我们在与人交谈时，为什么很难保持眼神接触？_公共英语阅读理解

我们在与人交谈时，为什么很难保持眼神接触？

研究人员写道：“尽管眼神交流和语言处理似乎是独立的，但人们经常在谈话中避开对话者的眼睛。”

"This suggests that there is interference between these processes."

“这表明，这两个过程之间存在干扰。”

The volunteers were tested while looking at both animations of faces making eye contact and animations of faces looking away. They were also asked to think of links between easily associated words and words where there are a lot of competing associations.

志愿者在测试中盯着的图画脸庞既有直视镜头的，也有看向其他方向的。他们进行联想的词汇也有容易联想的词，和存在大量竞争联想词。

For example, thinking of a verb for 'knife' is relatively easy, because you can't do much more than cut or stab with one. Coming up with an associated verb for 'folder' is harder, considering you could open, close, or fill them.

举例而言：联想和“刀（knife）”有关的动词比较简单，我们通常只能用刀来“切（cut）”或者“刺（stab）”。联想和“文件夹（folder）”有关的动词更加困难，因为你可以打开（open）”、“合上（close）”或者“填充（fill）”文件夹。

The volunteers took longer to think of words when they were making eye contact, but only when difficult word associations were involved. The researchers suspect the hesitation indicates the brain is handling too much information at once.