I'd like to talk today about how we can change our brains and our society.
Hoxe gustaríame falar sobre como podemos cambiar os nosos cerebros e a nosa sociedade.
Meet Joe. Joe's 32 years old and a murderer. I met Joe 13 years ago on the lifer wing at Wormwood Scrubs high-security prison in London. I'd like you to imagine this place. It looks and feels like it sounds: Wormwood Scrubs. Built at the end of the Victorian Era by the inmates themselves, it is where England's most dangerous prisoners are kept. These individuals have committed acts of unspeakable evil. And I was there to study their brains. I was part of a team of researchers from University College London, on a grant from the U.K. department of health. My task was to study a group of inmates who had been clinically diagnosed as psychopaths. That meant they were the most callous and the most aggressive of the entire prison population. What lay at the root of their behavior? Was there a neurological cause for their condition? And if there was a neurological cause, could we find a cure?
Preséntovos a Joe Joe ten 32 anos e é un asasino. Coñecino hai 13 anos no pavillón de cadea perpetua en Wormwood Scrubs, unha prisión de alta seguridade, en Londres. Gustaríame que imaxinarades aquel sitio. Era tal é como indica o seu nome Wormwood Scrubs (matogueiras de absintio). Construído a finais da época vitoriana polos propios presos, alí encérranse os criminais máis perigosos de Inglaterra. Estas persoas cometeron crimes realmente atroces. E eu estaba alí para estudar as súas mentes. Eu formaba parte dun equipo de investigación da University College London, era bolseiro do Ministerio de de Saúde do Reino Unido. O meu traballo consistía en estudar un grupo de reclusos que foran diagnosticados como psicópatas. O cal quere dicir que eran os máis desapiadados e agresivos de tódolos reclusos da prisión. Cal era a orixe dese comportamento? Tería unha causa neurolóxica a súa enfermidade? E se a tiña, poderiamos atoparlle a cura?
So I'd like to speak about change, and especially about emotional change. Growing up, I was always intrigued by how people change. My mother, a clinical psychotherapist, would occasionally see patients at home in the evening. She would shut the door to the living room, and I imagined magical things happened in that room. At the age of five or six I would creep up in my pajamas and sit outside with my ear glued to the door. On more than one occasion, I fell asleep and they had to push me out of the way at the end of the session.
Falemos agora do cambio, en concreto do cambio emocional. Desde novo sempre me intrigou o xeito no que vai cambiando a xente. A miña nai, psicóloga clínica, ás veces atendía aos pacientes na casa polas tardes. Ela pechaba a porta do salón e eu imaxinaba que alí ocorrían cousas máxicas. Cando tiña cinco ou seis anos, escapulíame en pixama e sentábame fóra, coa orella pegada á porta. Máis dunha vez, adormecín e tivéronme que apartar dun empurrón ao final da sesión.
And I suppose that's how I found myself walking into the secure interview room on my first day at Wormwood Scrubs. Joe sat across a steel table and greeted me with this blank expression. The prison warden, looking equally indifferent, said, "Any trouble, just press the red buzzer, and we'll be around as soon as we can." (Laughter)
Supoño que foi así como acabei entrando na sala de entrevistas no meu primeiro día en Wormwood Scrubs. Joe sentouse ao outro lado dunha mesa de aceiro e saudoume sen expresión. O garda da prisión, coa mesma expresión indiferente, dixo: "Se hai algún problema, prema no timbre vermello e viremos o antes posible" (Risas)
I sat down. The heavy metal door slammed shut behind me. I looked up at the red buzzer far behind Joe on the opposite wall. (Laughter)
Senteime. A pesada porta de metal pechouse ás miñas costas. Mirei para o timbre vermello que estaba detrás de Joe, na parede de en fronte. (Risas)
I looked at Joe. Perhaps detecting my concern, he leaned forward, and said, as reassuringly as he could, "Ah, don't worry about the buzzer, it doesn't work anyway." (Laughter)
Mirei a Joe. Poida que notando a miña preocupación, inclinouse cara adiante e díxome, do xeito máis tranquilizador que puido: "Ah! non te preocupes polo timbre. Total, non funciona". (Risas)
Over the subsequent months, we tested Joe and his fellow inmates, looking specifically at their ability to categorize different images of emotion. And we looked at their physical response to those emotions. So, for example, when most of us look at a picture like this of somebody looking sad, we instantly have a slight, measurable physical response: increased heart rate, sweating of the skin. Whilst the psychopaths in our study were able to describe the pictures accurately, they failed to show the emotions required. They failed to show a physical response. It was as though they knew the words but not the music of empathy. So we wanted to look closer at this to use MRI to image their brains. That turned out to be not such an easy task. Imagine transporting a collection of clinical psychopaths across central London in shackles and handcuffs in rush hour, and in order to place each of them in an MRI scanner, you have to remove all metal objects, including shackles and handcuffs, and, as I learned, all body piercings.
Durante os seguintes meses, examinamos a Joe e aos seus compañeiros, centrándonos na capacidade para clasificar diferentes imaxes emocionais. E observamos as súas respostas físicas a esas emocións. Por exemplo, cando miramos a foto de alguén triste, de forma inmediata, temos unha lixeira e perceptible resposta física medible: aumento da frecuencia cardíaca, suor da pel... Aínda que os psicópatas do estudo podían describir as imaxes con exactitude, non amosaban as emocións correspondentes. Non amosaban unha resposta física. Era como se coñecesen a letra, pero non a música, da empatía. Queríamos analizar mellor isto e facer resonancias magnéticas dos seus cerebros. Non resultou ser unha tarefa fácil. Imaxinade transportar a un grupo de psicópatas polo centro de Londres, con grillóns e esposas en hora punta. E para facerlles a resonancia había que quitarlles todos os obxectos metálicos, incluíndo as esposas e os grillóns, e como aprendín, tódolos piercings do corpo.
After some time, however, we had a tentative answer. These individuals were not just the victims of a troubled childhood. There was something else. People like Joe have a deficit in a brain area called the amygdala. The amygdala is an almond-shaped organ deep within each of the hemispheres of the brain. It is thought to be key to the experience of empathy. Normally, the more empathic a person is, the larger and more active their amygdala is. Our population of inmates had a deficient amygdala, which likely led to their lack of empathy and to their immoral behavior.
No entanto, tempo despois, obtivemos unha resposta provisional. Esas persoas non só eran vítimas dunha infancia problemática. Había algo máis. A xente como Joe ten unha deficiencia nunha área do cerebro chamada amígdala. A amígdala é un órgano con forma de améndoa que está nas profundidades de cada hemisferio do cerebro. Crese que é crucial para a empatía. Canto máis empática é unha persoa, maior e máis activa é a súa amígdala. Os nosos internos tiñan unha amígdala deficiente, o cal probablemente causaba a falta de empatía e comportamentos inmorais.
So let's take a step back. Normally, acquiring moral behavior is simply part of growing up, like learning to speak. At the age of six months, virtually every one of us is able to differentiate between animate and inanimate objects. At the age of 12 months, most children are able to imitate the purposeful actions of others. So for example, your mother raises her hands to stretch, and you imitate her behavior. At first, this isn't perfect. I remember my cousin Sasha, two years old at the time, looking through a picture book and licking one finger and flicking the page with the other hand, licking one finger and flicking the page with the other hand. (Laughter) Bit by bit, we build the foundations of the social brain so that by the time we're three, four years old, most children, not all, have acquired the ability to understand the intentions of others, another prerequisite for empathy. The fact that this developmental progression is universal, irrespective of where you live in the world or which culture you inhabit, strongly suggests that the foundations of moral behavior are inborn. If you doubt this, try, as I've done, to renege on a promise you've made to a four-year-old. You will find that the mind of a four-year old is not naïve in the slightest. It is more akin to a Swiss army knife with fixed mental modules finely honed during development and a sharp sense of fairness. The early years are crucial. There seems to be a window of opportunity, after which mastering moral questions becomes more difficult, like adults learning a foreign language. That's not to say it's impossible. A recent, wonderful study from Stanford University showed that people who have played a virtual reality game in which they took on the role of a good and helpful superhero actually became more caring and helpful towards others afterwards. Now I'm not suggesting we endow criminals with superpowers, but I am suggesting that we need to find ways to get Joe and people like him to change their brains and their behavior, for their benefit and for the benefit of the rest of us.
Volvamos sobre o pasado un momento. Normalmente, adquirimos comportamentos morais segundo imos madurando, igual que aprendemos a falar. Aos seis meses, case todos nós podemos diferenciar entre obxectos animados e inanimados. Aos 12 meses, a maioría dos nenos poden imitar accións voluntarias doutros. Por exemplo, a túa nai levanta as mans para estricarse e ti imítala. Ao principio, non sae perfecto. Lémbrome da miña prima Sasha, cando tiña dous anos, folleando un libro de contos, chupándose un dedo e pasando as páxinas coa outra man. (Risas) Pouco a pouco, construímos as bases do cerebro social de modo que para os tres ou catro anos, case todos os nenos, non todos, adquiriron a capacidade de entender as intencións doutros, outro requisito para a empatía. O feito de que esta progresión do desenvolvemento sexa universal, independentemente de onde vivamos ou de cal sexa a nosa cultura, é un forte indicador de que as bases do comportamento moral son innatas. Se o dubidan, intenten, coma min, romper unha promesa que lle fixeran a un neno de catro anos. Verán que a mente dun neno de catro anos non é inxenua en absoluto. Seméllase máis a unha navalla suíza con módulos mentais fixos, pulidos finamente durante o crecemento, e cun agudo sentido da xustiza. Os primeiros anos son cruciais. Parece que hai un momento concreto, despois do cal, dominar as cuestións morais resulta máis difícil, como cando os adultos aprenden un idioma. Pero non quere dicir que sexa imposible. Hai pouco, un marabilloso estudo da Universidade de Stanford demostrou que a xente que xogou a un xogo de realidade virtual no que asumías o rol de superheroe bo e servizal, vólvese máis cariñosa e servizal cos demais no futuro. Non estou suxerindo que lles deamos superpoderes aos criminais, senón que necesitamos atopar formas para que Joe e xente coma el cambien as súas mentes e os seus comportamentos, polo seu ben e polo dos demais.
So can brains change? For over 100 years, neuroanatomists and later neuroscientists held the view that after initial development in childhood, no new brain cells could grow in the adult human brain. The brain could only change within certain set limits. That was the dogma. But then, in the 1990s, studies starting showing, following the lead of Elizabeth Gould at Princeton and others, studies started showing the evidence of neurogenesis, the birth of new brain cells in the adult mammalian brain, first in the olfactory bulb, which is responsible for our sense of smell, then in the hippocampus involving short-term memory, and finally in the amygdala itself. In order to understand how this process works, I left the psychopaths and joined a lab in Oxford specializing in learning and development. Instead of psychopaths, I studied mice, because the same pattern of brain responses appears across many different species of social animals. So if you rear a mouse in a standard cage, a shoebox, essentially, with cotton wool, alone and without much stimulation, not only does it not thrive, but it will often develop strange, repetitive behaviors. This naturally sociable animal will lose its ability to bond with other mice, even becoming aggressive when introduced to them. However, mice reared in what we called an enriched environment, a large habitation with other mice with wheels and ladders and areas to explore, demonstrate neurogenesis, the birth of new brain cells, and as we showed, they also perform better on a range of learning and memory tasks. Now, they don't develop morality to the point of carrying the shopping bags of little old mice across the street, but their improved environment results in healthy, sociable behavior. Mice reared in a standard cage, by contrast, not dissimilar, you might say, from a prison cell, have dramatically lower levels of new neurons in the brain.
Pode cambiar o cerebro? Durante máis de 100 anos, os neuroanatomistas e os neurocientíficos argumentaban que despois do desenvolvemento inicial da infancia, non podían producirse novas neuronas no cerebro dun adulto. O cerebro só podía cambiar dentro duns límites establecidos. Ese era o dogma. Pero nos anos 90, algúns estudos comezaron a demostrar, seguindo o camiño de Elizabeth Gould en Princeton e doutros, que había probas de neuroxénese, do nacemento de novas neuronas, no cerebro dun mamífero adulto; primeiro no bulbo olfactivo, responsable do sentido do olfacto, despois no hipocampo, que actúa na memoria a curto prazo, e finalmente na propia amígdala. Para entender como funciona este proceso, deixei aos psicópatas e ingresei nun laboratorio de Oxford para especializarme na aprendizaxe e desenvolvemento. No lugar de psicópatas, estudaba ratos, porque o mesmo patrón de resposta cerebral aparece en moitas especies de animais sociais. Se crías unha rata nunha gaiola estándar, nunha caixa de zapatos, con algodón, soa e sen moitos estímulos, non só non se desenvolve ben, senón que a miúdo xorden comportamentos raros e repetitivos. Este animal sociable por natureza perderá a súa capacidade de relacionarse con outros ratos, e ata chegará a poñerse agresivo cando é posto con eles. Pero os ratos criados no que chamamos un ambiente enriquecido, un habitáculo grande con outros ratos, con rodas, escaleiras e outras zonas para explorar, presentan neuroxénese, o nacemento de novas neuronas, e, como demostramos, levan a cabo mellor unha serie de tarefas de aprendizaxe e memoria. Pero non desenvolven a moralidade ata o punto de levarlle as bolsa pola rúa aos ratiños anciáns, pero as mellores condicións ambientais xeran un comportamento social saudable. Pola contra, os ratos criados en gaiolas estándar, non moi distintas, poderíase dicir, á cela dunha prisión, teñen niveis significativamente máis baixos de neuronas novas.
It is now clear that the amygdala of mammals, including primates like us, can show neurogenesis. In some areas of the brain, more than 20 percent of cells are newly formed. We're just beginning to understand what exact function these cells have, but what it implies is that the brain is capable of extraordinary change way into adulthood. However, our brains are also exquisitely sensitive to stress in our environment. Stress hormones, glucocorticoids, released by the brain, suppress the growth of these new cells. The more stress, the less brain development, which in turn causes less adaptability and causes higher stress levels. This is the interplay between nature and nurture in real time in front of our eyes. When you think about it, it is ironic that our current solution for people with stressed amygdalae is to place them in an environment that actually inhibits any chance of further growth. Of course, imprisonment is a necessary part of the criminal justice system and of protecting society. Our research does not suggest that criminals should submit their MRI scans as evidence in court and get off the hook because they've got a faulty amygdala. The evidence is actually the other way. Because our brains are capable of change, we need to take responsibility for our actions, and they need to take responsibility for their rehabilitation. One way such rehabilitation might work is through restorative justice programs. Here victims, if they choose to participate, and perpetrators meet face to face in safe, structured encounters, and the perpetrator is encouraged to take responsibility for their actions, and the victim plays an active role in the process. In such a setting, the perpetrator can see, perhaps for the first time, the victim as a real person with thoughts and feelings and a genuine emotional response. This stimulates the amygdala and may be a more effective rehabilitative practice than simple incarceration. Such programs won't work for everyone, but for many, it could be a way to break the frozen sea within.
Queda claro que a amígdala dos mamíferos, incluíndo aos primates coma nós, pode presentar neuroxénese. Nalgunhas parte do cerebro, máis do 20% das células son novas. Estamos comezando a entender a función exacta desas células, pero o que quere dicir é que o cerebro é capaz de cambios extraordinarios ben avanzada a vida adulta. Así a todo, o noso cerebro tamén é sumamente sensible ao estrés que nos arrodea. As hormonas do estrés, glicocorticoides, liberadas polo cerebro, suprimen o crecemento destas células novas. Canto máis estrés, menos desenvolvemento cerebral, o que xera, á súa vez, menos adaptabilidade e aumenta os niveis de estrés. Esta é a interacción entre natureza e crianza en tempo real, diante dos nosos ollos. Cando pensas niso, resulta irónico que a solución actual para a xente con amígdalas estresadas sexa poñelas nun ambiente que en realidade inhibe toda posibilidade de crecemento posterior. Por suposto, o encarceramento é unha parte necesaria do sistema de xustiza penal para protexer a sociedade. O noso estudo non suxire que os criminais presenten as súas resonancias como proba nun xuízo e que os liberen porque non lles funcione ben a amígdala. As probas mostran que é ao revés. Xa que o noso cerebro pode cambiar necesitamos ser responsables dos nosos actos e eles teñen que facerse responsables de rehabilitarse. Unha forma de que esa rehabilitación puidese chegar a funcionar é a través de programas de xustiza restaurativa. Aquí a vítima, se decide participar, e o criminal vense cara a cara en encontros seguros e estruturados, anímase ao criminal a responsabilizarse dos seus actos, e a vítima xoga un papel activo neste proceso. E neste escenario, o criminal pode ver, quizais por primeira vez, á vítima coma unha persoa real, con pensamentos e sentimentos e unha xenuína resposta emocional. Isto estimula a amígdala e pode ser una práctica de rehabilitación máis efectiva que o simple encarceramento. Programas coma este non funcionan para todos, pero para moitos, pode ser unha forma de rematar con esa enorme frialdade interior.
So what can we do now? How can we apply this knowledge? I'd like to leave you with three lessons that I learned. The first thing that I learned was that we need to change our mindset. Since Wormwood Scrubs was built 130 years ago, society has advanced in virtually every aspect, in the way we run our schools, our hospitals. Yet the moment we speak about prisons, it's as though we're back in Dickensian times, if not medieval times. For too long, I believe, we've allowed ourselves to be persuaded of the false notion that human nature cannot change, and as a society, it's costing us dearly. We know that the brain is capable of extraordinary change, and the best way to achieve that, even in adults, is to change and modulate our environment.
Entón, que podemos facer agora? Como aplicamos este coñecemento? Gustaríame deixarlles tres leccións que aprendín. A primeira foi que debemos cambiar a nosa mentalidade. Desde que se construíu Wormwood Scrubs hai 130 anos, a sociedade avanzou en case tódolos aspectos, na forma na que diriximos os nosos colexios e hospitais. Aínda así, cando falamos de prisións é coma se volvésemos á época de Dickens ou á Idade Media. Durante demasiado tempo, penso, permitímonos crer na falsa idea de que a natureza humana non pode cambiar e, como sociedade, estámolo pagando moi caro. Sabemos que o cerebro é capaz de cambios extraordinarios e a mellor forma de conseguilo, incluso en adultos, é cambiar e modular o noso ambiente. O segundo que aprendín
The second thing I have learned is that we need to create an alliance of people who believe that science is integral to bringing about social change. It's easy enough for a neuroscientist to place a high-security inmate in an MRI scanner. Well actually, that turns out not to be so easy, but ultimately what we want to show is whether we're able to reduce the reoffending rates. In order to answer complex questions like that, we need people of different backgrounds -- lab-based scientists and clinicians, social workers and policy makers, philanthropists and human rights activists — to work together.
é que necesitamos crear unha unión entre a xente que cre que a ciencia é esencial para xerar o cambio social. É moi fácil para un neurocientífico facerlle unha resonancia a un preso de alta seguridade. Pois ben, resulta que non é tan fácil pero o que en verdade queremos ver e se podemos reducir as taxas de reincidencia. Para responder a preguntas tan complexas, necesitamos xente con diferentes formacións: clínicos e científicos de laboratorio, políticos e traballadores sociais, filántropos e defensores dos dereitos humanos. Necesitamos que traballen unidos.
Finally, I believe we need to change our own amygdalae, because this issue goes to the heart not just of who Joe is, but who we are. We need to change our view of Joe as someone wholly irredeemable, because if we see Joe as wholly irredeemable, how is he going to see himself as any different? In another decade, Joe will be released from Wormwood Scrubs. Will he be among the 70 percent of inmates who end up reoffending and returning to the prison system? Wouldn't it be better if, while serving his sentence, Joe was able to train his amygdala, which would stimulate the growth of new brain cells and connections, so that he will be able to face the world once he gets released? Surely, that would be in the interest of all of us.
Finalmente creo que necesitamos cambiar as nosas propias amígdalas, porque esta cuestión chega ao fondo non só de quen é Joe, senón de quen somos nós. Necesitamos deixar de ver a Joe como alguén totalmente incorrixible, porque, se nós o vemos así, como pode chegar el a verse como alguén distinto? Dentro dunha década, Joe ha ser liberado de Wormwood Scrubs. Estará entre o 70% de internos que terminan reincidindo e volven ao sistema penitenciario? Non será mellor que, mentres cumpre a condena, Joe adestre a súa amígdala, o que estimularía o crecemento de novas células cerebrais e conexións, para que, dese modo, poida enfrontarse ao mundo cando o liberen? Sen dúbida, iso beneficiaríanos a todos.
(Applause) Thank you. (Applause)
(Aplausos) Grazas. (Aplausos)