Does the look of baby Swiss cheese give you the heebie jeebies? What about the little

當你看到瑞士起司的時候會焦躁不安嗎？ 還是說

air bubbles in a frying pancake, or the inside of a wasp nest, or the patterns in this coral,

鬆餅上的小氣孔 蜂巢的小格子 群聚的珊瑚礁

or this lotus pod?

或是這個蓮藕夾會讓你不舒服？

Does this image make you throw up a little in your mouth? Well then, friend, you may

還是這張圖會讓你有點想吐嗎？那我的朋友你或許

have trypophobia -- the fear of clusters of small holes.

有"trypophobia" 也就是密集恐懼症

Phobias are persistent, irrational fears of particular objects or situations, the causes

恐懼症會一直沒緣由的對某些特定物體或是情況感到害怕 而背後的原因

of which are often unknown.

通常無法得知

In the bigger picture, being afraid of holes isn't that weird. I mean, people are afraid

整體來說害怕一堆小洞其實沒那麼詭異 我是說人們會害怕

of all sorts of crazy stuff. One etymologist has been collecting the names of phobias for

各種奇怪的東西 一個字源學家曾經收集許多恐懼症的名字花了

nearly thirty years, and his list currently contains hundreds of odd fears, including

將近30年 他的收集清單包含了上百種奇特的恐懼症

fear of the moon, of beards, of pooping, puppets, numbers, vegetables, bicycles, beautiful women,

從害怕月亮 怕鬍子 怕大便 戲偶 數字 蔬菜 腳踏車 美人

the color purple ... you name it.

到害怕紫色 只要你想的到的都有

But trypophobia isn't on the list. It's not yet officially recognized as a legitimate

但是密集恐懼症並沒有在那張清單上 它還沒被正式認可

phobia, despite the fact that an estimated 15 percent of people feel it to some degree.

為恐懼症 儘管大約有15%的人多多少少有密集恐懼症

The term itself popped up in the mid-2000s when internet users randomly began posting

這個詞一直到2000年代中期才出現 當時網友隨意地貼了一些

images of hole-y things and comparing their aversions to clusters of small holes.

充滿洞洞的圖案 然後跟一堆小洞比較哪個看起來比較不舒服

And then for close to a decade, typophobia seemed to just be some weird viral internet

之後的十年 密集恐懼症似乎只是某種在網路上快速散佈的詭異事情

thing, but recently psychologists Geoff Cole and Arnold Wilkins at the University of Essex

但最近英國Essex大學的心理學家Geoff Cole和Arnold Wilkins

in England, decided to research its validity.

決定研究它的真實性

After comparing a variety of benign images with pictures of all sorts of things that

在比較各種人們看了之後會後悔的東西的圖片之後

grossed people out, they found that the most offending images shared a common underlying

他們發現那些會讓人感到不舒服的圖片背後通常有一個

mathematical structure. Namely, they featured lots of small, highly-contrasting details,

共通的數學結構 換句話說他們的特徵包含許多小且高度反差的細節

like stripes, dots, or holes, that were spaced apart in fairly close, regular patterns.

像是直線 圓點 或是孔洞 並且依照一定規則很緊密的排列在一起

For example, in this lotus pod, there's a high contrast between the dark holes and the

舉例來說 這個蓮藕夾中深色的孔洞跟光亮的表面形成強烈反差

light surface, and the holes are spaced evenly enough to highlight those details, while creating

而整齊排列的孔洞也足以凸顯出其中的細節 而這種

a repeating sequence that, apparently, makes some people want to puke.

不斷重複的序列顯然會讓某些人反胃

Wilkins and Cole maintain these patterns are similar to those found in certain venomous

Wilkins和Cole說這些圖案與許多有毒的

animals like the blue-ringed octopus, and various spiders and snakes.

動物像是藍環章魚 蜘蛛和一些蛇類身上的圖案相似

They speculate such images trigger something in the non-conscious brain that lights up

他們推測這些圖案會讓你的大腦下意識地

a reflexive warning, saying "Hey! Hey! Hey! That's dangerous!" before the conscious brain

發出警告 說"嘿！嘿！嘿！那很危險"

can step in and say, "Dude, that's just Swiss cheese."

之後你才意識到說"老兄，那只是塊瑞士起司"

If Wilkins and Cole are right, it would suggest that trypophobia is a lingering remnant of

如果Wilkins和Cole是對的 這就代表密集恐懼症是種早期遺留下來

some earlier, useful evolutionary adaptation -- namely, stay away from venomous things.

有用的演化適應能力--也就是別靠近有毒的東西

Another theory is that holes in organic objects subconsciously trigger thoughts of contagious

另一種理論是說有機物體上的孔洞會下意識地讓你聯想到傳染疾病

diseases or skin illnesses like rashes and boils, lesions, and pox -- things that are

或是皮膚病 像是皮疹 濃瘡 潰爛 和痘痘 一些會

dangerous to our health. So perhaps the fear of holes is a lingering evolved trait that

對健康造成傷害的事物 所以說或許對於孔洞的恐懼是過去曾讓我們免於疾病

once helped us avoid disease.

而遺留下來的演化特徵

What I find most interesting though, is that trypophobia may also be a so-called emotional

我發現最有趣的部份是密集恐懼症也可能是所謂的情緒傳染

contagion, essentially meaning that it can transfer to more people as they become familiar

意思是說當越多人知道這件事時 它就越能傳給別人

with it. Like, maybe if an hour ago I asked you if you were skeezed out by little holes,

例如如果我一小時前問你一堆小洞會不會讓你起雞皮疙瘩

you would have been like, "What are you talking about?".... but now, after hearing about it

你可能會回答我"你到底在說什麼？" ...但是現在 在你聽過

and seeing some of these pictures, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

也看過這些圖片之後 你就完全知道我在說什麼

In which case, sorry.

我只能跟你說 抱歉

But still, there are some people for whom all you have to do is say, "Hey, look at these

不過還是有些人當你跟他們說 "嘿～看看這些小洞"

little holes" and then they totally puke all over you. For those types, the revulsion is

他們就會馬上吐的你全身都是 對這些人來說 這種厭惡感

clearly pre-existing.

很明顯是早就存在的

For now, the true nature of trypophobia is a matter of speculation, but still, I'll bet

目前來說真正造成密集恐懼症的原因還是不明 不過我敢打賭

some of you viewers just lost your appetite.

你們之中的某些人現在一定沒胃口了

Anyway, thanks for watching this SciShow Dose! If you'd like to help us keep exploring the

無論如何 感謝你觀賞SciShow Dose 如果你願意幫助我們探索這個世界

world, just go to Subbable.com/scishow to find out how you can become a supporter.

到Subbable.com/scishow看看要如何成為一個幫手

And if you wanna keep getting smarter with us, don't forget to go to YouTube.com/scishow

如果你想要繼續跟我們一起變聰明 別忘了去YouTube.com/scishow

and subscribe!

訂閱我們的頻道！