推迟婚姻可以让大脑变得更聪明？

The Case for Delayed Adulthood

关于成年期推迟的案例

译者：AaronAniki

One of the most notable demographic trends of the last two decades has been the delayed entry of young people into adulthood.

最近这二十年来最令人瞩目的人口统计趋势之一就是年轻人进入成年期的推迟的记录。

According to a large-scale national study conducted since the late 1970s，it has taken longer for each successive generation to finish school, establish financial independence, marry and have children.

根据从二十世纪七十年代的大范围的全国性的研究，每下一代完成学业，经济独立，结婚生子的时间要比以前更长。

Today’s 25-year-olds, compared with their parents’ generation at the same age, are twice as likely to still be students, only half as likely to be married and 50 percent more likely to be receiving financial assistance from their parents.

今天的25岁的年轻人，相比较于相同年龄的他们的父母辈，依旧是学生的概率增加了一倍，只有一半的人结了婚，但还有50%的人很可能依旧从父母那接受经济援助。

People tend to react to this trend in one of two ways, either castigating today’s young people for their idleness or acknowledging delayed adulthood as a rational, if regrettable, response to a variety of social changes, like poor job prospects.

人们对此趋势有两种反应，第一种就是严厉批评当今的年轻人的惰性和他们对晚熟成年期的默许。有时候悲叹地归因于一系列的社会变化，比如惨淡的就业前景。

Either way, postponing the settled, responsible patterns of adulthood is seen as a bad thing.

另外一种，认为推迟稳定有担当的成年期不是一件好事。

This is too pessimistic. Prolonged adolescence, in the right circumstances, is actually a good thing, for it fosters novelty-seeking and the acquisition of new skills.

这样就太悲观了。延长的青少年时期，在合适的条件下，实际上是一件好事，因为它有助于新能力的开发和习得。

Studies reveal adolescence to be a period of heightened “plasticity” during which the brain is highly influenced by experience.

研究表明青少年时期是提高“可塑性”主要是通过大脑受经验指导。

As a result, adolescence is both a time of opportunity and vulnerability, a time when much is learned, especially about the social world, but when exposure to stressful events can be particularly devastating.

结果，青少年时期是机遇和脆弱并存的时期，这个时候学了很多东西，特别是关于社会，但一旦面临压力的时候尤其容易崩溃。

As we leave adolescence, a series of neurochemical changes make the brain increasingly less plastic and less sensitive to environmental influences.

当青少年时期过后，我们身体一系列的脑神经变化导致我们变得不那么具有可塑性和对周围环境的变化不那么敏感了。

Once we reach adulthood, existing brain circuits can be tweaked, but they can’t be overhauled.

一旦进入成年期，我们脑中的回路不那么清晰了，而且不能弥补。

You might assume that this is a strictly biological phenomenon. But whether the timing of the change from adolescence to adulthood is genetically preprogrammed from birth or set by experience (or some combination of the two) is not known.

你可以会说这是一个全然的生物学现象。但这种从青少年时期到成年期的变化是否从出生开始就受到基因，或者经验影响，又或者是两者都是，不得而知。

Many studies find a marked decline in novelty-seeking as we move through our 20s, which may be a cause of this neurochemical shift, not just a consequence.

当我们20多岁的时候，许多研究发现对新奇的追求明显地下降，可能就是脑神经化学改变的原因，而不是结果。

If this is true-that a decline in novelty-seeking helps cause the brain to harden-it raises intriguing questions about whether the window of adolescent brain plasticity can be kept open a little longer by deliberate exposure to stimulating experiences that signal the brain that it isn’t quite ready for the fixity of adulthood.

如果这个属实的话-新奇感的下降导致大脑变得迟钝-这引发了一个复杂的问题关于青少年时期的大脑可塑性可否多延长一点时间，通过有目的性的刺激体验来对尚未进入成熟稳定期的大脑发出信号。

Evolution no doubt placed a biological upper limit on how long the brain can retain the malleability of adolescence.

关于延长青少年的大脑的可塑性的时长毫无疑问也是有个生物学上限。

But people who can prolong adolescent brain plasticity for even a short time enjoy intellectual advantages over their more fixed counterparts.

但是那些具有大脑短期可塑性的年轻人比起其他方面来说，确实要聪明一点。

Studies have found that those with higher I.Q.s, for example, enjoy a longer stretch of time during which new synapses continue to proliferate and their intellectual development remains especially sensitive to experience.

研究发现，那些高智商人群，比如，他们大脑中新的神经突触能继续生长，而且他们智力能继续发展，而且特别能敏锐地觉察自己经历的事情。

It’s important to be exposed to novelty and challenge when the brain is plastic not only because this is how we acquire and strengthen skills, but also because this is how the brain enhances its ability to profit from future enriching experiences.

当大脑具有可塑性的时候经常接触新奇和有挑战的事物是很重要的并不仅仅是因为是我们需要学习和强化各自的技能，同样这为了使我们的大脑得到强化并从将来的丰富的经验中获益。

Indeed, those who can prolong adolescence actually have an advantage, as long as their environment gives them continued stimulation and increasing challenges.

的确，那些延长青少年期的人具有一个优势，只要他们身处的环境能让他们持续感到兴奋和具有挑战性。

What do I mean by stimulation and challenges? The most obvious example is higher education, which has been shown to stimulate brain development in ways that simply getting older do not.

什么是刺激和挑战？最明显的例子就是获得更好的教育，它能以一种比变老办不到的方式能刺激大脑发展。

Naturally, it is possible for people to go to college without exposing themselves to challenge, or, conversely, to surround themselves with novel and intellectually demanding experiences in the workplace.

But generally, this is more difficult to accomplish on the job than in school, especially in entry-level positions, which typically have a learning curve that hits a plateau early on.

但是总的来说，这在工作岗位上比在学校里面要难实现，特别是入门级的岗位，前期一般都有一段学习期才会逐渐过渡到稳定期。

Alas, something similar is true of marriage. For many, after its initial novelty has worn off, marriage fosters a lifestyle that is more routine and predictable than being single does.

可惜，婚姻也是一样的。对于许多人，在前期的新颖消退，婚姻培养了一种比单身时期更加循规蹈矩的生活方式。

Husbands and wives both report a sharp drop in marital satisfaction during the first few years after their wedding, in part because life becomes repetitive.

在他们婚礼过后的几年里，丈夫和妻子对婚姻的满意度直线下降，部分是因为生活变得重复。

A longer period of dating, with all the unpredictability and change that come with a cast of new partners, may be better for your brain than marriage.

相对更长的约会，结实新的伴侣会带来更多的不确定性和变化，也许会比婚姻更有益你的大脑。

If brain plasticity is maintained by staying engaged in new, demanding and cognitively stimulating activity, and if entering into the repetitive and less exciting roles of worker and spouse helps close the window of plasticity, delaying adulthood is only O.K.; it can be a boon.

如果参加新的高要求高认知的刺激性的活动提高大脑可塑性，如果重复劳动和不那么兴奋的上班族和夫妻的角色降低大脑可塑性，推迟成年期只能是一件好事，可能还非常有用。

英语原文来自纽约时报网站