◎鄭寺音

Do you dream in black and white? If so, the chances are you are over 55 and were brought up watching a monochrome television set.

你的夢是黑白的嗎？如果是這樣，你有可能是55歲以上、看黑白電視長大的。

New research suggests that the type of television you watched as a child has a profound effect on the colour of your dreams.

新研究顯示，童年時看的電視類型，對你夢境的顏色有深遠影響。

While almost all under 25s dream in colour, thousands of over 55s, all of whom were brought up with black and white sets, often dream in monchrome - even now.

幾乎所有25歲以下的人夢都是彩色的，成千上萬55歲以上、看黑白電視長大的人，夢境通常是黑白的，甚至到現在為止都一樣。

Eva Murzyn, a psychology student at Dundee University who carried out the study, said： "It is a fascinating hypothesis. "It suggests there could be a critical period in our childhood when watching films has a big impact on the way dreams are formed.

進行這項實驗的丹狄大學心理學系學生莫茲恩說：「這是很迷人的假說。」「這顯示，在我們童年時期，可能有個看電影對夢境形成方式有很大影響的重要時期。」

"What is even more interesting is that before the advent of black and white television all the evidence suggests we were dreaming in colour."

「更有趣的是，在黑白電視出現之前，所有證據顯示，我們的夢是彩色的夢。」

Research from 1915 through to the 1950s suggested that the vast majority of dreams are in black and white but the tide turned in the sixties, and later results suggested that up to 83 per cent of dreams contain some colour.

1915到1950年的研究顯示，多數的夢境是黑白的，但這項潮流在六○年代開始轉變，後來的結果顯示，高達83%的夢有色彩。

新聞辭典

monochrome：名詞，黑白，單色。例句：The park in winter is a depressing monochrome brown.（冬天的公園一片沉沉的棕色。）

bring up：片語，養育，帶大。例句：She was brought up by her grandmother.（她是祖母帶大的。）

advent：名詞，出現，到來。例句：Life in Britain was transformed by the advent of the steam engine.（蒸汽機出現後，英國的生活為之改觀。）

自由時報-971113

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