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Being in a sad mood has long been linked with performing poorly in everyday tasks. But now scientists have discovered that sad people have one advantage over their happier counterparts - they are better at facial recognition. Researcher Peter Hills, from Anglia Ruskin University, said his findings could lead to better treatments for depression. He said: 'I was surprised. Sad mood is usually associated with poorer performance in cognitive tasks.' 一天到晚垂头丧气的人估计谁看了都心烦，但是科学家发现，具有“悲观性格色彩”的人相对那些天生乐天派来说竟然还是具有一点“得天独厚”的优势呢：那就是脸部识别能力。因为来自 Anglia Ruskin大学的研究员Peter Hills称：“我们研究发现对于改善那些轻度抑郁患者状况会有显著疗效，我对于实验结果很是惊讶，我原先以为悲观的人因为在生活中的表现太过悲观，社交能力会很弱，不善于发现对方的特点。看来我错了。” Dr Hills and his team at the university which is based in Cambridge and Chelmsford played three pieces of music to get volunteers in one of three moods - sad, happy or neutral. Mozart's Requiem was played for sadness; the jaunty theme from 1980s TV show The A-Team for happiness; and the theme from the 1990 film The Hunt For Red October for a neutral mood. Depending on which group they were in, the volunteers were then asked to think of either the saddest or happiest moments in their lives, or their journey home if they were neutral.The 88 volunteers - all students - were then asked to look at 32 faces with neutral expressions.After completing a brief questionnaire as a distraction, they were then shown 64 faces and asked to pick out the original 32. The sad volunteers gave the most accurate response, while the happy students were the least accurate. | 
