這是一個(gè)普通的下午，在哥本哈根中央車(chē)站，一位表演者在大廳中央支起了一個(gè)鼓。一個(gè)大提琴手加入了進(jìn)去，一個(gè)女人帶著(zhù)她的長(cháng)笛湊了過(guò)去，他們彈奏了一曲大家熟知的旋律。隨后，單簧管，低音管和其它樂(lè )器也開(kāi)始了演奏。人們拿出手機開(kāi)始錄像。幾分鐘之內，整個(gè)交響樂(lè )團都聚在了車(chē)站中央，突然間，人們終于看清了這并非典型的街頭表演，而是哥本哈根的愛(ài)樂(lè )樂(lè )團，他們演出的是拉威爾的波麗露舞曲。這個(gè)樂(lè )隊快閃族的表演給人們的體驗和在音樂(lè )廳看交響樂(lè )團的表演全然不同，或許是因為周?chē)h(huán)境的新鮮感吧。
The same sort of disconnect may explain the peculiar potency of Four Loko, a fruit flavored, caffeinated, alcoholic drink that was invented by three Ohio State University students in 2005. Following a series of reported hospitalizations, in 2010 the Food and Drug Administration declared that it was illegal to add caffeine to alcoholic beverages, and the makers of Four Loko complied.
這樣類(lèi)似的疏離感或許可以解釋為什么Four Loko飲料可以給人們帶來(lái)某種獨特的能量。Four Loko是果味，添加咖啡因的一種酒精飲料，由三個(gè)俄亥俄大學(xué)的學(xué)生在2005年發(fā)明。隨著(zhù)一系列住院的報道，美國食品與藥品監督管理局在2010年宣布在酒精飲料中添加咖啡因是非法的，Four Loko的制造商遵從了這個(gè)規定。
Case closed? That caffeinated alcoholic drinks are dangerous is clear, but is caffeine the culprit? Shepard Siegel, a psychologist at McMaster University in Ontario writing in a recent issue of Perspectives on Psychological Science, doesn’t think so.
這個(gè)案子就此了結了嗎？毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)，添加咖啡因的酒精飲料是很危險的，但是咖啡因是罪魁禍首嗎？安大略省的麥克馬斯特大學(xué)(McMaster University) 的心理學(xué)家Shepard Siegel在撰寫(xiě)關(guān)于心理科學(xué)的一則觀(guān)點(diǎn)中提出，他并不這么認為。
For one thing, caffeine doesn’t seem to affect the way that alcohol gets absorbed by the body. Moreover, many drugs, including alcohol, are known to be more potent if they are taken in an unusual context. In a 1976 paper in Science, Siegel termed this the “situational specificity of tolerance.” Environmental variables ranging from the room where a drug is administered to flavor cues can influence an individual’s drug-related tolerance. What this comes down to is classical Pavlovian conditioning. The body of a social drinker learns to prepare for the alcohol in response to the environment, before the alcohol is even ingested. Siegel’s argument is that people became especially drunk after drinking Four Loko because of the unexpected way in which it was presented: it doesn’t actually taste like alcohol.
一方面，咖啡因似乎并不以人體吸收酒精一樣的方式來(lái)影響人體。除此之外，很多藥物，包括酒，在人們以一種非正常環(huán)境下飲用的時(shí)候會(huì )產(chǎn)生更大的效力。在1976年《科學(xué)》的一篇論文中， Siegel把這種現象稱(chēng)為“特定情形的忍耐度”。環(huán)境的變化，從藥品的管理室到氣味刺激都會(huì )影響到人的耐藥性。這個(gè)現象還可以聯(lián)系到經(jīng)典條件反射。一個(gè)喜歡社交的飲酒者在喝下酒之前，身體就做好了準備，知道這種情形該如何應對。Siegel認為，人們喝下Four Loko 后特別容易醉的原因是因為人們沒(méi)法預料飲用環(huán)境：而實(shí)際上這款飲料的味道并不像酒。
If Siegel is right, the decaf approach that the manufacturer of Four Loko has now taken could be troubling. It has announced a new beverage that comes with “a brand new flavor profile every four months.” This doesn’t fix the problem. Once someone becomes tolerant to the effects of the alcohol in one flavor, his or her tolerance would be eliminated when the next one is released. Intentional or not, Four Loko takes advantage of the situational specificity of tolerance. It has more in common with the ?Copenhagen Philharmonic flash mob than with your morning cuppa joe.
如果Siegel的觀(guān)點(diǎn)正確，那么Four Loko 制造商現在采取的脫咖啡因措施可能就有麻煩了。他們宣布了新的飲料”每四個(gè)月就更換全新的口味“。這其實(shí)并不能解決問(wèn)題。人們一旦能夠耐得住某種口味的酒的效力，那么在換了新的口味之后他（她）的忍耐力就將消失。Four Loko就是有意識或無(wú)意識地利用了人們特定情形的忍耐度。這個(gè)原理與哥本哈根愛(ài)樂(lè )閃族有異曲同工之處，但是和清早的一杯咖啡似乎沒(méi)有多大關(guān)聯(lián)。
聯(lián)系客服
