My research lab sits about a mile from where several bombs exploded during the Boston Marathon in 2013. The surviving bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev of Chechnya, was tried, convicted and sentenced to death.
O meu laboratorio de investigación está a quilómetro e medio de onde estouparon varias bombas durante a Maratón de Bostón en 2013 O terrorista supervivinte, o checheno Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Foi xulgado, condenado e sentenciado a morte
Now, when a jury has to make the decision between life in prison and the death penalty, they base their decision largely on whether or not the defendant feels remorseful for his actions. Tsarnaev spoke words of apology, but when jurors looked at his face, all they saw was a stone-faced stare. Now, Tsarnaev is guilty, there's no doubt about that. He murdered and maimed innocent people, and I'm not here to debate that. My heart goes out to all the people who suffered. But as a scientist, I have to tell you that jurors do not and cannot detect remorse or any other emotion in anybody ever. Neither can I, and neither can you, and that's because emotions are not what we think they are. They are not universally expressed and recognized. They are not hardwired brain reactions that are uncontrollable. We have misunderstood the nature of emotion for a very long time, and understanding what emotions really are has important consequences for all of us.
Agora ben, cando un xurado ten que decidir entre condenar a entrar na cadea e a pena de morte basea a súa decisión principalmente en se lle parece que o acusado sente remorsos polos seus actos. Tsarnaev pediu perdón, pero cando os membros do xurado o miraban á cara o que vían era unha expresión fría Ben, Tsarnaev é culpable, non hai dúbida diso. Matou e mutilou a persoas inocentes, non veño discutir iso. O meu corazón está con calquera que sufra. Pero como científica, teño que dicilo os xurados non detectan nin poden detectar os remorsos nin calqueroutra emoción en ninguén, nunca. Eu tampouco podo, nin vós, porque as emocións non son o que pensamos que son. Non se expresan nin recoñecen universalmente. Non son reaccións programadas do cerebro que sexan incontrolables. Vimos entendendo mal a natureza das emocións desde hai moito tempo, e entendermos que son realmente as emocións ten consecuencias importantes para todos.
I have studied emotions as a scientist for the past 25 years, and in my lab, we have probed human faces by measuring electrical signals that cause your facial muscles to contract to make facial expressions. We have scrutinized the human body in emotion. We have analyzed hundreds of physiology studies involving thousands of test subjects. We've scanned hundreds of brains, and examined every brain imaging study on emotion that has been published in the past 20 years. And the results of all of this research are overwhelmingly consistent. It may feel to you like your emotions are hardwired and they just trigger and happen to you, but they don't. You might believe that your brain is prewired with emotion circuits, that you're born with emotion circuits, but you're not. In fact, none of us in this room have emotion circuits in our brain. In fact, no brain on this planet contains emotion circuits.
Levo investigando as emocións desde hai 25 anos, no meu laboratorio estudamos as caras medindo os sinais eléctricos que provocan os músculos ao contraerse para produciren as expresións faciais. Indagamos no corpo humano nas emocións Analizamos centos de estudos de fisioloxía humana implicando a miles de participantes. Escaneamos centos de cerebros, e examinamos todos os estudos de neuroimaxe das emocións publicados nos últimos 20 anos. E os resultados desta investigación son rotundamente consistentes. Pode parecer que as emocións están programadas que simplemente se disparan e ocorren, pero non é así. Poderíase pensar que o cerebro está cableado con circuítos emocionais, que nacemos con eses circuítos, pero non é así. De feito, ningúen nesta sala ten circuítos emocionais no cerebro. De feito, ningún cerebro neste planeta contén circuítos emocionais.
So what are emotions, really? Well, strap on your seat belt, because ... emotions are guesses. They are guesses that your brain constructs in the moment where billions of brain cells are working together, and you have more control over those guesses than you might imagine that you do.
Entón, que son realmente as emocións? Ben, abróchense os cinturóns, porque... as emocións son suposicións. Son suposicións que o cerebro constrúe no momento en que millóns de neuronas se poñen a traballar xuntas, e temos máis control sobre esas suposicións do que imaxinamos.
Now, if that sounds preposterous to you, or, you know, kind of crazy, I'm right there with you, because frankly, if I hadn't seen the evidence for myself, decades of evidence for myself, I am fairly sure that I wouldn't believe it either. But the bottom line is that emotions are not built into your brain at birth. They are just built.
Se isto vos soa absurdo, ou mesmo unha tolería, compréndovos porque, francamente, se non vise as probas en min mesma, décadas de probas sobre min mesma, estou certa que non podería crelo. Pero o punto de partida é que as emocións non están implantadas no cerebro ao nacer. Senón que se constrúen.
To see what I mean, have a look at this. Right now, your brain is working like crazy. Your neurons are firing like mad trying to make meaning out of this so that you see something other than black and white blobs. Your brain is sifting through a lifetime of experience, making thousands of guesses at the same time, weighing the probabilities, trying to answer the question, "What is this most like?" not "What is it?" but "What is this most like in my past experience?" And this is all happening in the blink of an eye. Now if your brain is still struggling to find a good match and you still see black and white blobs, then you are in a state called "experiential blindness," and I am going to cure you of your blindness. This is my favorite part. Are you ready to be cured?
Para entender o que quero dicir, vexamos isto. Neste momento o voso cerebro está a traballar coma louco. As vosas neuronas están disparando como tolas, tratando de darlle sentido de ver algo máis que manchas brancas e negras. O voso cerebro está a repasar toda unha vida de experiencias, facendo milleiros de suposicións ao mesmo tempo, sopesando as probabilidades, tratando de responder á pregunta, "a que se parece isto?" non "que é isto?" senón "que é o máis parecido que coñezo? E todo isto pasa nun abrir e pechar de ollos. Se o voso cerebro aínda se está a espremer para atopar unha coincidencia E aínda só vedes manchas brancas e negras, estades no estado que chamamos "cegueira experiencial", e vouvos curar a cegueira. Esta é a miña parte favorita. Estades prontos para ser curados?
(Cheers)
[exclamacións]
All right. Here we go.
Perfecto. Imos aló.
(Gasps)
[exclamacións]
All right. So now many of you see a snake, and why is that? Because as your brain is sifting through your past experience, there's new knowledge there, the knowledge that came from the photograph. And what's really cool is that that knowledge which you just acquired moments ago is changing how you experience these blobs right now. So your brain is constructing the image of a snake where there is no snake, and this kind of a hallucination is what neuroscientists like me call "predictions." Predictions are basically the way your brain works. It's business as usual for your brain. Predictions are the basis of every experience that you have. They are the basis of every action that you take. In fact, predictions are what allow you to understand the words that I'm speaking as they come out of my --
Perfecto. Agora moitos vedes unha cobra, e por que? Porque cando o voso cerebro acode á vosa experiencia previa, agora hai novo coñecemento, o coñecemento que provén da fotografía. E o verdadeiramente xenial é que ese coñecemento que vides de adquirir hai un momento fai que cambie a forma de percibir as manchas. Agora mesmo. O voso cerebro está a construír a imaxe dunha cobra onde non hai ningunha cobra, e este tipo de alucinación é o que os neurocientíficos coma min chamamos "predicións". As predicións constitúen, basicamente, a forma de traballar do cerebro. Para o voso cerebro é o de todos os días. As predicións son a base de calquera experiencia que tedes. A base de calquera acción que facedes. De feito, as predicións son o que permite que entendades as miñas palabras conforme me veñen...
Audience: Mouth. Lisa Feldman Barrett: Mouth. Exactly.
[Público: aos beizos. Lisa: aos beizos. Exactamente.
Predictions are primal. They help us to make sense of the world in a quick and efficient way. So your brain does not react to the world. Using past experience, your brain predicts and constructs your experience of the world.
As predicións son primordiais. Axúdannos a darlle sentido ao mundo de forma rápida e eficaz. Por tanto, o voso cerebro non reacciona ante o mundo. Usando a experiencia previa, o voso cerebro predí e constrúe a vosa experiencia do mundo.
The way that we see emotions in others are deeply rooted in predictions. So to us, it feels like we just look at someone's face, and we just read the emotion that's there in their facial expressions the way that we would read words on a page. But actually, under the hood, your brain is predicting. It's using past experience based on similar situations to try to make meaning. This time, you're not making meaning of blobs, you're making meaning of facial movements like the curl of a lip or the raise of an eyebrow. And that stone-faced stare? That might be someone who is a remorseless killer, but a stone-faced stare might also mean that someone is stoically accepting defeat, which is in fact what Chechen culture prescribes for someone in Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's situation.
A forma en que vemos as emocións nos demais, está baseada en predicións. Para nós é como se ,simplemente, estivésemos a ver a cara de alguén, e só lemos a emoción visible nas súas expresións faciais igual que se lésemos palabras nunha páxina. Pero en realidade, a idea é que o voso cerebro está predicindo. Está a usar a experiencia previa de situacións similares para tratar de comprender. Desta volta, non estás a lle dar sentido a unhas manchas, estás a darlle sentido a movementos faciais como engurrar os beizos ou levantar unha cella. E esa mirada fría? Parece un asasino sen remorsos, pero unha mirada fría tamén significa que alguén acepta estoicamente a derrota, que de feito é o que a cultura chechena prescribe para alguén na situación de Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
So the lesson here is that emotions that you seem to detect in other people actually come in part from what's inside your own head. And this is true in the courtroom, but it's also true in the classroom, in the bedroom, and in the boardroom.
Así que a lección é que as emocións que cres detectar noutra persoa en realidade veñen en parte do que hai na túa cabeza. E isto ocorre no xulgado, pero tamén na clase, na cama, e na sala de xuntas.
And so here's my concern: tech companies which shall remain nameless ... well, maybe not. You know, Google, Facebook --
E aquí ven a miña preocupación: as compañías tecnolóxicas que non imos citar... ou si. Xa sabedes, Google, Facebook...
(Laughter)
(Risas)
are spending millions of research dollars to build emotion-detection systems, and they are fundamentally asking the wrong question, because they're trying to detect emotions in the face and the body, but emotions aren't in your face and body. Physical movements have no intrinsic emotional meaning. We have to make them meaningful. A human or something else has to connect them to the context, and that makes them meaningful. That's how we know that a smile might mean sadness and a cry might mean happiness, and a stoic, still face might mean that you are angrily plotting the demise of your enemy. Now, if I haven't already gone out on a limb, I'll just edge out on that limb a little further and tell you that the way that you experience your own emotion is exactly the same process. Your brain is basically making predictions, guesses, that it's constructing in the moment with billions of neurons working together.
gastan millóns de dólares en investigar en sistemas para detectar emocións, pero están respondendo á pregunta equivocada, porque tentan detectar as emocións na cara e no corpo, pero as emocións non están na cara ou no corpo. Os movementos físicos non teñen un significado emocional intrínseco. Temos nós que darlle sentido. Unha persoa, ou unha máquina ten que poñelos nun contexto, e iso é o que lles dá sentido. Así é como sabemos que un sorriso pode indicar tristura e o pranto pode ser de felicidade, e unha cara estóica, inmóbil pode significar que estás cabreado, matinando en como eliminar o teu enemigo. Agora, se aínda non me pasei moito, vou ir un pouco máis aló para dicirvos que a forma en que experimentades as vosas propias emocións é exactamente o mesmo proceso. O voso cerebro basicamente fai predicións, suposicións, que se constrúen no momento con milleiros de neuronas traballando xuntas.
Now your brain does come prewired to make some feelings, simple feelings that come from the physiology of your body. So when you're born, you can make feelings like calmness and agitation, excitement, comfort, discomfort. But these simple feelings are not emotions. They're actually with you every waking moment of your life. They are simple summaries of what's going on inside your body, kind of like a barometer. But they have very little detail, and you need that detail to know what to do next. What do you about these feelings? And so how does your brain give you that detail? Well, that's what predictions are. Predictions link the sensations in your body that give you these simple feelings with what's going on around you in the world so that you know what to do. And sometimes, those constructions are emotions.
O voso cerebro vén programado para crear algúns sentimentos, sentimentos sinxelos que veñen da fisioloxía do voso corpo. Cando nacedes podedes ter sentimentos como calma ou axitación, excitación, confort, disconfort, Pero eses sentimentos simples non son emocións. Están en ti en cada momento consciente da túa vida. Son simples resumos do que está a ocorrer no voso corpo, como se fosen un barómetro. Pero teñen pouco detalle, e necesitades eses detalles para saber qué virá despois. Que che din eses sentimentos? E como vos dá detalles o cerebro? Iso é o que as predicións son. As predicións conectan as sensacións corporais proporcionadas por eses sentimentos simples co que ocorre ao voso arredor para que saibades o que facer. E ás veces, esas construcións son emocións.
So for example, if you were to walk into a bakery, your brain might predict that you will encounter the delicious aroma of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. I know my brain would predict the delicious aroma of freshly baked chocolate cookies. And our brains might cause our stomachs to churn a little bit, to prepare for eating those cookies. And if we are correct, if in fact some cookies have just come out of the oven, then our brains will have constructed hunger, and we are prepared to munch down those cookies and digest them in a very efficient way, meaning that we can eat a lot of them, which would be a really good thing.
Por exemplo, se entrásedes nunha pastelaría, o voso cerebro podería predicir que vos ides atopar o arrecendo das galletas galletas de chocolate recén feitas. Sei que o meu cerebro prediciría o recendo das galletas de chocolate recén feitas. E os nosos cerebros provocan que os nosos estómagos se remexan, preparándos para comer esas galletas. E se estamos no correcto, se de verdade acaban de saír do forno unhas galletas, os nosos cerebros terán construído a fame, e estaremos listos para gozar desas galletas. e dixerilas eficientemente, o que significa que poderemos comer un montón delas, que está moi ben.
You guys are not laughing enough. I'm totally serious.
Vexo que non rides. Pois falo en serio.
(Laughter)
(Risas)
But here's the thing. That churning stomach, if it occurs in a different situation, it can have a completely different meaning. So if your brain were to predict a churning stomach in, say, a hospital room while you're waiting for test results, then your brain will be constructing dread or worry or anxiety, and it might cause you to, maybe, wring your hands or take a deep breath or even cry. Right? Same physical sensation, same churning stomach, different experience.
Pero aquí está a cousa. Ese estómago que se remexe, se a situación fose outra, tería un significado completamente distinto. Se o voso cerebro predicise un estómago que brúa por exemplo, na sala dun hospital mentres agardades por uns resultados, o voso cerebro construiría medo, ou preocupación, ou ansiedade, e provocaría, tal vez, que retorcésedes as mans ou inspirásedes profundamente, ou mesmo que chorásedes De acordo? a mesma sensación física, o mesmo estómago que brúa, distinta experiencia.
And so the lesson here is that emotions which seem to happen to you are actually made by you. You are not at the mercy of mythical emotion circuits which are buried deep inside some ancient part of your brain. You have more control over your emotions than you think you do. I don't mean that you can just snap your fingers and change how you feel the way that you would change your clothes, but your brain is wired so that if you change the ingredients that your brain uses to make emotion, then you can transform your emotional life. So if you change those ingredients today, you're basically teaching your brain how to predict differently tomorrow, and this is what I call being the architect of your experience.
Así que a mensaxe disto é que as emocións que parece que vos suceden en realidade son creadas por vós. Non estades a mercé de míticos circuítos emocionais fondamente soterrados nalgunha parte antiga do voso cerebro. Tedes máis control sobre as vosas emocións do que pensades. Non quero dircir que baste con estralar os dedos para cambiar como se sente un, como quen cambia de roupa, pero o voso cerebro está conectado de xeito que se cambiades os ingredientes que usa para construír as emocións, podedes cambiar a vosa vida emocional. Se cambiades eses ingredientes hoxe, basicamente aprenderédeslle ao voso cerebro como predicir doutro xeito mañá, e isto é o que eu chamo serdes arquitectos da vosa experiencia.
So here's an example. All of us have had a nervous feeling before a test, right? But some people experience crippling anxiety before a test. They have test anxiety. Based on past experiences of taking tests, their brains predict a hammering heartbeat, sweaty hands, so much so that they are unable to actually take the test. They don't perform well, and sometimes they not only fail courses but they actually might fail college. But here's the thing: a hammering heartbeat is not necessarily anxiety. It could be that your body is preparing to do battle and ace that test ... or, you know, give a talk in front of hundreds of people on a stage where you're being filmed.
Poño un exemplo. Todos témonos sentido nerviosos antes dun exame, non si? Pero algunha xente experimenta unha ansiedade incapacitante. Teñen ansiedade diante do exame. Baseándose na experiencia de exames pasados, os seus cerebros predín un ritmo cardíaco martelante, mans suorosas, tanto que se senten incapaces de facer o exame. Non o fan ben, e ás veces non só suspenden a materia senón que fracasan na carreira. Pero aquí está o asunto: un corazón martelante non é necesariamente ansiedade. Pode que o voso corpo se estea preparando para a batalla para niquelar ese exame... ou, por exemplo, dar unha charla fronte a centos de persoas nun escenario onde vos están a filmar.
(Laughter)
(Risas)
I'm serious.
Estou en serio.
(Laughter)
(Risas)
And research shows that when students learn to make this kind of energized determination instead of anxiety, they perform better on tests. And that determination seeds their brain to predict differently in the future so that they can get their butterflies flying in formation. And if they do that often enough, they not only can pass a test but it will be easier for them to pass their courses, and they might even finish college, which has a huge impact on their future earning potential. So I call this emotional intelligence in action.
A investigación amosa que cando os estudantes aprenden a crear este tipo de determinación enérxica en vez de ansiedade, renden mellor nos exames. Esa determinación sementa os seus cerebros para predicir de xeito distinto no futuro tal que poden poñer as bolboretas do seu estómago a voar en formación. E se o fan veces dabondo, non só poden aprobar un exame senón que lles ha ser máis doado superar os cursos, e mesmo poden rematar a carreira, o que terá un enorme impacto no seu potencial de ingresos futuros. A isto eu chámooo intelixencia emocional en acción.
Now you can cultivate this emotional intelligence yourself and use it in your everyday life. So just, you know, imagine waking up in the morning. I'm sure you've had this experience. I know I have. You wake up and as you're emerging into consciousness, you feel this horrible dread, you know, this real wretchedness, and immediately, your mind starts to race. You start to think about all the crap that you have to do at work and you have that mountain of email which you will never dig yourself out of ever, the phone calls you have to return, and that important meeting across town, and you're going to have to fight traffic, you'll be late picking your kids up, your dog is sick, and what are you going to make for dinner? Oh my God. What is wrong with your life? What is wrong with my life?
Agora podedes cultivar esta intelixencia emocional vós mesmos e usala na vosa vida cotiá. Así que xa sabedes, imaxinádevos erguéndovos pola mañá. Seguro que tivéstes esa experiencia. Eu sei que a teño. Erguédesvos como se emerxesedes á consciencia, sentides ese pavor horrible, xa sabedes, ese estado lamentable, e, inmediatamente, a túa mente se pon en marcha. Empezas a pensar en todas as parvadas que tes que facer no traballo no monte de correos electrónicos que non has dar lido nunca, nunca, as chamadas que tes que responder, a reunión importantísima na outra punta da cidade, e o tráfico que tes que atravesar, chegas tarde a recoller os nenos, e o can está enfermo, e que fago para cear? e, oh, deus! Que vai mal na túa vida? Que vai mal na miña vida?
(Laughter)
(Risas)
That mind racing is prediction. Your brain is searching to find an explanation for those sensations in your body that you experience as wretchedness, just like you did with the blobby image. So your brain is trying to explain what caused those sensations so that you know what to do about them. But those sensations might not be an indication that anything is wrong with your life. They might have a purely physical cause. Maybe you're tired. Maybe you didn't sleep enough. Maybe you're hungry. Maybe you're dehydrated. The next time that you feel intense distress, ask yourself: Could this have a purely physical cause? Is it possible that you can transform emotional suffering into just mere physical discomfort?
Esa mente en marcha é predición. O voso cerebro está a buscar unha explicación para esas sensacións corporais que experimentades como desastrosas, igual que faciades coa imaxe das manchas. O voso cerebro trata de explicar a causa desas sensacións para que saibades que facer. Pero esas sensacións non teñen porque significar que algo na vosa vida vai mal. Poderían ter unha causa puramente física. Tal vez estades cansos. Tal vez non durmistes abondo. Tal vez tedes fame. Tal vez estades deshidratados. A próxima vez que sintades un malestar intenso, preguntádevos: Pode ter unha causa puramente física? É posible que poidades transformar o sufrimento emocional nun malestar puramente físico.
Now I am not suggesting to you that you can just perform a couple of Jedi mind tricks and talk yourself out of being depressed or anxious or any kind of serious condition. But I am telling you that you have more control over your emotions than you might imagine, and that you have the capacity to turn down the dial on emotional suffering and its consequences for your life by learning how to construct your experiences differently. And all of us can do this and with a little practice, we can get really good at it, like driving. At first, it takes a lot of effort, but eventually it becomes pretty automatic.
A ver, non vos estou a suxerir que poidades practicar un par de trucos de Jedi e convencervos de que non estades deprimidos ou ansiosos, ou calqueroutro trastorno serio. Pero si vos estou a dicir que tedes máis control sobre as vosas emocións do que nunca pensástes, e que tedes capacidade para xirar o dial do sufrimento emocional e as súas consecuencias nas vosas vidas aprendendo a construír as vosas experiencias de xeito diferente. Todos podemos facelo e cunha pouca de práctica podemos facelo moi ben. É como conducir. Ao principio require moito esforzo, pero logo se vai facendo automático.
Now I don't know about you, but I find this to be a really empowering and inspiring message, and the fact that it's backed up by decades of research makes me also happy as a scientist. But I have to also warn you that it does come with some fine print, because more control also means more responsibility. If you are not at the mercy of mythical emotion circuits which are buried deep inside your brain somewhere and which trigger automatically, then who's responsible, who is responsible when you behave badly? You are. Not because you're culpable for your emotions, but because the actions and the experiences that you make today become your brain's predictions for tomorrow. Sometimes we are responsible for something not because we're to blame but because we're the only ones who can change it.
Non sei vós, pero eu penso que esta é unha mensaxe realmente empoderante e inspiradora, e o feito de que estea sustentada por décadas de investigación tamén me fai feliz como científica. Pero tamén teño que advertirvos que ten letra pequena, porque máis control tamén significa máis responsabilidade. Se non estades a mercé duns míticos circuítos emocionais fondamente soterrados nalgún lugar do voso cerebro que se disparan automaticamente, entón quen é o responsable? quen é responsable se vos comportades incorrectamente? Sodes vós. Non porque sexades culpables das vosas emocións, senón porque as accións e as experiencias que construídes hoxe convírtense nas predicións do voso cerebro para mañá. Ás veces somos responsables de algo non porque teñamos a culpa senón porque somos os únicos que podemos cambialo.
Now responsibility is a big word. It's so big, in fact, that sometimes people feel the need to resist the scientific evidence that emotions are built and not built in. The idea that we are responsible for our own emotions seems very hard to swallow. But what I'm suggesting to you is you don't have to choke on that idea. You just take a deep breath, maybe get yourself a glass of water if you need to, and embrace it. Embrace that responsibility, because it is the path to a healthier body, a more just and informed legal system, and a more flexible and potent emotional life.
Agora ben, responsabilidade é unha palabra maior. Tan importante, de feito, que ás veces a xente sente a necesidade de resistirse á evidencia científica de que as emocións son construídas, non veñen feitas. A idea de que sexamos responsables das nosas propias emocións parece difícil de dixerir. O que eu vos suxiro é que non vos atragoedes con esa idea. Inspirade profundamente, tomade un vaso de auga se o precisades, e aceptádeo. Aceptade a responsabilidade, porque é o camiño para un corpo máis san, para un sistema legal máis xusto e mellor informado, e para unha vida emocional máis flexible e máis poderosa.
Thank you.
Grazas.
(Applause)
(Aplausos)