蒙娜麗莎微笑的秘密

導讀：蒙娜麗莎究竟笑沒笑？這或許是多年來人們爭論的一個問題。然而科學家們近期的一項研究卻得出了一個結論：蒙娜麗莎笑沒笑，全看你的心情……

Italian artist Leonardo da Vincis Mona Lisa is one of the most renowned paintings in the art world. Interest in the sixteenth-century portrait， which is probably of Lisa del Giocondo， the wife of merchant Francesco del Giocondo， has always focused on one particular detail： her expression.

People have different opinions about it. Some people think that she is smiling， while others believe she is grimacing.

Could she have been doing the Renaissance equivalent of “smiling for the camera”？ That is， putting on a display of happiness that she didnt really feel？ Or is it a sincere smile， and we viewers are reading into it too much？

According to scientists at the University of California， US， if Mona Lisa doesnt look happy to you， it might be because of your own mental state.

The scientists study， published in Psychological Science is based on the theory that the brain is a predictive organ that looks to past experiences to know what to expect from the future.

The researchers showed 43 people several pairs of faces at the same time. One set of faces had neutral expressions， while the other set had expressions that were sometimes happy， sometimes neutral， and sometimes angry.

After people looked at the faces， they were encouraged to describe the emotions on the faces in the neutral images they had seen. Scientists discovered that an image of a neutral expression was more likely to be read as a smile or a grimace when it had been shown alongside a face with a smile or a grimace.

“We are the architects of our own experience. Our brain makes predictions about what it expects to see and uses information from the world to update its expectations，” the researchers explained to Science Daily.

Indeed， our emotions change our perceptions of the world around us， including works of art. “If you see the Mona Lisa after you have just had a screaming fight with your husband， youre going to see the painting differently，” said Erika Siegel， one of the researchers. “But if youre having the time of your life at the Louvre， youre going to see the enigmatic smile.”

意大利畫家達·芬奇的《蒙娜麗莎》是藝術界最負盛名的畫作之一。這幅16世紀的肖像畫或許畫的是商人弗蘭西斯科·吉奧康杜的妻子麗莎·吉奧康杜，但人們的關注點總是停留在畫作的一個細節——她的表情。

人們對于她的表情有著不同的看法。一些人認為她在微笑，而還有一些人則覺得她看起來愁眉苦臉。

她的微笑是文藝復興版的“鏡頭前微笑”，即假裝自己很開心？還是發自內心的微笑，卻被觀賞者們過分解讀了？

美國加州大學的科學家們認為，如果你覺得蒙娜麗莎看起來不開心，或許與你的心理狀態有關。

科學家們的這項研究發表于《心理科學》期刊上。該研究所基于的理論認為，人類大腦是一個預測性器官，能從過去的經歷中預見未來。

研究者們同時向43人展示了幾對面部表情圖片。一組圖片的面部表情為中性，而另一組圖片中，有的表情是開心，有的是中性抑或憤怒。

人們在看過這些面部表情后，被要求形容先前看過的中性表情所表露出的情緒。科學家們發現，中性表情和笑臉或苦瓜臉放在一起時，更容易被認為是微笑或愁眉苦臉。

“我們是自我經歷的建筑師。我們的大腦會對看到的事物做出預測，并從世界中獲取信息，更新預期。”研究人員們向《科學日報》解釋道。

情緒的確會改變我們對于周遭世界的認知，這也包括了藝術品。“如果你和丈夫大吵一架后跑去看《蒙娜麗莎》，你會看到一幅不同的畫作。”研究人員之一的艾瑞卡·西格爾表示，“但如果你很享受在盧浮宮度過的時光，你會看到她謎一般的微笑。”