Well, as Chris pointed out, I study the human brain, the functions and structure of the human brain. And I just want you to think for a minute about what this entails. Here is this mass of jelly, three-pound mass of jelly you can hold in the palm of your hand, and it can contemplate the vastness of interstellar space. It can contemplate the meaning of infinity and it can contemplate itself contemplating on the meaning of infinity. And this peculiar recursive quality that we call self-awareness, which I think is the holy grail of neuroscience, of neurology, and hopefully, someday, we'll understand how that happens.
是的,就如克里斯指出的,我研究人的大脑-- 人类大脑的功能和结构。 我想给大家用一分钟的时间想一下这意味着什么 这是一个硕大的果冻状的物质 - 三英镑质量 你可以把它放在你的手掌里, 它能思考浩瀚的星际空间, 它可以思考“无限”的含义, 以及思考它本身去理解“无限”的含义。 这种独特的自省的特质我们称为自我意识。 我认为这就是神经系统科学和神经病学的“圣杯”, 但愿有一天,我们能够明白这是怎么产生的。
OK, so how do you study this mysterious organ? I mean, you have 100 billion nerve cells, little wisps of protoplasm, interacting with each other, and from this activity emerges the whole spectrum of abilities that we call human nature and human consciousness. How does this happen? Well, there are many ways of approaching the functions of the human brain. One approach, the one we use mainly, is to look at patients with sustained damage to a small region of the brain, where there's been a genetic change in a small region of the brain. What then happens is not an across-the-board reduction in all your mental capacities, a sort of blunting of your cognitive ability. What you get is a highly selective loss of one function, with other functions being preserved intact, and this gives you some confidence in asserting that that part of the brain is somehow involved in mediating that function. So you can then map function onto structure, and then find out what the circuitry's doing to generate that particular function. So that's what we're trying to do.
好的,那么你要怎么研究这个神秘的器官呢? 我的意思是说你有1000亿个神经元细胞, (每个是)一小束原生质,它们相互作用, 从这些活动中,迸发出一系列的能力 我们称为人性和人的意识。 这是怎么产生的呢? 嗯,我们可以用很多方法去研究人脑的功能。 其中的一个方法,我们所采用的主要的方法, 是观察大脑中一小部分区域遭受持续性损伤的病人, 这部分区域已经发生了一种遗传学改变。 这发生的不是全面性丧失 所有的心智能力, 换句话说是一种使认知能力迟钝的情况. 这是一种特定功能的丧失 而其他功能则完好无损。 这让你能自信地说: 那个区域以某种方式在那个功能的运作中起到作用。 这样你就能将功能映射到结构上去, 并找出这部分神经回路是如何产生 这个特定的功能的。 这就是我们想做的事。
So let me give you a few striking examples of this. In fact, I'm giving you three examples, six minutes each, during this talk. The first example is an extraordinary syndrome called Capgras syndrome. If you look at the first slide there, that's the temporal lobes, frontal lobes, parietal lobes, OK -- the lobes that constitute the brain. And if you look, tucked away inside the inner surface of the temporal lobes -- you can't see it there -- is a little structure called the fusiform gyrus. And that's been called the face area in the brain, because when it's damaged, you can no longer recognize people's faces. You can still recognize them from their voice and say, "Oh yeah, that's Joe," but you can't look at their face and know who it is, right? You can't even recognize yourself in the mirror. I mean, you know it's you because you wink and it winks, and you know it's a mirror, but you don't really recognize yourself as yourself.
就让我向诸位展示几个惊人的例子。 事实上,在这个演讲中,我要给出三个例子,每个6分钟。 第一个例子是一种称为“卡普格拉斯综合症"(Capgras Syndrome)的罕见综合症。 请看那边的第一个幻灯片, 图中显示的是颞叶(temporal lobes)、额叶(frontal lobes)和顶叶(parietal lobes)。 够成大脑的脑叶。 你再看看,折叠在颞叶的皮层内部的部分 你在图中看不见的 是一种称为梭状回(fusiform gyrus)的微小结构。 它被称为脑的“脸部区域”, 因为如果这个区域遭受损伤,你就无法再识别人们的面孔了。 你仍然能够通过嗓音识别他人, 并且说,“哦,对了,这是乔”, 但你没法看着别人的脸认出这是谁,对吧? 你就连镜子里的自己都认不出来了。 我的意思是说,当你对着镜子眨眼时,你依然知道那人在眨眼, 而且你知道那是在镜子里, 但却真的识别不出那个人就是你自己。
OK. Now that syndrome is well known as caused by damage to the fusiform gyrus. But there's another rare syndrome, so rare, in fact, that very few physicians have heard about it, not even neurologists. This is called the Capgras delusion, and that is a patient, who's otherwise completely normal, has had a head injury, comes out of coma, otherwise completely normal, he looks at his mother and says, "This looks exactly like my mother, this woman, but she's an impostor. She's some other woman pretending to be my mother." Now, why does this happen? Why would somebody -- and this person is perfectly lucid and intelligent in all other respects, but when he sees his mother, his delusion kicks in and says, it's not mother.
好,现在这种梭状回损伤导致的疾病是众所周知的了。 但还有一种罕见的综合症,非常罕见,事实上, 连医生都很少知道,甚至于神经病学家。 它名叫“卡普格拉斯错觉”(Capgras Delusion), 即一个原本完全正常的病患 遭受了头部损伤,从昏迷中醒来, 原本完全正常的病患,他看着自己的母亲 并且说,“这人看上去跟我母亲一模一样,这个女人, 但她是个假冒的, 是个假装成我母亲的女人”。 为什么会这样呢? 为什么这个人完全清醒和理智, 在所有其它方面,但当他看见他母亲时, 他的错觉就出现,并说“这不是我母亲”。
Now, the most common interpretation of this, which you find in all the psychiatry textbooks, is a Freudian view, and that is that this chap -- and the same argument applies to women, by the way, but I'll just talk about guys. When you're a little baby, a young baby, you had a strong sexual attraction to your mother. This is the so-called Oedipus complex of Freud. I'm not saying I believe this, but this is the standard Freudian view. And then, as you grow up, the cortex develops, and inhibits these latent sexual urges towards your mother. Thank God, or you would all be sexually aroused when you saw your mother. And then what happens is, there's a blow to your head, damaging the cortex, allowing these latent sexual urges to emerge, flaming to the surface, and suddenly and inexplicably you find yourself being sexually aroused by your mother. And you say, "My God, if this is my mom, how come I'm being sexually turned on? She's some other woman. She's an impostor." It's the only interpretation that makes sense to your damaged brain.
现在,对此最常见的解释是, 你可以在所有的精神病学的教科书找到, 是弗洛伊德式的观点,那就是:当这个小伙子 顺便提一句,女性也得有这种病的 但我只说男的好了 当你还是个婴儿,一个很小的婴儿的时候, 你对母亲有种很强烈的性吸引。 这就是所谓的“俄狄浦斯”(Oedipus)恋母情结。 我没说我相信这个, 但标准的弗洛伊德观点就是这样的。 长大后,你的皮层生长发育, 抑制了对母亲的潜在性欲。 感谢上帝,否则每次你看到你母亲的时候会唤起你的性欲。 接下来,所发生的是, 头部的击打损伤了皮层, 把潜在的性冲动释放, 释放到了表层。突然间,莫名其妙地, 你觉得自己对母亲产生了性欲。 于是你想:“天啊,这是我妈, 我怎么可能会觉得性冲动? 她一定是别的女人,是个假冒的。” 对你受损伤的大脑来说只有这解释才说的通。
This has never made much sense to me, this argument. It's very ingenious, as all Freudian arguments are -- (Laughter) -- but didn't make much sense because I have seen the same delusion, a patient having the same delusion, about his pet poodle. (Laughter) He'll say, "Doctor, this is not Fifi. It looks exactly like Fifi, but it's some other dog." Right? Now, you try using the Freudian explanation there. (Laughter) You'll start talking about the latent bestiality in all humans, or some such thing, which is quite absurd, of course.
我从来不觉得这样的论辩有道理。 尽管像弗洛伊德的其它论辩一样,它非常巧妙。 (众笑) 但我觉得它没道理,是因为我见过同样的错觉, 有一病患对他的贵宾犬有同样的错觉。 (众笑) 他说:“大夫,这不是菲菲,它看上去跟菲菲一个样, 但它是另一条狗”。对吧? 现在请你用弗洛伊德的理论解释解释看。 (众笑) 你将开始讨论有关人类潜在的恋兽性 或类似的事情,这当然是相当荒谬的。
Now, what's really going on? So, to explain this curious disorder, we look at the structure and functions of the normal visual pathways in the brain. Normally, visual signals come in, into the eyeballs, go to the visual areas in the brain. There are, in fact, 30 areas in the back of your brain concerned with just vision, and after processing all that, the message goes to a small structure called the fusiform gyrus, where you perceive faces. There are neurons there that are sensitive to faces. You can call it the face area of the brain, right? I talked about that earlier. Now, when that area's damaged, you lose the ability to see faces, right?
实际是怎么回事呢? 为了解释这种奇怪的疾病, 我们来看看正常人脑视觉通路的结构和功能。 通常来说,视觉信号通过眼球 进入脑中的视觉区域 事实上脑后部有30个负责处理视觉信号的区域, 然后,通过处理所有的这些,信号进入一种微小结构 它称为“梭状回”,在那里感知到面部图像。 那里有对面部感知的神经元。 你可以称它为“大脑的面部区”。对吧? 我之前谈及过. 那个区域一旦损坏,你就失去了识别面孔的能力。对吧?
But from that area, the message cascades into a structure called the amygdala in the limbic system, the emotional core of the brain, and that structure, called the amygdala, gauges the emotional significance of what you're looking at. Is it prey? Is it predator? Is it mate? Or is it something absolutely trivial, like a piece of lint, or a piece of chalk, or a -- I don't want to point to that, but -- or a shoe, or something like that? OK? Which you can completely ignore. So if the amygdala is excited, and this is something important, the messages then cascade into the autonomic nervous system. Your heart starts beating faster. You start sweating to dissipate the heat that you're going to create from muscular exertion. And that's fortunate, because we can put two electrodes on your palm and measure the change in skin resistance produced by sweating. So I can determine, when you're looking at something, whether you're excited or whether you're aroused, or not, OK? And I'll get to that in a minute.
但神经信号还会从那个区域通过, 到达边缘系统中称为杏仁核(amygdala)的区域, 那是脑的情绪核心。 那个结构称为杏仁核(amygdala), 它判断你所看见的物体在情绪上的重要性. 那是猎物,是捕食者,是配偶, 还是完全无关紧要的东西。例如一个小线头, 或者一截粉笔,获者-我不想指出来了,但 或者是一只鞋,或者类似的东西. 总之是你可以完全忽略的. 如果杏仁核变得兴奋,那么说明这是很重要的东西, 神经信号就会向下发送到自主神经系统. 你的心跳开始加速, 你开始出汗以散热,你将紧张 由肌肉收缩产生. 那是幸运的,因为我们可以把两个电极放在手掌上, 来测量汗液产生的皮肤电阻的变化. 这样我就能判断,当你看着什么东西的时候, 是兴奋,被唤起,还是没有反应了。对吧? 而我就可以在短时间内知道.
So my idea was, when this chap looks at an object, when he looks at his -- any object for that matter, it goes to the visual areas and, however, and it's processed in the fusiform gyrus, and you recognize it as a pea plant, or a table, or your mother, for that matter, OK? And then the message cascades into the amygdala, and then goes down the autonomic nervous system. But maybe, in this chap, that wire that goes from the amygdala to the limbic system, the emotional core of the brain, is cut by the accident. So because the fusiform is intact, the chap can still recognize his mother, and says, "Oh yeah, this looks like my mother." But because the wire is cut to the emotional centers, he says, "But how come, if it's my mother, I don't experience a warmth?" Or terror, as the case may be? Right? (Laughter) And therefore, he says, "How do I account for this inexplicable lack of emotions? This can't be my mother. It's some strange woman pretending to be my mother."
我的想法是:当这小伙子看着某个物体时,当他看着他的... 任何有关系的物体,信号到达视觉区,并且... 也就是说,进入梭状回处理 你就认出了这件物体是一棵豌豆,一张桌子, 或者是你的母亲,那是有关系的.对吧? 接着,信号就传到杏仁核, 再往下传递到自主神经系统。 但或许在这小伙子的脑中,从杏仁核到边缘系统的线路 即到大脑中控制情绪的核心的线路, 被事故切断了。 由于梭状回是完整的, 小伙子还能够认出他母亲, 并且想,“是啊,这人看上去像我母亲”. 但由于通往情绪中心的通路被切断了, 他就会想:“为什么我看见母亲时感觉不到温暖, 或者,也许在这个案例中是恐惧,对吧? (众笑) 于是他就想,"我怎样解释这种无法解释的情绪缺失呢? 这不可能是我的母亲。 而是某个奇怪的女人假装是我的母亲。"
How do you test this? Well, what you do is, if you take any one of you here, and put you in front of a screen, and measure your galvanic skin response, and show pictures on the screen, I can measure how you sweat when you see an object, like a table or an umbrella. Of course, you don't sweat. If I show you a picture of a lion, or a tiger, or a pinup, you start sweating, right? And, believe it or not, if I show you a picture of your mother -- I'm talking about normal people -- you start sweating. You don't even have to be Jewish. (Laughter)
你要怎么验证这个呢? 你要做的是,如果你找来一个人,在他面前放一面屏幕, 一边测量他的皮肤电反应, 一边在屏幕上放图片给他看, 我能测量你看见一个物体出汗的情况, 比如一张桌子或一把伞时,当然你不会出汗, 如果我给你看狮子,老虎或性感女郎海报的照片,你会开始出汗。对吧? 信不信由你,如果我给你看你母亲的照片, 我说的是正常的人,你会开始流汗, 你甚至不用是个犹太人。 (众笑)
Now, what happens if you show this patient? You take the patient and show him pictures on the screen and measure his galvanic skin response. Tables and chairs and lint, nothing happens, as in normal people, but when you show him a picture of his mother, the galvanic skin response is flat. There's no emotional reaction to his mother, because that wire going from the visual areas to the emotional centers is cut. So his vision is normal because the visual areas are normal, his emotions are normal -- he'll laugh, he'll cry, so on and so forth -- but the wire from vision to emotions is cut and therefore he has this delusion that his mother is an impostor. It's a lovely example of the sort of thing we do: take a bizarre, seemingly incomprehensible, neural psychiatric syndrome and say that the standard Freudian view is wrong, that, in fact, you can come up with a precise explanation in terms of the known neural anatomy of the brain.
那么,当你向病人展示时,发生了什么事呢? 你向病人展示图片 并测量他的皮肤电反应 看桌子,椅子,线头,没有反应,跟正常人一样; 当你给他看他母亲的相片, 皮肤电图像是平的, 他对自己的母亲也没有情绪反应, 因为从视觉区通往情绪中心的线路被切断了。 他的视觉没有问题,因为视觉区是正常的, 他的情绪反应也没有问题,他会哭会笑,等等 但是从视觉到情绪的线路却断了, 因此,他有了这个母亲是冒牌货的错觉。 我们所作的这类事情是个生动的例子, 把这种奇怪的、表面看似无法理解的神经-精神病症状 认为是正统弗洛伊德观点是错误的 实际上你可以找到一个精确的解释, 从已知的大脑神经解剖的角度。
By the way, if this patient then goes, and mother phones from an adjacent room -- phones him -- and he picks up the phone, and he says, "Wow, mom, how are you? Where are you?" There's no delusion through the phone. Then, she approaches him after an hour, he says, "Who are you? You look just like my mother." OK? The reason is there's a separate pathway going from the hearing centers in the brain to the emotional centers, and that's not been cut by the accident. So this explains why through the phone he recognizes his mother, no problem. When he sees her in person, he says it's an impostor.
顺便说一下,如果这病人之后去, 母亲从相邻的房间打电话给他, 他会拿起电话说:“哇,妈,您好不好?您在哪里?” 通过电话就不产生错觉了。 但一个小时候当母亲走到面前,他会问:“你是谁?” "你看起来像我母亲" 原因是有另一条通路 从脑的听觉中心通往情绪中心. 事故并没有切断那条通路. 这就解释了为什么他能通过电话认出自己的母亲,没问题 但当他看到母亲本人,却说那是假冒者。
OK, how is all this complex circuitry set up in the brain? Is it nature, genes, or is it nurture? And we approach this problem by considering another curious syndrome called phantom limb. And you all know what a phantom limb is. When an arm is amputated, or a leg is amputated, for gangrene, or you lose it in war -- for example, in the Iraq war, it's now a serious problem -- you continue to vividly feel the presence of that missing arm, and that's called a phantom arm or a phantom leg. In fact, you can get a phantom with almost any part of the body. Believe it or not, even with internal viscera. I've had patients with the uterus removed -- hysterectomy -- who have a phantom uterus, including phantom menstrual cramps at the appropriate time of the month. And in fact, one student asked me the other day, "Do they get phantom PMS?" (Laughter) A subject ripe for scientific enquiry, but we haven't pursued that.
好了,脑中为什么会有如此复杂的回路呢? 是自然、基因、还是养育的作用? 我们来试图解答这个问题, 通过研究另一奇怪的综合症,它名叫“幻肢”。 诸位都知道幻肢是什么。 当一条手臂被切除,或一条腿被切除,由于坏疽的原因, 或在在战争中失去,比如在伊拉克战争中, 现在这是一个严重的问题 你依然能强烈地感受到那条已经失去的手臂的存在, 那就称为幻臂(phantom arm)或幻腿(phantom leg)。 实际上,身体的任何部分都会产生幻肢现象。 信不信由你,即使内脏器官都不例外。 我有位病人被摘除了子宫,子宫切除术(hysterectomy) 她得了幻子宫病,包括幻月经痛 在每个月适当的时候。 事实上,有一天一个学生问我, 她们有没有幻经前综合症? (众笑) 倒是个不错的科研课题,但我们还没有研究那个。
OK, now the next question is, what can you learn about phantom limbs by doing experiments? One of the things we've found was, about half the patients with phantom limbs claim that they can move the phantom. It'll pat his brother on the shoulder, it'll answer the phone when it rings, it'll wave goodbye. These are very compelling, vivid sensations. The patient's not delusional. He knows that the arm is not there, but, nevertheless, it's a compelling sensory experience for the patient. But however, about half the patients, this doesn't happen. The phantom limb -- they'll say, "But doctor, the phantom limb is paralyzed. It's fixed in a clenched spasm and it's excruciatingly painful. If only I could move it, maybe the pain will be relieved."
好了,接下来的问题是: 通过实验,你能从幻肢现象中学到什么? 我们发现了一种现象是, 有一半幻肢的病人, 宣称自己能移动那条幻肢。 能用幻肢拍兄弟的肩膀, 能在电话铃响时拿起听筒、能挥手道别。 他们有种十分强烈的活生生的感觉。 病患不是在妄想。 他知道手臂已经不在了, 但感觉还是非常强烈。 然而,病人中的另一半没有这种感觉。 这幻肢... 他们告诉我:“大夫,我的幻肢被麻痹了, 它固定在绷紧的痉挛的状态,难以忍受的疼痛。 如果我能移动它,疼痛或许就会减轻。“
Now, why would a phantom limb be paralyzed? It sounds like an oxymoron. But when we were looking at the case sheets, what we found was, these people with the paralyzed phantom limbs, the original arm was paralyzed because of the peripheral nerve injury. The actual nerve supplying the arm was severed, was cut, by say, a motorcycle accident. So the patient had an actual arm, which is painful, in a sling for a few months or a year, and then, in a misguided attempt to get rid of the pain in the arm, the surgeon amputates the arm, and then you get a phantom arm with the same pains, right? And this is a serious clinical problem. Patients become depressed. Some of them are driven to suicide, OK?
为什么幻肢会被麻痹呢? 听上去自相矛盾。 当我们查看病例表时,我们发现, 这些感觉幻肢被麻痹的人, 他们的手臂原先曾被麻痹过,原因是周围神经受伤, 控制手臂的神经被隔断, 被切断了,比如在一次车祸中。 这个病患曾经真的有过一个手臂,很疼, 挂着绷带好几个月或一年,然后, 在一次错误的尝试中,为了消除手臂的疼痛的, 外科医生做了截肢手术。 接下来,就有了条同样疼痛的幻肢。对吧? 这可是个严重的临床问题。 病人们变得心情沮丧, 导致有些人想自杀。
So, how do you treat this syndrome? Now, why do you get a paralyzed phantom limb? When I looked at the case sheet, I found that they had an actual arm, and the nerves supplying the arm had been cut, and the actual arm had been paralyzed, and lying in a sling for several months before the amputation, and this pain then gets carried over into the phantom itself.
那么你要怎么治疗这种综合症呢? 为什么会有人觉得幻肢麻痹? 当我查看病历的时候,我发现他们有过真实的手臂, 控制手臂的神经被切断, 真实的手臂被麻痹了, 在截肢前挂着绷带好几个月。 这种疼痛被带到了幻肢里。
Why does this happen? When the arm was intact, but paralyzed, the brain sends commands to the arm, the front of the brain, saying, "Move," but it's getting visual feedback saying, "No." Move. No. Move. No. Move. No. And this gets wired into the circuitry of the brain, and we call this learned paralysis, OK? The brain learns, because of this Hebbian, associative link, that the mere command to move the arm creates a sensation of a paralyzed arm. And then, when you've amputated the arm, this learned paralysis carries over into your body image and into your phantom, OK?
为什么会这样呢? 当手臂完好但麻痹的时候, 大脑向手臂发送指令,前脑命令“移动”, 但视觉反馈却说“动不了”; 动―动不了―动―动不了... 这被固定在了脑的神经回路中, 我们把这叫做“习得行麻痹 ”(learned paralysis)。 脑了解到,因为这种海伯联结 (Hebbian associative link), 使这个移动手臂的简单指令, 产生了手臂麻痹的感觉。 接着,当你切断了手臂, 这种“习得行麻痹 ”进入了你的身体意象, 进入了你的幻肢。可以吧?
Now, how do you help these patients? How do you unlearn the learned paralysis, so you can relieve him of this excruciating, clenching spasm of the phantom arm? Well, we said, what if you now send the command to the phantom, but give him visual feedback that it's obeying his command, right? Maybe you can relieve the phantom pain, the phantom cramp. How do you do that? Well, virtual reality. But that costs millions of dollars. So, I hit on a way of doing this for three dollars, but don't tell my funding agencies. (Laughter)
你要怎么帮助这些病人呢? 你要怎样解除习得性麻痹, 好让他解除从那个幻臂产生的 剧痛的痉挛? 我们说了,如果现在你向幻肢发送指令, 但却给他服从指令的视觉反馈,会怎样? 说不定就会减轻幻肢疼痛和痉挛了。 你要怎样做到这一点?可以用虚拟现实(virtual reality), 但那会花上几百万。 我想到了一个成本三美元的办法, 别跟我的赞助机构说。 (众笑)
OK? What you do is you create what I call a mirror box. You have a cardboard box with a mirror in the middle, and then you put the phantom -- so my first patient, Derek, came in. He had his arm amputated 10 years ago. He had a brachial avulsion, so the nerves were cut and the arm was paralyzed, lying in a sling for a year, and then the arm was amputated. He had a phantom arm, excruciatingly painful, and he couldn't move it. It was a paralyzed phantom arm.
你要做的是制造出一个我称为“镜盒”(mirror box)的东西。 你在纸板盒中间放面镜子, 然后叫病人把幻肢放入盒子里。我的第一个病人,德里克 他在10年前截肢。 此前他有臂丛神经撕脱伤(brachial avulsion),神经被切断了, 手臂被麻痹了,挂着绷带一年,接着手臂被切断了。 他有一个幻肢,难以忍受的疼痛,并且他不能移动它。 这是一个“习得行麻痹”的手臂。
So he came there, and I gave him a mirror like that, in a box, which I call a mirror box, right? And the patient puts his phantom left arm, which is clenched and in spasm, on the left side of the mirror, and the normal hand on the right side of the mirror, and makes the same posture, the clenched posture, and looks inside the mirror. And what does he experience? He looks at the phantom being resurrected, because he's looking at the reflection of the normal arm in the mirror, and it looks like this phantom has been resurrected. "Now," I said, "now, look, wiggle your phantom -- your real fingers, or move your real fingers while looking in the mirror." He's going to get the visual impression that the phantom is moving, right? That's obvious, but the astonishing thing is, the patient then says, "Oh my God, my phantom is moving again, and the pain, the clenching spasm, is relieved."
他来看病的时候,我给了他一个象这样的镜子, 我称之为镜盒,对吧? 病人将其幻肢左臂 (绷紧痉挛的那只)放入镜子的左边, 将正常的手放在镜子的右侧, 并做出和左臂同样的姿势,握紧的姿势, 并且看着镜子,他感觉到了什么? 他感觉幻肢又复活了。 因为他看到了镜中的手臂, 就好像他的幻肢又重生了。 接着我说:“现在摆动一下你幻肢, 你真正的手指,或者在看着镜子的同时移动你真正的手指。“ 这样他会得到幻肢正在移动的视觉印象,对吧? 这是显而易见的。但令人惊讶的是, 病人说,“天啊,我的幻臂又移动了, 那疼痛,那绷紧的痉挛,减轻了。“
And remember, my first patient who came in -- (Applause) -- thank you. (Applause) My first patient came in, and he looked in the mirror, and I said, "Look at your reflection of your phantom." And he started giggling, he says, "I can see my phantom." But he's not stupid. He knows it's not real. He knows it's a mirror reflection, but it's a vivid sensory experience. Now, I said, "Move your normal hand and phantom." He said, "Oh, I can't move my phantom. You know that. It's painful." I said, "Move your normal hand." And he says, "Oh my God, my phantom is moving again. I don't believe this! And my pain is being relieved." OK? And then I said, "Close your eyes." He closes his eyes. "And move your normal hand." "Oh, nothing. It's clenched again." "OK, open your eyes." "Oh my God, oh my God, it's moving again!" So, he was like a kid in a candy store.
记住,这是来我这儿的第一个病人... (鼓掌) 谢谢 (鼓掌) 我的第一个病人来看病时,他看着镜子, 我说,“看着自己幻肢的在镜子里的映像“ 他咯咯笑起来,说:“我看见我的幻肢了。” 他不傻,知道这不是真实的, 他知道那只是个镜像, 但这是非常鲜活的体验。 接着我说:“动一下你真实的那只手和幻肢手”。 他说:“我可没法移动我的幻肢手,你知道的,很疼。” 我说:“那动一下正常的那只手吧。 ” 他说:“哦,天,我的幻肢又在动了,简直不能相信, 我的疼痛也好些了。” 接着我说:“把眼睛闭上。” 他闭上眼。 “动一下你正常的那只手。”“ "厄,感觉不到了,它又绷紧了。” "睁开眼。” “哦,天,又在动了!” 他就像个进了糖果店的小孩。
So, I said, OK, this proves my theory about learned paralysis and the critical role of visual input, but I'm not going to get a Nobel Prize for getting somebody to move his phantom limb. (Laughter) (Applause) It's a completely useless ability, if you think about it. (Laughter) But then I started realizing, maybe other kinds of paralysis that you see in neurology, like stroke, focal dystonias -- there may be a learned component to this, which you can overcome with the simple device of using a mirror.
所以,我说这证明了我的理论,关于习得性麻痹 和视觉输入所起重要作用的理论. 但我可不会获得诺贝尔奖, 因为让人成功移动幻肢. (众笑) (鼓掌) 细想之下,这种完全无用的能力, (众笑) 但紧接着我开始意识到,也许其他类型的瘫痪, 你在神经病学中看到的,例如中风,肌张力障碍(focal dystonias) -- 也许都有习得的成分, 都能用一个装了镜子的简单装置予以克服。
So, I said, "Look, Derek" -- well, first of all, the guy can't just go around carrying a mirror to alleviate his pain -- I said, "Look, Derek, take it home and practice with it for a week or two. Maybe, after a period of practice, you can dispense with the mirror, unlearn the paralysis, and start moving your paralyzed arm, and then, relieve yourself of pain." So he said OK, and he took it home. I said, "Look, it's, after all, two dollars. Take it home."
我对说:“看,德里克"-- 首先, 病患不能只是四处走动, 带着镜子来减轻痛苦. 我说,"看,德里克,把它带回家,自己练习一两个礼拜, 也许经过一段时间的练习, 你能扔掉镜子,忘却麻痹, 并且开始移动幻肢, 消除疼痛。” 他说好啊,他就带它回家。 我说:“两块钱而已,带回家吧。”
So, he took it home, and after two weeks, he phones me, and he said, "Doctor, you're not going to believe this." I said, "What?" He said, "It's gone." I said, "What's gone?" I thought maybe the mirror box was gone. (Laughter) He said, "No, no, no, you know this phantom I've had for the last 10 years? It's disappeared." And I said -- I got worried, I said, my God, I mean I've changed this guy's body image, what about human subjects, ethics and all of that? And I said, "Derek, does this bother you?" He said, "No, last three days, I've not had a phantom arm and therefore no phantom elbow pain, no clenching, no phantom forearm pain, all those pains are gone away. But the problem is I still have my phantom fingers dangling from the shoulder, and your box doesn't reach." (Laughter) "So, can you change the design and put it on my forehead, so I can, you know, do this and eliminate my phantom fingers?" He thought I was some kind of magician.
于是他把镜子带回了家。两周后他打来电话来 说:“大夫,你一定不相信。” 我说:“什么?” 他说:“它不见了。” 我说:“什么不见了。” 我还以为镜盒可能不见了。 (众笑) 他说:“不不不,这个跟了我十年的幻肢, 它消失了!” 我说,我担心,我说,天啊 我改变了这个人的体象, 有关人类主体, 伦理,所有的方面会有什么问题吗? 我说:“德里克,你觉得困扰吗?” 他说:“才没有!过去三天,我没了幻肢, 于是就没了幻肢肘关节痛,没了握拳, 没了幻肢上臂疼痛,所有这些疼痛都消失了。 但问题的,我的幻手指还挂在肩膀这边, 你的镜子够不到" (众笑) "你能不能把设计改一下,把它放在我的前额, 让我作类似的练习消除我的幻手指?” 他认为我是某类魔术师.
Now, why does this happen? It's because the brain is faced with tremendous sensory conflict. It's getting messages from vision saying the phantom is back. On the other hand, there's no proprioception, muscle signals saying that there is no arm, right? And your motor command saying there is an arm, and, because of this conflict, the brain says, to hell with it, there is no phantom, there is no arm, right? It goes into a sort of denial -- it gates the signals. And when the arm disappears, the bonus is, the pain disappears because you can't have disembodied pain floating out there, in space. So, that's the bonus.
为什么会发生这样的事? 因为脑面临巨大的感觉冲突, 它收到视觉信号,说幻肢又回来了; 但另一方面,又没有接收到相应的 来自肌肉的信号说它没有手臂,对吧? 你的动作信号也在告诉你有一只手臂。 以为这种冲突,大脑说,见鬼去吧, 根本就没有什么幻肢,这条手臂已经不在了。” 它进入某种否认,否认了那个信号. 当手臂消失时,好处就是疼痛也一并消失, 因为不可能有一种无形体的疼痛漂浮空中。 那是奖励.
Now, this technique has been tried on dozens of patients by other groups in Helsinki, so it may prove to be valuable as a treatment for phantom pain, and indeed, people have tried it for stroke rehabilitation. Stroke you normally think of as damage to the fibers, nothing you can do about it. But, it turns out some component of stroke paralysis is also learned paralysis, and maybe that component can be overcome using mirrors. This has also gone through clinical trials, helping lots and lots of patients.
此疗法现在已经在几十个病人身上试验了 在赫尔辛基的其他团体中. 也许能证明是一种治疗幻肢疼痛的有价值的方法。 的确,人们已经试验用它复原中风。 通常认为中风是由于神经纤维受损 你没有办法做什么。 然而,结果发现是有一些中风瘫痪的成分也是习得性麻痹, 或许也能用镜子加以克服。 临床试验也正在进行中, 以帮助许多病患。
OK, let me switch gears now to the third part of my talk, which is about another curious phenomenon called synesthesia. This was discovered by Francis Galton in the nineteenth century. He was a cousin of Charles Darwin. He pointed out that certain people in the population, who are otherwise completely normal, had the following peculiarity: every time they see a number, it's colored. Five is blue, seven is yellow, eight is chartreuse, nine is indigo, OK? Bear in mind, these people are completely normal in other respects. Or C sharp -- sometimes, tones evoke color. C sharp is blue, F sharp is green, another tone might be yellow, right?
好了,接下来开始讲第三部分, 是关于另一个奇怪现象的,它叫做“共感”(Synesthesia)。 这是由弗朗西斯.高尔顿在十九世纪发现的。 他是查尔斯.达尔文的表亲。 他指出,人群中某些成员, 其他方面均与常人无异,却有如下特别之处: 他们看到一个数字时,就能感受到色彩。 5是蓝色的,7是黄色的,8是黄绿色的, 9是紫蓝色的。 记住,这些人其他方面完全正常。 或者升C,有时候从音符中感觉到颜色, 升C是蓝色的,升F是绿色的, 另一个音符也许是黄色的。
Why does this happen? This is called synesthesia. Galton called it synesthesia, a mingling of the senses. In us, all the senses are distinct. These people muddle up their senses. Why does this happen? One of the two aspects of this problem are very intriguing. Synesthesia runs in families, so Galton said this is a hereditary basis, a genetic basis. Secondly, synesthesia is about -- and this is what gets me to my point about the main theme of this lecture, which is about creativity -- synesthesia is eight times more common among artists, poets, novelists and other creative people than in the general population. Why would that be? I'm going to answer that question. It's never been answered before.
为什么会这样? 这成为“共感”,高尔顿把这称为“共感”(synaesthesia). 一种感觉的混合。 对我们来说,感觉之间是不同的, 这些人会混合他们的感觉。 为什么会这样? 这个问题的两个方面中的一个非常有意思, “共感”在家族中遗传。 因此高尔顿说认为其中有遗传基础,基因基础。 其次,“共感”是一种关于 - 这是我要阐明的观点 有关这个演讲的主题,与创造力有关。 “共感”在艺术家,诗人,作家中更普遍,是普通人的8倍。 以及其他有创意的人,对比于普通的人群。 为什么会这样? 我就要回答这个问题, 此前没有人回答过。
OK, what is synesthesia? What causes it? Well, there are many theories. One theory is they're just crazy. Now, that's not really a scientific theory, so we can forget about it. Another theory is they are acid junkies and potheads, right? Now, there may be some truth to this, because it's much more common here in the Bay Area than in San Diego. (Laughter) OK. Now, the third theory is that -- well, let's ask ourselves what's really going on in synesthesia. All right?
好了,什么是共感,成因是什么? 有许多理论做出解释。 一种理论认为,他们就是疯了而已。 那算不上什么科学理论,所以别管它了。 另一个理论是这些人吸毒者,大麻瘾君子。 或许有点道理, 因为共感在湾区比在圣地亚哥常见。 (众笑) 好的。第三个理论是, 我们来问问自己:共感到底是什么?
So, we found that the color area and the number area are right next to each other in the brain, in the fusiform gyrus. So we said, there's some accidental cross wiring between color and numbers in the brain. So, every time you see a number, you see a corresponding color, and that's why you get synesthesia. Now remember -- why does this happen? Why would there be crossed wires in some people? Remember I said it runs in families? That gives you the clue. And that is, there is an abnormal gene, a mutation in the gene that causes this abnormal cross wiring.
我们发现,图中的颜色区和数字区 在大脑的梭状回里彼此相邻, 因此我们认为,之间发生了意外的串线(cross-wiring), 在大脑中颜色和数字区之间。 所以,每次你看见数字,就会同时相应的颜色, 于是就有了共感。 现在记住,为什么这会发生呢? 为什么有些人会发生串线呢? 记得我说过这是家族遗传的。 这就给了你线索。 说不定是某个异常的基因 一种基因突变,引起了异常的串线。
In all of us, it turns out we are born with everything wired to everything else. So, every brain region is wired to every other region, and these are trimmed down to create the characteristic modular architecture of the adult brain. So, if there's a gene causing this trimming and if that gene mutates, then you get deficient trimming between adjacent brain areas. And if it's between number and color, you get number-color synesthesia. If it's between tone and color, you get tone-color synesthesia. So far, so good.
结果是,我们每个人, 我们在出生时,所有的与其他相连, 脑中的所有区域都彼此相连, 它们被修剪成为 成人脑中的不同特征模块。 如果有一个基因控制这种修剪过程, 并且基因变异了, 那么你在不同脑区中的修剪就不充分了. 并且如果这是在数字和颜色之间,你就得了数字-颜色共感症. 如果这是在音调和颜色之间,你就得音调-颜色共感症. 到目前还好。
Now, what if this gene is expressed everywhere in the brain, so everything is cross-connected? Well, think about what artists, novelists and poets have in common, the ability to engage in metaphorical thinking, linking seemingly unrelated ideas, such as, "It is the east, and Juliet is the Sun." Well, you don't say, Juliet is the sun, does that mean she's a glowing ball of fire? I mean, schizophrenics do that, but it's a different story, right? Normal people say, she's warm like the sun, she's radiant like the sun, she's nurturing like the sun. Instantly, you've found the links.
那么,如果此基因在脑中的所有地方都启作用又怎样? 那么所有的地方都相联如何? 好,想一下艺术家、作家和诗人之间有什么共通的地方, 他们都能进行隐喻思维(metaphorical thinking), 把表面上无关的想法联系在一起, 比如“这是东方,朱丽叶就是太阳。” 你不会说朱丽叶是个太阳 这句话的意思难道是“她是个炙热的火球”吗? 精神分裂的人会那么想,但那是另外一回事,对吗? 正常人会说她像太阳一样温暖, 她象太阳一样发光,她象太阳一样哺育他人。 你马上就能领会其中的联系。
Now, if you assume that this greater cross wiring and concepts are also in different parts of the brain, then it's going to create a greater propensity towards metaphorical thinking and creativity in people with synesthesia. And, hence, the eight times more common incidence of synesthesia among poets, artists and novelists. OK, it's a very phrenological view of synesthesia. The last demonstration -- can I take one minute? (Applause)
现在,如果你假设这种较大的串线, 以及概念也位于脑的不同部分, 那就说明有一种较大的倾向 对于隐喻思维和创造性 在有共感症的人当中(更为突出). 因此,(某类人群)患共感症是常人的八倍 其中包括艺术家、诗人和作家. 好的,这是关于共感症的一种颅相学的观点. 看最后一个演示。-- 给我一分钟时间好吗? (鼓掌)
OK. I'm going to show you that you're all synesthetes, but you're in denial about it. Here's what I call Martian alphabet. Just like your alphabet, A is A, B is B, C is C. Different shapes for different phonemes, right? Here, you've got Martian alphabet. One of them is Kiki, one of them is Bouba. Which one is Kiki and which one is Bouba? How many of you think that's Kiki and that's Bouba? Raise your hands. Well, it's one or two mutants. (Laughter) How many of you think that's Bouba, that's Kiki? Raise your hands. Ninety-nine percent of you.
我将向诸位展示:你们全都有共感症,只是自己不承认罢了。 图中是我称为"火星字母表"的东西,就象你的字母表. A是A,B是B,C是C, 不同的音素有着不同的形状,对吧? 这是"火星字母表". 其中一个叫“Kiki”,另一个叫“Buba”。 哪一个是“Kiki”,哪一个是“Buba”呢? 有多少人觉得这边是“kiki”,那边是“buba”的?举下手。 好了,有一两位突变体。 (众笑) 有多少人觉得这边是“Buba",那边是“Kiki”的?举下手。 百分之九十九的人。
Now, none of you is a Martian. How did you do that? It's because you're all doing a cross-model synesthetic abstraction, meaning you're saying that that sharp inflection -- ki-ki, in your auditory cortex, the hair cells being excited -- Kiki, mimics the visual inflection, sudden inflection of that jagged shape. Now, this is very important, because what it's telling you is your brain is engaging in a primitive -- it's just -- it looks like a silly illusion, but these photons in your eye are doing this shape, and hair cells in your ear are exciting the auditory pattern, but the brain is able to extract the common denominator. It's a primitive form of abstraction, and we now know this happens in the fusiform gyrus of the brain, because when that's damaged, these people lose the ability to engage in Bouba Kiki, but they also lose the ability to engage in metaphor.
好了,诸位都不是火星人,你们是怎么认出来? 因为诸位都在进行跨模块的共感的抽象, 意思是,你觉得那尖尖的东西看上去像“Kiki”。 在你的听觉皮层中,听毛细胞受刺激,"Kiki" 产生了视觉上的曲折,一种突然的曲折,就像那个锯齿的形状. 这非常的重要.因为它告诉你 你的大脑正在从事一种原始的 它就象-就象一个可笑的错觉, 这些光子在你的眼中形成这个形状 同时你耳中的听毛细胞对这个听觉模式兴奋, 但大脑能够抽取两者的共性。 这是抽象的一种原始形式. 我们现在知道,这发生在大脑的梭状回. 因为当那里受损时, 病人就失去判断“Buba Kiki”的能力, 他们也失去了比喻的能力。
If you ask this guy, what -- "all that glitters is not gold," what does that mean?" The patient says, "Well, if it's metallic and shiny, it doesn't mean it's gold. You have to measure its specific gravity, OK?" So, they completely miss the metaphorical meaning. So, this area is about eight times the size in higher -- especially in humans -- as in lower primates. Something very interesting is going on here in the angular gyrus, because it's the crossroads between hearing, vision and touch, and it became enormous in humans. And something very interesting is going on. And I think it's a basis of many uniquely human abilities like abstraction, metaphor and creativity. All of these questions that philosophers have been studying for millennia, we scientists can begin to explore by doing brain imaging, and by studying patients and asking the right questions. Thank you. (Applause) Sorry about that. (Laughter)
你要是问他:“发光的未必是黄金" 这句话是什么意思? 病人会说:“意思是金属的会闪光的不一定是黄金, 你得测试它的比重。” 他完全不明白其中的比喻意义。 这个脑区在体积上八倍于 如果比较人类和低等灵长类. 这边的角型脑回(angular gyrus)区域很有意思, 因为它是视觉、听觉和触觉的交汇处。 人类的角型脑回特别大,有一些非常有意思的(研究)正在进行 我认为这对许多人类特有的能力是非常基本的, 比如抽象、类比,和创新。 这些问题,哲学家已经研究上千年了, 现在我们科学家能够通过脑成像, 研究病人,还有提出正确的问题来开始进行探索了。 谢谢. (鼓掌) 很抱歉. (众笑)