Germans have a word for it -- schadenfreude -- and when it comes to getting pleasure from someone else's misfortune, men seem to enjoy it more than women.

　　Such is the conclusion reached by scientists at University College London in what they say is the first neuroscientific evidence of schadenfreude.

　　Using brain-imaging techniques, they compared how men and women reacted when watching other people suffer pain.

　　If the sufferer was someone they liked, areas of the brain linked to empathy and pain were activated in both sexes.

　　Women had a similar response if they disliked the person experiencing the pain but men showed a surge in the reward areas of the brain.

　　"The women had a diminished empathic response," said Dr Klaas Enoo Stephan, a co-author of the report. "But it was still there, whereas in the men it was completely absent," he added in an interview.

　　The scientists, who reported their findings in the journal Nature, said the research shows that empathic responses in men are shaped by the perceived fairness of others.

　　"Empathic responses to other people are not automatic, as has been assumed in the past, but depend on the emotional link to the person who is observed suffering," Stephan said.

　　In the two-part study, 32 men and women volunteers played a game in which they exchanged money with four other people who were actors playing a part.

　　The actors were either fair characters, who returned equal amounts of cash that have been given to them, or unfair people who gave little or no money back to the volunteers.

　　In the second part of the experiment, the volunteers were placed in magnetic imaging brain scanners as they watched the actors receiving a mild electric shock, similar to a bee sting.

　　The scientists measured reactions of the volunteers in areas of the brain associated with pain and empathy and reward while the actors experienced pain.

　　The responses shown in the brain images were backed up with questionnaires filled in by the volunteers. Men admitted to having a much higher desire for revenge than women and derived satisfaction from seeing the unfair person being punished.

　　"We will need to confirm these gender differences in larger studies because it is possible the experimental design favoured men as there was a physical rather than psychological or financial threat involved," said Dr Tania Singer, who led the study.

男人爱报复--男人比女人更爱幸灾乐祸

　　英国科学家最新公布的一份研究报告指出，当目睹他人遭受痛苦时，男人比女人显得更加幸灾乐祸。

　　据路透社1月18日报道，得出上述结论的英国大学研究人员表示，这是“幸灾乐祸”第一次有了来自神经科学方面的证据。通过大脑扫描图，科学家对比了男人和女人目睹他人遭受痛苦时的不同反应。结果发现，如果经受痛苦的人是自己喜欢的人，男性和女性大脑中与痛苦和移情作用(即对受痛苦者产生同感和同情)有关的区域会产生反应。但如果经受痛苦的是自己反感的人，男性和女性的大脑反应就有了差别：女性大脑的反应变化不大，而男性则完全不同。

　　研究人员斯蒂芬博士指出：“目睹自己反感的人经受痛苦时，女性的感情移入反应有所减少，但仍然存在，即对受痛苦者的同情感只是有所减少；而男性的同情感则完全消失。”

　　研究人员将这项科研结论发表在最新一期的《自然》杂志上，并指出，男性对受痛苦者的同情是由对该人感情上的好恶来决定的。斯蒂芬解释说：“研究结果证明，人们对他人的感情移入反应并非机械的，而是由目击者与经受痛苦者之间的情感关系来决定。”

　　报道说，研究人员一共对32名男性和女性进行了实验测试。测试共分两个阶段。在第1阶段里，4名特定人员与受试者进行了交换现金的游戏。在这4个人中，有的人将从受试者那里得到的钱如数交还，有的只退还一部分或者一分不退。

　　在实验的第2阶段，受试者目睹这4名特定人员遭受轻微电击(类似被蜜蜂刺痛的感觉)的过程。同时，研究人员纪录下受试者脑中与痛苦和移情作用有关的区域的反应。最终，大脑扫描图显示的结果表明，男性的复仇欲望比女性更强烈，他们看见那些和自己进行不公平现金交换的人遭受痛苦时会有满足感。这一结果与受试者在问卷调查中的回答一致。

　　不过，研究负责人辛格指出：“我们需要在更大的范围内来证实男女在感情移入方面的不同。可能设计其它的实验，如人们面对的是身体威胁而不是心理或经济威胁时的反应，那样的实验结果很有可能有所不同。”

• 6小时掌握学英语的秘诀！——点击看答案
• 专治男女记不住单词的秘密