Whether it’s Chinese social media like Sina Weibo, or Western media like Instagram and Facebook, videos can go viral in mere hours.
不管是在新浪微博等中國社交媒體，還是在照片墻、臉書等西方社交媒體上，視頻都能在幾小時(shí)內(nèi)迅速爆火。

The wide range of viral videos suggests that popular concepts are largely random. After all, what links the recent broom challenge to funny internet cat videos?
包羅萬象的爆款視頻表明，流行話題大多數(shù)都是隨機(jī)出現(xiàn)的。畢竟，最近的立掃帚挑戰(zhàn)和網(wǎng)上的萌貓視頻又有什么聯(lián)系呢？

According to scientists from Stanford University, US, the virality of a video can be predicted by looking at how certain areas of a person’s brain are activated within the first few seconds of a video. This method has been called neuroforecasting.
美國斯坦福大學(xué)的科學(xué)家們認(rèn)為，一段視頻的火爆程度能夠通過觀察這段視頻開頭幾秒如何激活人們大腦特定區(qū)域來做出預(yù)測。這一方法被稱為神經(jīng)預(yù)測。

The team made the finding by recruiting 36 volunteers to watch a range of videos while being scanned with an fMRI – a machine that can detect the changes in blood oxygen and flow.
科研團(tuán)隊(duì)招募了36名志愿者，讓他們一邊看一系列視頻，一邊接受功能性磁共振成像監(jiān)測 —— 該設(shè)備能夠發(fā)現(xiàn)血氧和血流的變化，從而得出結(jié)論。

Participants were shown 32 different videos and were monitored according to their brain responses in four different areas. The results showed that specific brain activity during the first four seconds of a video could effectively predict a person’s thoughts on a video and whether they would keep watching.
實(shí)驗(yàn)讓參與者們觀看了32段不同的視頻，并對大腦四個(gè)不同區(qū)域的反應(yīng)進(jìn)行了監(jiān)測。結(jié)果顯示，視頻開頭前四秒的特定大腦活動(dòng)能夠有效預(yù)測人們對視頻的看法，以及他們是否會(huì)繼續(xù)看下去。

Using the fMRI results, the Stanford team consistently saw increased activity in the nucleus accumbens and decreased activity in the anterior insula parts of the brain while the participants were watching the most popular of the 32-video selection.
當(dāng)參與者們觀看32段視頻中最受歡迎的視頻時(shí)，斯坦福團(tuán)隊(duì)根據(jù)功能性磁共振成像的結(jié)果，一致發(fā)現(xiàn)大腦伏核部分的活動(dòng)增加，前腦島部分的活動(dòng)減少。

According to the study, these two brain regions are related to the feeling of anticipation we get when we’re not certain of something’s outcome.
研究表明，大腦這兩塊區(qū)域與我們面對未知結(jié)果的預(yù)期感覺有關(guān)。

Stanford neuroscientist, and the study’s author, Brian Knutson, said: “If we examine our subjects’ choices to watch the video or even their reported responses to the videos, they don’t tell us about the general response online … Only brain activity seems to forecast a video’s popularity on the internet.”
斯坦福大學(xué)神經(jīng)學(xué)家、該研究作者布萊恩·克努森表示：“如果我們觀察選擇觀看的視頻主題，或者甚至是實(shí)驗(yàn)報(bào)告中對于視頻的反應(yīng)，都無法體現(xiàn)網(wǎng)上的大致反響……只有大腦活動(dòng)似乎能夠預(yù)測視頻在網(wǎng)上的流行程度。”

He added, “Future research might also systematically deconstruct” video content so content creators can use these findings to make their videos more popular.
他還補(bǔ)充道：“未來的研究或許還會(huì)系統(tǒng)地拆析”視頻內(nèi)容，這樣內(nèi)容創(chuàng)作者便能利用這些發(fā)現(xiàn)，讓自己的視頻更受歡迎。

In the future, the team aims to use this type of fMRI experiment to understand “whether processes that generate individual choice can tell us something about choices made by large groups of people”. According to Knutson, this could apply to shopping trends, charity support and general money-spending.
未來，該團(tuán)隊(duì)計(jì)劃通過這種功能性磁共振成像實(shí)驗(yàn)來了解“個(gè)體做出選擇的過程中是否能夠揭示大部分群體所做出的選擇”。克努森認(rèn)為，這點(diǎn)能夠應(yīng)用于購物趨勢、慈善資助以及大眾消費(fèi)。

以上文章內(nèi)容選自《21世紀(jì)學(xué)生英文報(bào)高中版》，詳情請見《21世紀(jì)學(xué)生英文報(bào)高中版》高三715期