《老友記》里瑞秋說過這樣一句話，"Once a cheater,always a cheater."最新研究表明，這種說法有科學依據。當一個人屢次欺騙伴侶時，大腦會逐漸適應并且壓根不再對撒謊感到愧疚。

Admitting you were unfaithful in past relationships is a gamble. "Once a cheater, always a cheater" is a phrase that can damage your reputation for a long time, if you're unlucky.
承認你在之前的情侶關系中不忠是一次賭博。如果你不走運的話，“一日出軌，終身出軌” 這句短語則會長期損害你的聲譽。

According to some scientific research, there could actually be some fact behind the idiom.
據一些科學研究，這個習語背后可能真的暗藏著某些事實。

A new study, published in the journal Archives of Sexual Behaviour, followed 484 participants in mixed gender romantic relationships. The researchers asked the participants to report their own "extra-dyadic sexual involvement" — having sexual relations with someone other than their partner — and also whether they had suspected their partners of infidelity in each romantic relationship they had been in.
近期，一項發表在《性行為檔案》期刊的研究跟蹤調查了484名參與者在男女婚戀關系中的情況。研究人員要求參與者上報他們的“劈腿”關系——與伴侶以外的人發生性關系——以及他們是否懷疑自己的伴侶在婚戀關系中不忠。

The results showed that people who had messed around in their first relationship were three times more likely to cheat in their next relationship compared to those who had stayed faithful.
結果表明，與那些對伴侶忠誠的人相比，那些在初戀就出軌的人在下一段感情中出軌的可能性要高出三倍。

Those who knew that their previous partners had cheated on them were twice as likely to have their next partners do the dirty on them too. Suspicion also appeared to be hard to shake, as people who suspected their first relationship partners of cheating were four times more likely to report suspicion in later relationships.
并且那些知道前任伴侶曾欺騙過自己的人，他們的下一任伴侶仍會出軌的可能性是其他人的兩倍。猜忌是難以被消除的，因為那些懷疑自己第一任伴侶的人在接下來的感情中會有四倍的可能性懷疑伴侶仍會出軌。

One reason for this could be the fact that when we lie, our brain actually gets used to it. This was the finding of a study published in Nature Neuroscience, which showed that telling small lies desensitises our brains to the associated negative emotions, which may encourage us to tell bigger lies in the future.
其中一個原因可能就是，大腦能夠習慣于撒謊。這項研究發表在《自然神經科學》雜志上，研究表明撒一些小謊會使我們的大腦對相關負面情緒產生麻木感，這可能會鼓勵我們在未來撒下更大的謊言。

In other words, those little white lies we tell all the time might build up into bigger, more serious untruths.
換句話來說，我們一直撒下的那些善意的小謊也可能會累積成更大更嚴重的謊言。

In the study, participants were divided into pairs. One was shown a glass jar full of coins, and the other a blurry picture of the same jar. The participant with the jar was instructed to help their partner guess how many coins it contained.
在研究中，參與者被分成兩兩一組。研究人員向其中一位參與者出示了一個裝滿硬幣的玻璃罐，向另一位出示了同一個罐子的模糊圖像。擁有罐子的參與者被告知要幫助他們的搭檔猜出里面裝了多少硬幣。

One group of participants were told they would get a cash prize if their partner overestimated the number of coins, leading them to lie and exaggerate. The researchers saw that the amygdala — the area of the brain responsible for emotions — responded when participants lied, but this response weakened when lies were repeatedly told.
其中一組參與者被告知，如果他們的搭檔高估了硬幣的數量，他們就會得到現金獎勵，這導致他們會盡力撒謊和夸大事實。研究人員發現當參與者說謊的時候，大腦中負責處理情感的杏仁核會做出反應，但當參與者經常說謊時，杏仁核的反應會減弱。

A similar thing could happen when somebody cheats on their partner. The first time they do it, they will probably feel terrible. However, if it happens again, they will feel slightly less bad, and so on. It could all be down to the biology of the brain, and what the amygdala is making you feel.
當一些人欺騙他們的伴侶時，也會發生類似的事情。當他們第一次對伴侶撒謊時，他們會感到難受。然而，如若再次撒謊，他們就不會感覺那么糟等等。這一切都取決于大腦的生物學，以及杏仁核讓你感受到的東西。

In an interview with Elite Daily, researcher at Princeton Neuroscience and co-author of the study Neil Garrett said: "What our study and others suggest is a powerful factor that prevents us from cheating is our emotional reaction to it, how bad we feel essentially, and the process of adaptation reduces this reaction, thereby allowing us to cheat more."
在接受《精英日報》采訪時，普林斯頓神經科學系的研究員和研究合著者尼爾?加勒特說：“我們的研究和其他研究表明，阻止我們欺騙他人的一個重要因素就是我們對欺騙的情緒反應，我們會感覺到有多糟糕，而適應欺騙的這個過程減少了情緒反應，從而使我們能夠再次撒謊?！?/p>

"With serial cheaters, it could be the case that they initially felt bad about cheating, but have cheated so much they've adapted to their ways and simply don't feel bad about cheating any more."
“對于一些經常撒謊的人，起初他們可能會覺得欺騙他人的感覺并不好受，但當他們多次撒謊后，就已經適應了這種生活方式并且壓根不再對撒謊感到愧疚?！?/p>

He added: "Another possibility is that they never felt bad about cheating to begin with, so they didn't need adaptation to occur, they were comfortable with it from the get-go."
他補充道：“另一個可能性就是從一開始他們就對欺騙他人沒有什么感覺，所以他們不需要適應，他們從一開始就感到十分自在。”

英文來源：獨立報
翻譯：趙曉睿（中國日報網愛新聞iNews譯者）
編審：yaning