為什么男女對溫度感覺不一樣

文/杰夫·帕森斯 譯/范金碩 審訂/黃勤

As autumn starts, the inevitable discussions begin about when is the right time to turn on the heating.

隨著秋天的來臨，人們不可避免地談論起什么時候打開空調暖風的話題。

2Some prefer a cooler house while others want to keep things toasty.

3However, according to research there are scientific differences between how men and women respond to temperature.

2有人喜歡讓室內保持涼爽，有人則更喜歡暖烘烘的感覺。

3然而，研究顯示，科學上來看，男性和女性對溫度的感受不一樣。

4Evidence suggests women have a different sensory mechanism1感覺機制，神經系統中處理感覺信息的機制。to men,preferring warmer temperatures.This is believed to be an evolutionary development tied to the differences in metabolic rate.

5And it’s not just humans that appear to be affected.

4有證據表明，女性的感覺機制與男性不同，她們更喜歡待在溫度高一些的環境。科學家認為，這是一種與代謝率差異有關的進化發展結果。

5而且，似乎不僅是人類會受到此機制影響。

6特拉維夫大學動物學學院的研究者們研究了13種鳥類和18種蝙蝠，發現雌性偏愛較高的溫度，而雄性則喜歡較低的溫度。

6Researchers at Tel Aviv University2以色列規模最大的國立綜合性大學。’s School of Zoology studied 13 different bird species and 18 different bat species and found that females preferred warmer temperatures while the males liked it cooler.

7The researchers said results indicated a variation in the ‘heat-sensing mechanisms’ of males and females.

7研究者們認為，此結果表明雄性和雌性動物的“熱感應機制”存在差異。

8論文的共同作者埃蘭·萊文博士稱：“我們的研究表明，這種現象并非人類特有。在許多鳥類和哺乳動物之中，雌性比雄性更喜歡溫暖的環境。在某些時候，對溫度不同的偏好還會導致生物兩性之間的隔離。”

8Dr Eran Levin, co-author, said: ‘Our study has shown that the phenomenon is not unique to humans; among many species of birds and mammals, females prefer a warmer environment than males, and at certain times these preferences cause segregation between the two species.

‘In light of the findings, and the fact that this is a widespread phenomenon,we have hypothesised that what we are dealing with is a difference between the females’ and males’ heat-sensing mechanisms, which developed over the course of evolution.’

9The findings dovetail with3dovetail with與……相吻合。earlier research into women’s experiences when asked to work in rooms at different temperatures.

“根據研究結果以及此現象普遍存在的事實，我們假設，我們正在研究的是男性和女性在進化過程中所形成的熱感應機制之間的差異。”

9被要求在不同溫度的房間工作時女性的體驗如何，這些發現與先前那些研究的結果相吻合。

10In 2019, researchers gave a collective test to 543 students that included logic problems, letter scrambles4letter scramble字母排列，將單詞中的字母打亂后進行還原排列的益智游戲。and maths questions.They were placed either in a heated room or a cooler one,and given a cash reward for each question they answered correctly.

102019年，研究者們對543名學生進行了集體測試，測試內容包括邏輯題、字母排列和數學題。這些學生被安排在一個開著暖風的房間或者是一個室溫較低的房間里作答，每答對一個問題就獲得一次現金獎勵。

11實驗中控制室溫在16至32攝氏度之間變化。結果顯示，男女解邏輯題的能力在溫度變化范圍內持平。但在數學和字母測試中，房間內溫度較高時，女生的平均成績更好。

11The temperature varied between 16 and 32 degrees Celcius and the results showed that solving the logic problems remained consistent across the temperature range.But when it came to the maths and the letter tests, on average the female students performed better when the room was warmer.

12‘Overall, our results suggest that gender is an important factor not only i n d e t e rmining the impact of temperature on comfort but also on productivity and cognitive performance,’ the researchers said at the time.

‘Additionally, given the lack of attention to gender in mediating the impact of temperature on performance, our results may explain in part the inconsistent results of previous studies on the relationship between temperature and cognitive performance.’

12研究者們當時稱：“總體而言，我們的實驗結果表明，性別不僅是確定溫度對舒適感影響的一個重要因素，還是確定溫度影響思維效率和認知能力的重要因素。”

“此 外，鑒于此前測試溫度對行為的影響時缺乏對性別的關注，我們的實驗結果或許可以在一定程度上解釋，為何先前一些關于溫度和認知能力關系的研究會得出前后不一致的結果。”

13This can have an impact in workplaces where, generally speaking, air conditioning is set to around 25 degrees Celsius, based off the ‘metabolic equivalent5metabolic equivalent代謝當量，維持靜息代謝所需要的耗氧量，表示相對能量代謝水平。’ of a 70kg, 40-year-old man wearing a suit and tie that was calculated back in the 1930s.■

13這項研究可能對工作場所的空調設置產生一種影響。一般而言，工作場所的空調會設置在25攝氏度左右。這是以20世紀30年代所計算出的一位體重70公斤、西裝革履的40歲男子的 “代謝當量”為參照的。 □