返回首页

AlisonGopnik_2011G-_婴儿在想什么_
What is going on in this baby's mind? 这位宝宝 在想什么？
If you'd asked people this 30 years ago, most people, including psychologists , would have said that this baby was irrational , illogical , egocentric -- that he couldn't take the perspective of another person or understand cause and effect. 如果你在30年前问这个问题, 大多数人,包括心理学家, 会告诉你这个小孩没有理性的, 没逻辑, 以自我为中心—— 他不会站在他人的角度思考 或者不明白因果关系。
psychologists:n.[心理]心理学家(psychologist的复数形式); irrational:adj.不合理的;无理性的;荒谬的;n.[数]无理数; illogical:adj.不合逻辑的;不合常理的; egocentric:adj.[心理]自我中心的;利己主义的;n.利己主义者; perspective:n.观点;远景;透视图;adj.透视的;
In the last 20 years, developmental science has completely overturned that picture. 在过去的20年里, 发育学彻底地颠覆了这个观念。
developmental:adj.发展的;启发的; overturned:v.推翻;倾覆;撤销;(overturn的过去分词和过去式)
So in some ways, we think that this baby's thinking is like the thinking of the most brilliant scientists. 从某些角度来看, 这个宝宝的思维 和大多数聪明的科学家的思维相同。
Let me give you just one example of this. 我可以举个这样的例子。
One thing that this baby could be thinking about, that could be going on in his mind, is trying to figure out what's going on in the mind of that other baby. 这位宝宝可能在思考某件事, 在他的脑袋瓜中, 他想要弄清楚 其他婴儿在想些什么。
After all, one of the things that's hardest for all of us to do is to figure out what other people are thinking and feeling. 毕竟,我们最难办到的一件事 是理解他人的想法和感觉。
And maybe the hardest thing of all is to figure out that what other people think and feel isn't actually exactly like what we think and feel. 而最难办到的事 是理解他人的想法和感觉 和我们自己的不完全一致。
Anyone who's followed politics can testify to how hard that is for some people to get. 任何追寻过政治的都可以证明 了解他人的想法是多么困难。
politics:n.政治;钩心斗角;政治观点;v.(贬)从事政治活动;(politic的第三人称单数) testify:v.证明,证实;作证;
We wanted to know if babies and young children could understand this really profound thing about other people. 我们想要知道 宝宝和小孩子 能否理解其他人的奥秘。
profound:adj.深厚的;意义深远的;渊博的;
Now the question is: How could we ask them? 目前的问题是: 我们如何与宝宝们沟通呢？
Babies, after all, can't talk, and if you ask a three year-old to tell you what he thinks, what you'll get is a beautiful stream of consciousness monologue about ponies and birthdays and things like that. 他们还不会说话, 当你问一个三岁的小孩 他在想什么时, 他的回答将会是一串精彩的意识流独白 关于小型木马,生日,或是类似的答案。
stream of consciousness:n.意识流文学; monologue:n.独白; ponies:n.小马(pony的复数形式); v.借助直译本翻译;
So how do we actually ask them the question? 那我们应该如何向他们提问呢？
Well it turns out that the secret was broccoli . 秘密居然是花椰菜。
broccoli:n.花椰菜;西兰花;
What we did -- Betty Rapacholi, who was one of my students, and I -- was actually to give the babies two bowls of food: one bowl of raw broccoli and one bowl of delicious goldfish crackers . 我们用的方法是——我的一个学生,贝蒂拉帕求利和我 给了这些宝宝们两碗食物: 一碗生的花椰菜 一碗是好吃的金鱼饼干。
Betty:n.贝蒂(皮包品牌); crackers:adj.疯狂;发狂;n.薄脆饼干;彩包爆竹;十分愉快的事;(cracker的复数)
Now all of the babies, even in Berkley, like the crackers and don't like the raw broccoli. 所有的宝宝,包括在柏克莱的那些, 选择了饼干而不是生的花椰菜。
(Laughter) （笑声）
But then what Betty did was to take a little taste of food from each bowl. 但是贝蒂随后 品尝了这两种食物。
And she would act as if she liked it or she didn't. 然后作出了喜欢或不喜欢的表情。
So half the time, she acted as if she liked the crackers and didn't like the broccoli -- just like a baby and any other sane person. 有一半的情况, 她的反应和宝宝还有正常人一样—— 喜欢饼干而不喜欢花椰菜的表情。
sane:adj.健全的;理智的;[临床]神志正常的;
But half the time, what she would do is take a little bit of the broccoli and go, "Mmmmm, broccoli. 但另一半情况, 她是吃一点花椰菜 然后说: Mmmmm,花椰菜。
I tasted the broccoli. Mmmmm." 我吃了花椰菜。
And then she would take a little bit of the crackers, and she'd go, "Eww, yuck , crackers. 然后当她吃到饼干的时候, 她说: 饼干真难吃。
yuck:难吃;讨厌;恶心
I tasted the crackers. Eww, yuck." 我居然吃了饼干。真恶心。
So she'd act as if what she wanted was just the opposite of what the babies wanted. 所以她假装自己喜欢吃的 和宝宝们喜欢的恰恰相反。
We did this with 15 and 18 month-old babies. 我们对15个月和18个月大的宝宝们做了这个实验。
And then she would simply put her hand out and say, "Can you give me some?" 贝蒂将自己的手伸出说: “能给我点吗？
So the question is: What would the baby give her, what they liked or what she liked? 但大家都想知道:宝宝会给她什么, 是贝蒂喜欢的还是自己喜欢的？
And the remarkable thing was that 18 month-old babies, just barely walking and talking, would give her the crackers if she liked the crackers, but they would give her the broccoli if she liked the broccoli. 让人惊讶的是18岁大的宝宝, 虽然还没有开始走路和说话, 给了贝蒂饼干如果她喜欢饼干, 但给了她花椰菜如果她喜欢的是花椰菜。
remarkable:adj.卓越的;非凡的;值得注意的; barely:adv.仅仅,勉强;几乎不;公开地;贫乏地;
On the other hand , 15 month-olds would stare at her for a long time if she acted as if she liked the broccoli, like they couldn't figure this out. 另一方面, 15岁大的宝宝会望着贝蒂 如果她说自己喜欢花椰菜, 宝宝们还是不知道。
On the other hand:另一方面; stare:v.凝视;盯着看;注视;n.凝视;
But then after they stared for a long time, they would just give her the crackers, what they thought everybody must like. 但在观察了一段时间之后, 他们给了贝蒂饼干, 因为觉得所有人都会喜欢,
stared:v.盯着看;凝视;注视;(stare的过去分词和过去式)
So there are two really remarkable things about this. 所以这项实验有两个值得关注的发现。
The first one is that these little 18 month-old babies have already discovered this really profound fact about human nature , that we don't always want the same thing. 首先是这些18个月大的孩子 已经开始注意 一个人性的奥秘, 那就是我们想要的东西不同。
human nature:n.人性;
And what's more, they felt that they should actually do things to help other people get what they wanted. 还有, 他们意识到自己应该做点 帮助他人达成愿望的事。
Even more remarkably though, the fact that 15 month-olds didn't do this suggests that these 18 month-olds had learned this deep, profound fact about human nature in the three months from when they were 15 months old. 但更让人值得关注的是, 15个月大的宝宝们没有这种意识 说明18月大的懂得了 一个人性的奥秘 而当他们3个月前还没有意识到。
remarkably:adv.非常;极为;格外;出乎意料地
So children both know more and learn more than we ever would have thought. 所以宝宝们知道的和学到的 比我们想象中要多得多。
And this is just one of hundreds and hundreds of studies over the last 20 years that's actually demonstrated it. 而只是在过去20年里的上百项调查的其中之一 证明了这个观点。
demonstrated:v.证明;证实;论证;说明;表达;(demonstrate的过去分词和过去式)
The question you might ask though is: 但是你也许想要问:
Why do children learn so much? 小孩子为什么学到这么多呢？
And how is it possible for them to learn so much in such a short time ? 在这么短的时间里 他们怎么能办得到呢？
short time:adj.短暂的;快速的(shorttime的变形);
I mean, after all, if you look at babies superficially , they seem pretty useless. 我是说, 如果你只从表面来观察这些宝宝, 他们似乎没什么用。
superficially:adv.表面地;浅薄地;
And actually in many ways, they're worse than useless, because we have to put so much time and energy into just keeping them alive. 事实上在很多方面,他们比没用还没用。 因为我们需要花如此多的时间和经历 才能让他们生存。
But if we turn to evolution for an answer to this puzzle of why we spend so much time taking care of useless babies, it turns out that there's actually an answer. 如果我们从进化的角度 来寻找 我们为什么要花这么多时间 来照料这些没用的宝宝们的答案时, 我们找到了一个答案。
evolution:n.演变;进化;发展;渐进; puzzle:n.谜;疑问;智力游戏;不解之谜;v.迷惑;使困惑;
If we look across many, many different species of animals, not just us primates , but also including other mammals , birds, even marsupials like kangaroos and wombats , it turns out that there's a relationship between how long a childhood a species has 如果我们观察各种不同种类的动物, 不光是灵长类, 包括其它哺乳动物和鸟类, 还有有袋目哺乳动物 比如像袋鼠和袋熊, 结果是 动物的孩童时期长度
species:n.[生物]物种;种类; primates:n.灵长类; mammals:n.哺乳动物;(mammal的复数) marsupials:n.[脊椎]有袋类;有袋目的哺乳动物(marsupial的复数); kangaroos:袋鼠(kangaroo复数) wombats:n.[脊椎]袋熊; childhood:n.童年;幼年;孩童时期
and how big their brains are compared to their bodies and how smart and flexible they are. 和它们的脑部大小与身体的比例 还有它们的智慧和灵敏是存在关系的。
compared:adj.比较的,对照的; v.相比; (compare的过去式和过去分词) flexible:adj.灵活的;柔韧的;易弯曲的;
And sort of the posterbirds for this idea are the birds up there. 图片上的鸟可以证明这个观点。
On one side is a New Caledonian crow . 左边是一只 新喀里多尼亚岛的乌鸦。
Caledonian:adj.苏格兰的;古苏格兰的;n.苏格兰人;古苏格兰人; crow:vi.啼叫;报晓;n.[鸟]乌鸦;鸡鸣;撬棍;
And crows and other corvidae , ravens , rooks and so forth, are incredibly smart birds. 像乌鸦, 其它雅科, 渡鸦, 和秃鼻乌鸦那类的鸟, 都非常的聪明。
crows:n.[鸟]乌鸦(crow的复数形式);望风者;v.啼叫;吹嘘(crow的三单形式); corvidae:n.[鸟]鸦科; ravens:n.乌鸦(raven的复数);低质煤; rooks:n.赌棍;白嘴鸦(rook的复数);v.诈取;骗(rook的三单形式); incredibly:adv.难以置信地;非常地;
They're as smart as chimpanzees in some respects. 它们在一些方面就像猩猩一样聪明。
chimpanzees:n.[脊椎]黑猩猩(chimpanzee的复数);
And this is a bird on the cover of science who's learned how to use a tool to get food. 这只鸟是科学杂志的封面 它学会了如何用工具来取得食物。
On the other hand, we have our friend the domestic chicken. 另一张图片上的鸟, 是我们的朋友家养鸡。
domestic:n.佣人;家佣;家庭纠纷;家庭矛盾;adj.本国的;国内的;家用的;家庭的;
And chickens and ducks and geese and turkeys are basically as dumb as dumps . 鸡,鸭,鹅,火鸡 基本上可以说是笨得不能再笨。
basically:adv.主要地,基本上; dumb:adj.哑的,无说话能力的;不说话的,无声音的; dumps:n.废物,垃圾场(dump的复数);忧郁;v.倾倒(dump的单三形式);
So they're very, very good at pecking for grain , and they're not much good at doing anything else. 它们虽然很擅长啄食, 但其它方面就不行了。
pecking:v.啄;鹐;匆匆地轻吻;(peck的现在分词) grain:n.粮食; v.把…作成细粒;
Well it turns out that the babies, the New Caledonian crow babies, are fledglings . 可这些幼鸟, 我是说新喀里多尼亚岛的幼年乌鸦,它们刚长羽毛。
fledglings:n.无经验的人;刚会飞的幼鸟;
They depend on their moms to drop worms in their little open mouths for as long as two years, which is a really long time in the life of a bird. 在长达两年的时间里 它们完全依赖妈妈来喂它们虫子 来喂它们虫子, 而两年对于一只鸟的生命来说是非常长的一段时间。
worms:n.蠕虫;寄生虫;幼虫;v.蠕动,曲折行进;(worm的第三人称单数和复数) as long as:conj.只要;长达;如果;既然;
Whereas the chickens are actually mature within a couple of months. 鸡相对来说要成长的较快 只需要两个月的时间。
Whereas:conj.然而;鉴于;反之; mature:v.成熟; adj.明白事理的;
So childhood is the reason why the crows end up on the cover of Science and the chickens end up in the soup pot. 乌鸦成为科学杂志封面的原因 是因为它们的童年 而鸡的下场是变成锅里的汤。
There's something about that long childhood that seems to be connected to knowledge and learning. 在它们两年的童年里 有某些因素 似乎和知识与学习有关系。
Well what kind of explanation could we have for this? 原因究竟是什么呢?
Well some animals, like the chicken, seem to be beautifully suited to doing just one thing very well. 像鸡这类的动物, 好像只擅长 把某一件事做好。
So they seem to be beautifully suited to pecking grain in one environment. 那件事 就是在一个环境中啄食。
Other creatures , like the crows, aren't very good at doing anything in particular , but they're extremely good at learning about laws of different environments. 像乌鸦这种动物, 不擅长做好某件事, 但在适应不同的环境方面 它们非常擅长。
creatures:n.生物;动物;(具有某种特征的)人(creature的复数) in particular:尤其,特别; extremely:adv.非常,极其;极端地;
And of course, we human beings are way out on the end of the distribution like the crows. 当然,我们人类在到了像乌鸦那种穷途末路时, 我们比它们更能想到解决的办法。
distribution:n.分布;分配;分发;分销;
We have bigger brains relative to our bodies by far than any other animal. 我们的大脑和四肢的比例 目前还没有任何动物能超过。
relative:adj.相对的;有关系的;成比例的;n.亲戚;相关物;[语]关系词;亲缘植物;
We're smarter, we're more flexible, we can learn more, we survive in more different environments, we migrated to cover the world and even go to outer space. 我们有更多的智慧和更强的适应性, 可以学到更多知识, 还能在更多不同的环境下生存, 人类在地球各处居住,甚至上了外太空。
migrated:v.(随季节变化)迁徙;移居;迁移;移动;转移;(migrate的过去分词和过去式) outer:adj.外面的,外部的;远离中心的;n.环外命中;
And our babies and children are dependent on us for much longer than the babies of any other species. 我们的孩子对我们的依赖的时间 超过任何动物对父母的依赖,
dependent on:依赖于;依靠;
My son is 23. 我儿子现年23岁。
(Laughter) （笑声）
And at least until they're 23, we're still popping those worms into those little open mouths. 在他们23岁之前, 我们还会把食物 送到他们的嘴里。
All right, why would we see this correlation ? 我们为什么看到这样的一个关联？
correlation:n.[数]相关,关联;相互关系;
Well an idea is that that strategy , that learning strategy , is an extremely powerful, great strategy for getting on in the world, but it has one big disadvantage . 答案是学习的技巧, 它非常有用,对成功也很有帮助, 但也有它的不利。
strategy:n.策略;行动计划;部署;战略; disadvantage:n.不利因素;障碍;不便之处;
And that one big disadvantage is that, until you actually do all that learning, you're going to be helpless . 这个不利便是 在你学会之前, 你将无法提供任何帮助。
helpless:adj.无助的;无能的;没用的;
So you don't want to have the mastodon charging at you and be saying to yourself, "A slingshot or maybe a spear might work. Which would actually be better?" 当一只乳齿象向你冲来的时候 你不会去想 “我到底应该用矛来刺还是用弹弓来射？”
mastodon:n.[古生]乳齿象;庞然大物;adj.巨大的;庞大的; slingshot:n.弹弓;
You want to know all that before the mastodons actually show up. 你在乳齿象出现之前 就需要知道应该怎么做。
mastodons:n.[古生]乳齿象;庞然大物;adj.巨大的;庞大的;
And the way the evolutions seems to have solved that problem is with a kind of division of labor. 而进化论似乎已经解决了这个问题 通过劳动分工。
evolutions:n.演变;进化论;进展; division:n.师;分配;分开;分歧;
So the idea is that we have this early period when we're completely protected. 所以普遍看法是早期的时候我们是被保护着的。
We don't have to do anything. All we have to do is learn. 我们不需要做任何事。只学就够了。
And then as adults, we can take all those things that we learned when we were babies and children and actually put them to work to do things out there in the world. 但当我们成年后, 可以把幼年和童年时学到的东西加以运用 并让这些知识在社会中起到作用。
So one way of thinking about it is that babies and young children are like the research and development division of the human species. 第一种解释是 婴儿和小孩子 就好比研究和开发人类的部门一样。
research and development:n.研究和开发;
So they're the protected blue sky guys who just have to go out and learn and have good ideas, and we're production and marketing. 他们在受保护的人群。 只需要寻找和学习新的知识, 而我们成年人扮演的是制作和营销的角色。
We have to take all those ideas that we learned when we were children and actually put them to use. 我们需要把所有 从孩子那里学到的知识 应用到现实生活里。
Another way of thinking about it is instead of thinking of babies and children as being like defective grownups , we should think about them as being a different developmental stage of the same species -- kind of like caterpillars and butterflies -- 另一种解释 反对把婴儿和小孩子 当作是有缺陷的成人 而是把他们当作是 处于不同的发展时段但是归类于同一种类 就像虫蛹和蝴蝶那样
defective:adj.有缺陷的;不完美的;n.有缺陷的人;不完全变化词; grownups:n.成年人们;(grownup的复数) caterpillars:n.毛毛虫(caterpillar的复数);
except that they're actually the brilliant butterflies who are flitting around the garden and exploring , and we're the caterpillars who are inching along our narrow , grownup, adult path. 不过他们是比蝴蝶要智慧得多 因为孩子们可以在花园中游走与探索 而我们大人就是虫蛹 在我们狭窄的道路上慢慢地爬行。
flitting:v.轻快地从一处到另一处;掠过;迁移;迁居;搬家;(flit的现在分词) exploring:v.探索:考察:探查;(explore的现在分词) narrow:adj.狭窄的; v.使窄小; n.峡谷; (场所,物品等的)狭窄部分;
If this is true, if these babies are designed to learn -- and this evolutionary story would say children are for learning, that's what they're for -- we might expect that they would have really powerful learning mechanisms . 如果第二种解释是真的。那这些小宝宝天生就是学习的料 从进化论来看,他们天生就在学习, 学习就是他们的本性—— 我们可以想象 他们可能有非常巧妙的学习技巧
evolutionary:adj.进化的;发展的;渐进的; mechanisms:n.机制;[机]机构(mechanism的复数);机械;[机]机构学;
And in fact, the baby's brain seems to be the most powerful learning computer on the planet. 事实上,小孩子的大脑 仿佛是整个星球上 最强的计算机.
But real computers are actually getting to be a lot better. 但真正的计算机其实暂时已经无法超越了。
And there's been a revolution in our understanding of machine learning recently . 最近,在我们对机器学习的理解上 发生了一场革命。
revolution:n.革命;旋转;运行;循环; recently:adv.最近;新近;
And it all depends on the ideas of this guy, the Reverend Thomas Bayes , who was a statistician and mathematician in the 18th century. 这场革命完全是靠这个人的想法, 他就是神父托马斯贝斯, 18世纪时的一个统计学家和数学家。
Reverend:n.牧师;adj.可敬的; Bayes:n.贝叶斯; statistician:n.统计学家,统计员; mathematician:n.数学家;善作数字计算的人;
And essentially what Bayes did was to provide a mathematical way using probability theory to characterize , describe , the way that scientists find out about the world. 他最大的贡献 是通过数学 使用机率定理 描述了科学家探索世界的方式, 并将其个性化。
essentially:adv.本质上;本来; mathematical:adj.数学的,数学上的;精确的; probability:n.可能性;机率;[数]或然率; characterize:v.描述;是…的特征;以…为典型;使…具有特点(或最引人注目的特征); describe:v.描述;形容;把…称为;画出…图形;
So what scientists do is they have a hypothesis that they think might be likely to start with. 科学家们的方法 是先准备一个假设
hypothesis:n.假设;
They go out and test it against the evidence . 然后为该假设找根据
evidence:n.证据,证明;迹象;明显;v.证明;
The evidence makes them change that hypothesis. 根据会使他们改变假设
Then they test that new hypothesis and so on and so forth. 然后他们就开始新的假设 过程就是这样。
And what Bayes showed was a mathematical way that you could do that. 贝斯将该过程转换为一个数学公式。
And that mathematics is at the core of the best machine learning programs that we have now. 数学在目前最好的机器学习项目开发中 起了重要作用。
mathematics:n.数学;数学运算; core:n.核心;要点;果心;[计]磁心;vt.挖...的核;
And some 10 years ago, 大约10年前,
I suggested that babies might be doing the same thing. 我提出过小孩的思考过程和科学家相同。
So if you want to know what's going on underneath those beautiful brown eyes, 所以你想知道在他们漂亮的棕色眼睛下面 是什么样的一个世界,
underneath:prep.在…的下面;在…的支配下;n.下面;底部;adj.下面的;底层的;
I think it actually looks something like this. 我有自己的看法。
This is Reverend Bayes's notebook. 这是贝斯神父的笔记。
So I think those babies are actually making complicated calculations with conditional probabilities that they're revising to figure out how the world works. 我认为这些小孩子在做复杂的计算 通过自定的条件机率 来理解世间万物。
complicated:adj.复杂的;难懂的;v.使复杂化;(complicate的过去分词和过去式) conditional:adj.有条件的;假定的;n.条件句;条件语; probabilities:可能性;[统计]概率(probability的复数); revising:v.改变;修改,复习;温习;(revise的现在分词)
All right, now that might seem like an even taller order to actually demonstrate. 当然,这个要实际说明很困难。
Because after all, if you ask even grownups about statistics , they look extremely stupid. 因为就算你问大人统计问题, 他们也会一问三不知。
statistics:n.统计数字;统计资料;统计学;(statistic的复数)
How could it be that children are doing statistics? 那孩子们怎么可能会做统计呢？
So to test this we used a machine that we have called the Blicket Detector . 为了证明这个观点 我们用了一个叫做玩具侦探的仪器
Detector:n.探测器;检测器;发现者;侦察器;
This is a box that lights up and plays music when you put some things on it and not others. 如果你在这个箱子上放一些东西,其它的上面不放 那它可以发光还伴有音乐。
And using this very simple machine, my lab and others have done dozens of studies showing just how good babies are at learning about the world. 用这个简单的仪器, 我的实验和其它实验做了几十项研究 证明了小孩子们在理解世间万物上 是多么得聪明。
Let me mention just one that we did with Tumar Kushner, my student. 我举一个例子 一个和我学生图玛库什纳做的实验。
If I showed you this detector, you would be likely to think to begin with that the way to make the detector go would be to put a block on top of the detector. 单看这个仪器, 你也许觉得 让它开始运作的方式是 将一块积木摆在上面
But actually, this detector works in a bit of a strange way. 但这个仪器其实 有点奇怪
Because if you wave a block over the top of the detector, something you wouldn't ever think of to begin with, the detector will actually activate two out of three times. 因为你如果在仪器的上方摇摆一块积木三次, 很多人一开始都不会这样做, 那这个仪器会被启动两次。
over the top:adj.过多的;言过其实的;夸大其词的; activate:vt.刺激;使活动;使活泼;使产生放射性;vi.激活;有活力;
Whereas, if you do the likely thing, put the block on the detector, it will only activate two out of six times. 然而,如果你把积木摆在仪器的上面六次, 那只有两次会启动。
So the unlikely hypothesis actually has stronger evidence. 所以说看似不大可能发生的假设 其实有更有力的证据。
unlikely:adj.不大可能发生的;非心目中的;非想象的;难以相信的;
It looks as if the waving is a more effective strategy than the other strategy. 摇摆看起来 比其它方法更有效
effective:adj.有效的,起作用的;实际的,实在的;给人深刻印象;
So we did just this; we gave four year-olds this pattern of evidence, and we just asked them to make it go. 我们做了这样的实验;给了4岁的孩子这个线索 然后问他们怎么才能启动仪器。
And sure enough, the four year-olds used the evidence to wave the object on top of the detector. 这些孩子当然选择用我们提供的线索 将手中的东西对着仪器摇。
Now there are two things that are really interesting about this. 实验过程中有两个有趣的发现。
The first one is, again, remember, these are four year-olds. 首先,记住这些孩子只有四岁。
They're just learning how to count. 他们才刚刚学会数数。
But unconsciously , they're doing these quite complicated calculations that will give them a conditional probability measure. 但是在没有意识的情况下, 他们会用复杂的计算 来算出条件机率。
unconsciously:adv.不知不觉;无意识地;
And the other interesting thing is that they're using that evidence to get to an idea, get to a hypothesis about the world, that seems very unlikely to begin with. 第二个有趣的发现 是他们会用提供的线索 来寻找一个观点,对世界定一个假设, 一个不太能站得住脚的假设。
And in studies we've just been doing in my lab, similar studies, we've show that four year-olds are actually better at finding out an unlikely hypothesis than adults are when we give them exactly the same task. 在我实验室里的类似研究, 我们发现4岁的小孩 在相同的任务下,比大人更擅长 找那个不大可能发生的假设。
So in these circumstances , the children are using statistics to find out about the world, but after all, scientists also do experiments, and we wanted to see if children are doing experiments. 在这些情况下, 小孩子用统计来了解世界, 但科学家会做实验。 所以我们想知道小孩会不会也在做实验。
circumstances:n.情况;环境;情形;(circumstance的复数)
When children do experiments we call it "getting into everything" 小孩做的实验我们称它为“尝试每一种可能”
or else "playing." 或者是“玩一玩。”
And there's been a bunch of interesting studies recently that have shown this playing around is really a kind of experimental research program. 最近有很多有意思的研究显示了 孩子的随意尝试 的确可以作为一个研究项目。
a bunch of:一群;一束;一堆; experimental:adj.实验的;根据实验的;试验性的;
Here's one from Cristine Legare's lab. 这是克里斯汀·勒加雷的一项实验。
What Cristine did was use our Blicket Detectors . 克里斯汀使用了了我们的玩具侦探仪器。
Detectors:n.探测器;侦测设备(detector的复数);
And what she did was show children that yellow ones made it go and red ones didn't, and then she showed them an anomaly . 她向孩子展示 黄色才能启动仪器,红色不行, 然后又向孩子们展示了一个奇怪现象。
anomaly:n.异常;不规则;反常事物;
And what you'll see is that this little boy will go through five hypotheses in the space of two minutes. 你等一下就可以看到 这个小男孩会在两分钟内 测试五个假设。
hypotheses:n.假定;臆测(hypothesis的复数);
(Video) Boy: How about this? （视频) 这个怎么样？
Same as the other side. 这边也一样。
Alison Gopnik: Okay, so his first hypothesis has just been falsified . 所以他的第一个假设已经被否认了。
falsified:v.篡改,伪造;(falsify的过去分词和过去式)
(Laughter) （笑声）
Boy: This one lighted up, and this one nothing. 这个亮了,这个没有。
lighted:adj.发光的;燃烧的;v.点燃(light的过去分词);照亮;
AG: Okay, he's got his experimental notebook out. 看到没有,他开始记笔记了。
Boy: What's making this light up. 这盏灯为什么亮呢。
(Laughter) （笑声）
I don't know. 我不知道。
AG: Every scientist will recognize that expression of despair . 科学家们都见过这种绝望的表情。
recognize:v.认识;认出;辨别出;承认;意识到; expression:n.表现,表示,表达; despair:v.绝望;失去希望;丧失信心;n.绝望;
(Laughter) （笑声）
Boy: Oh, it's because this needs to be like this, and this needs to be like this. 我知道了。这个要这样, 然后这个是这样。
AG: Okay, hypothesis two. 第二个假设。
Boy: That's why. 我知道了。
(Laughter) （笑声）
AG: Now this is his next idea. 他有了第三个想法。
He told the experimenter to do this, to try putting it out onto the other location . 他告诉实验者这样做, 试着把它放在一边。
location:n.地方;地点;位置;定位
Not working either. 还是不行
Boy: Oh, because the light goes only to here, not here. 男孩:啊,因为只有这里会亮, 这里不会
Oh, the bottom of this box has electricity in here, but this doesn't have electricity. 盒子下面呢 这里有电, 但这边没电。
electricity:n.电力;电流;强烈的紧张情绪;
AG: Okay, that's a fourth hypothesis. 他的第四个假设。
Boy: It's lighting up. 男孩:亮了。
So when you put four. 你要在上面放四个。
So you put four on this one to make it light up and two on this one to make it light up. 你在这上面摆四个 这上面摆两个。
AG: Okay,there's his fifth hypothesis. 测试他的第五个假设。
Now that is a particularly -- that is a particularly adorable and articulate little boy, but what Cristine discovered is this is actually quite typical . 这个小男孩—— 特别可爱,说话也很清楚, 但是克里斯汀的发现其实很正常。
particularly:adv.特别地,独特地;详细地,具体地;明确地,细致地; adorable:adj.可爱的;可敬重的,值得崇拜的; articulate:vt.清晰地发(音); vi.发音; adj.发音清晰的; typical:adj.典型的;特有的;象征性的;
If you look at the way children play, when you ask them to explain something, what they really do is do a series of experiments. 如果你在小孩玩的时候观察他们,或是要他们回答某个问题, 他们会做一系列的尝试。
series:n.系列,连续;[电]串联;级数;丛书;
This is actually pretty typical of four year-olds. 这对于四岁的儿童来说很普遍。
Well, what's it like to be this kind of creature? 当小孩子是什么样一种经历呢？
What's it like to be one of these brilliant butterflies who can test five hypotheses in two minutes? 像那些聪明的蝴蝶一样 在两分钟内测试五个假设？
Well, if you go back to those psychologists and philosophers , a lot of them have said that babies and young children were barely conscious if they were conscious at all. 如果你问心理学家和哲学家, 他们大部分说了 婴儿和小孩子几乎在他们的意识 方面没有任何意识。
philosophers:n.哲学家(philosopher的复数);
And I think just the opposite is true. 而我的看法确恰恰相反。
I think babies and children are actually more conscious than we are as adults. 我认为小孩子的意识事实上比我们大人的要强得多。
Now here's what we know about how adult consciousness works. 我们知道的一些关于大人的意识的事情。
And adults' attention and consciousness look kind of like a spotlight . 大人的注意力和意识 就像一盏聚光灯。
spotlight:n.聚光灯;反光灯;公众注意的中心;v.聚光照明;使公众注意;
So what happens for adults is we decide that something's relevant or important, we should pay attention to it. 但是大人 会自己决定哪些事有关,哪些事重要, 哪些事值得我们注意。
relevant:adj.相关的;切题的;中肯的;有重大关系的;有意义的,目的明确的; pay attention to:注意
Our consciousness of that thing that we're attending to becomes extremely bright and vivid , and everything else sort of goes dark. 我们对所关注事情的意识 变得非常明亮,非常清晰, 其它事就反而比较暗淡。
vivid:adj.生动的;鲜明的;鲜艳的;
And we even know something about the way the brain does this. 我们甚至大概知道我们的大脑为什么指挥我们这样做。
So what happens when we pay attention is that the prefrontal cortex , the sort of executive part of our brains, sends a signal that makes a little part of our brain much more flexible, more plastic, better at learning, and shuts down activity in all the rest of our brains. 那当我们集中精力时 前额的皮层,在我们大脑中起着执行的作用, 发出一个信号 让我们脑部的一小部分变得更灵活, 更柔软,更会学习, 让脑部的其它部分 全部休息。
prefrontal:adj.[解剖]前额的;额叶前部的;n.[解剖]额前骨; cortex:n.[解剖]皮质;树皮;果皮; executive:n.管理人员; adj.经营管理的; all the rest:其他所有相关信息;
So we have a very focused, purpose-driven kind of attention. 我们的注意力非常集中,有目的。
If we look at babies and young children, we see something very different. 如果对婴儿和小孩注意力的进行观察, 我们会发现他们完全和我们不一样。
I think babies and young children seem to have more of a lantern of consciousness than a spotlight of consciousness. 我觉得婴儿和小孩 他们意识更像一盏灯笼 而不像聚光灯。
So babies and young children are very bad at narrowing down to just one thing. 所以他们不擅长 将问题简化。
But they're very good at taking in lots of information from lots of different sources at once. 但他们非常在行在同一时间里 吸收不同来源提供的信息。
sources:n.来源;出处;起源;根源;原因;v.(从…)获得(source的第三人称单数和复数)
And if you actually look in their brains, you see that they're flooded with these neurotransmitters that are really good at inducing learning and plasticity , and the inhibitory parts haven't come on yet. 如果你研究他们的大脑, 你就会看到里面有大量的神经传递素 这些传递素对学习和柔软性方面都有很大帮助, 而且我们尚未发现任何带阻止性的元素。
neurotransmitters:n.神经传导物质(neurotransmitter的复数形式); inducing:v.劝说;引起;引产;催生;(induce的现在分词) plasticity:n.塑性,可塑性;适应性;柔软性; inhibitory:adj.禁止的,抑制的;
So when we say that babies and young children are bad at paying attention, what we really mean is that they're bad at not paying attention. 当我们说这些孩子 注意力不够集中时, 其实是说他们在分散注意力方面不擅长。
So they're bad at getting rid of all the interesting things that could tell them something and just looking at the thing that's important. 那就意味着他们很难 将注意力只集中在重要问题上 而遗漏那些为他们提供线索的事情。
That's the kind of attention, the kind of consciousness, that we might expect from those butterflies who are designed to learn. 这是一种注意力,一种知觉, 我们从那些生来就会学习的蝴蝶身上 见过的知觉。
Well if we want to think about a way of getting a taste of that kind of baby consciousness as adults, 如果我们大人 也想体验一下小孩的那种知觉,
I think the best thing is think about cases where we're put in a new situation that we've never been in before -- when we fall in love with someone new, or when we're in a new city for the first time. 我认为我们可以想象一下 给自己一个从未遇到过的状况—— 比如说当我们有了新的恋人, 或是来到一个新城市。
fall in love with:爱上......;与......相爱;
And what happens then is not that our consciousness contracts , it expands , so that those three days in Paris seem to be more full of consciousness and experience than all the months of being a walking, talking, faculty meeting-attending zombie back home. 结果不是我们的知觉收缩, 它反而扩大, 在巴黎的三天 充满了更多的感觉和经历 而整个月的走路,谈话,同事开会, 还有僵尸般的回家路相对变得模糊。
contracts:n.[经]合同; v.使收缩; expands:v.展开; (expand的第三人称单数) faculty:n.科,系;能力;全体教员; zombie:n.行尸走肉;蛇神;木讷呆板的人;
And by the way , that coffee, that wonderful coffee you've been drinking downstairs , actually mimics the effect of those baby neurotransmitters. 另外,咖啡, 你常在楼下喝的咖啡, 其实有类似 婴儿神经传递素的效应。
by the way:顺便说一下; downstairs:adv.在楼下;往楼下;adj.楼下的;n.楼下(尤指地面的一层); mimics:v.模仿; n.会模仿的人(或动物); (mimic的第三人称单数和复数)
So what's it like to be a baby? 当小孩到底是什么感觉？
It's like being in love in Paris for the first time after you've had three double-espressos. 它就像在第一次来到巴黎 在你喝了三杯双份浓缩咖啡之后 恋爱了。
being in love:恋爱;恋爱中的;拍拖;
(Laughter) （笑声）
That's a fantastic way to be, but it does tend to leave you waking up crying at three o'clock in the morning. 这种幻觉很棒, 但它会在凌晨三点中把你叫醒,哭泣。
fantastic:奇异的,空想的
(Laughter) （笑声）
Now it's good to be a grownup. 当大人也很好。
I don't want to say too much about how wonderful babies are. 小孩子有多好我也不多说了。
It's good to be a grownup. 总之当大人很好。
We can do things like tie our shoelaces and cross the street by ourselves. 我们可以绑自己的鞋带还能自己过马路。
shoelaces:n.鞋带;(shoelace的复数)
And it makes sense that we put a lot of effort into making babies think like adults do. 可以理解为什么我们花这么多时间 让小孩以大人的方式思考。
But if what we want is to be like those butterflies, to have open-mindedness , open learning, imagination , creativity, innovation , maybe at least some of the time we should be getting the adults to start thinking more like children. 但我们需要像这些小蝴蝶学习。 才能思想开放,灵活学习, 加强想象力,创造力,还有创新, 至少在某些时候 我们需要让大人 开始学习小孩的思考方式。
open-mindedness:n.无偏见;心胸开阔; imagination:n.想象;想象力;创造力;想象的事物; innovation:n.创新,革新;新方法;
(Applause) (掌声)