Get Flash Player

英文字幕：

Take a second to blink. Now do it again. That's the time this athlete has to nail a perfect dive. Not much time to get it right, but more than enough to get it wrong.

Hi, I'm Dr Greg Wells. Olympic divers are explosive competitors with incredible precision. They have to execute a complicated series of twists and somersaults, all while flying towards the pool at 50 km/h! This happens so quickly that medal winning performances are done unconsciously, without even thinking.

And to do that, divers rely upon what's called muscle memory. It all comes down to this: a cauliflower-looking piece of your brain known as the cerebellum. This is where the knowledge on how to perform movements is co-ordinated. Neurons programmed by years of training are set off. They're like a symphony of micro-fireworks, firing into the cerebellum.

But here's the catch. If divers think too much, or if they get distracted while they're in the air, blood flow to the cerebellum is shifted. It starts flowing here instead: to the thinking part of the cerebral cortex. And if that happens, the body forgets its programming, and mistakes are made. Total focus is the key. Because once they lift off, muscle memory kicks in, and they're on autopilot. The difference between winning or losing is just a blink away!

中文字幕：

請眨一下眼睛，再來一次，這就是跳水選手要做出完美一跳所用的時間。這點時間把動作做對并不容易，但要出錯卻綽綽有余。

我是維爾斯博士。奧運跳水選手集爆發力和精準度于一身。他們以50公里的時速飛墜游泳池的同時，要做出一系列復雜的扭轉和翻滾，動作快得只能是在無意識下完成，完全不假思索。

跳水選手靠的是所謂肌肉記憶，其中原理是：腦組織有一塊像菜花的部分，稱為小腦，這里負責協調動作。經多年訓練的神經元受到觸發，如同編排好的微型煙花組合，向小腦發射。

但沒這么簡單。假如選手思考太多，或在空中分心，流向小腦的血液會轉向，轉而流到這里，大腦皮層的思想部分。這樣，身體就會忘記編排好的程序，從而發生錯誤。因此關鍵是絕對專心。他們一離開跳板，肌肉記憶就生效，進入自動控制模式。勝敗之間，只有剎那！

相關閱讀

Superbodies 奧運特輯－短跑（雙語視頻）

Superbodies 奧運特輯－平衡木（雙語視頻）

耶魯大學宣傳片《我為什么選擇耶魯》（視頻）

馬克?扎克伯格演講：成功沒有捷徑(視頻)

（Video provided by GE 編輯：Julie）