one eats has a bearing on one’s state of mind. The food we eat may thus act as a cognitive enhancer that modulates the way we deal with the “social” world.'
“人們所吃的食物會影響到大腦的狀態。就這樣食物扮演了認知促進者的角色，調控着人們應對‘社交’世界的方式。”

Commenting on the research, Dr Adam Perkins, neurobiologist at King’s College London, said the study could be useful in prisons to encourage harmony among inmates.
倫敦國王學院的神經生物學家亞當·帕金斯認爲這項研究結果可以運用於監獄，對促進犯人間的和諧會非常有效。

He said: ‘These results are interesting because they raise the possibility that dietary supplements containing TRP could be used to assist with boosting charitable attitudes and behaviour in the population.’
他說：“這個研究的結果非常有趣，只要增加含有色氨酸的食物攝入量，就能很好地促進全民行善的意願和行爲。”