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NancyKanwisher_2014-_人类心理的神经元描绘_
Today I want to tell you about a project being carried out by scientists all over the world to paint a neural portrait of the human mind. 今天我想告诉大家一个 由全世界各地科学家一起完成的项目。 这个项目希望用神经系统图景 来描绘人类思想。
neural:adj.神经的;神经系统的;背的;神经中枢的; portrait:n.肖像;描写;半身雕塑像;
And the central idea of this work is that the human mind and brain is not a single, general-purpose processor , but a collection of highly specialized components , each solving a different specific problem, and yet collectively making up who we are as human beings and thinkers. 这一项目的中心论点, 就是人类的思想和大脑 不是一个独立、普通的处理器, 而是一个许多高度专业化的组分的集合。 其中的每一个组分都专门处理不同的问题, 最终这些组分合在一起, 成就了我们人类,思考者们。
general-purpose:adj.多用途的;一般用途的; processor:n.[计]处理器;处理程序;加工者; highly:adv.高度地;非常;非常赞许地; specialized:adj.专业的; v.专门研究(或从事); (specialize的过去式和过去分词) components:n.部件;组件;成份(component复数); specific:adj.特殊的,特定的;明确的;详细的;[药]具有特效的;n.特性;细节;特效药; collectively:adv.共同地,全体地;
To give you a feel for this idea, imagine the following scenario : 为了让你们更好地感受这一理论, 请想象一下接下来的场景:
scenario:n.方案;情节;剧本;
You walk into your child's day care center. 你走进了你孩子的托管中心。
As usual, there's a dozen kids there waiting to get picked up, but this time, the children's faces look weirdly similar, and you can't figure out which child is yours. 像往常一样,那里有许多的孩子 等待着被家长接走。 但是在这时, 这些孩子们的脸庞看起来奇怪地相似, 你无法分辨出哪一个才是你的孩子。
weirdly:adv.古怪地;
Do you need new glasses? 你是需要一副新眼镜吗？
Are you losing your mind? 你是精神错乱了吗？
You run through a quick mental checklist . 你的脑海中快速地过了一遍自己的精神状况清单
run through:n.贯通;从头到尾读一遍;排练; mental:adj.精神的;脑力的;疯的;n.精神病患者; checklist:n.清单;检查表;备忘录;目录册;
No, you seem to be thinking clearly, and your vision is perfectly sharp . 不,你看起来脑子很清楚, 你的视力也十分锐利。
vision:n.视力;美景;幻象;想象力;v.想象;显现;梦见; sharp:锋利的,尖的
And everything looks normal except the children's faces. 所有事都看起来非常正常, 除了那些孩子们的脸。
You can see the faces, but they don't look distinctive , and none of them looks familiar , and it's only by spotting an orange hair ribbon that you find your daughter. 你看着这些脸庞, 可它们竟没什么差别, 而且没有一张看起来熟悉。 你只是因为发现了一只橘色发带, 才得以找到你的女儿。
distinctive:adj.独特的;特别的;有特色的; familiar:adj.熟悉的;常见的;亲近的;n.常客;密友; ribbon:n.丝带; v.用丝带装饰;
This sudden loss of the ability to recognize faces actually happens to people. 这种对于认脸能力的突然缺失, 经常在人们身上发生。
recognize:v.认识;认出;辨别出;承认;意识到;
It's called prosopagnosia, and it results from damage to a particular part of the brain. 这种现象叫做面容失认症, 它是由脑部一个特定部分损伤 而引起的。
The striking thing about it is that only face recognition is impaired; everything else is just fine. 这种现象最显着的特征就是, 只有认脸的能力被损害了, 其他的一切都看起来很正常。
recognition:n.识别;认识;承认;认可;
Prosopagnosia is one of many surprisingly specific mental deficits that can happen after brain damage . 面容失认证是许多很特别的 脑部损伤产生的精神缺陷的其中一种。
surprisingly:adv.令人惊讶地;出乎意料地 deficits:n.[财政]赤字,亏损(deficit的复数形式); brain damage:n.(疾病、事故导致的)脑损伤;
These syndromes collectively have suggested for a long time that the mind is divvied up into distinct components, but the effort to discover those components has jumped to warp speed with the invention of brain imaging technology , especially MRI. 这些症状一起 在很早之前就显示出 人的头脑是被均分成了不同的组分的。 但是研究这些组分的努力, 却因为大脑成像技术, 特别是MRI技术的发明 而快速发展,进展迅猛。
syndromes:n.综合症(syndrome的复数); divvied:vi.分摊;n.部分;分配;vt.分摊; warp speed:快速变形;飞行速度; imaging:n.[物]成像;造像;v.反映;想像;作…的像;象征;(image的现在分词形式) technology:n.技术;工艺;术语; especially:adv.尤其;特别;格外;十分;
So MRI enables you to see internal anatomy at high resolution , so I'm going to show you in a second a set of MRI cross-sectional images through a familiar object, and we're going to fly through them and you're going to try to figure out what the object is. 所以MRI让你能够很清晰地 看到内在的结构。 我接下来会给你们看看 一系列常见物体的 MRI跨区域影像。 我们将快速地翻动图片, 让你们试着猜猜那些是什么物体。
enables:v.使得; (enable的第三人称单数) internal:n.内脏;本质;adj.内部的;里面的;体内的;(机构)内部的; anatomy:n.解剖;解剖学;剖析;解析; resolution:n.解决;分辨;解析;决议; in a second:立刻,很快; cross-sectional:adj.代表性的; images:n.印象;声誉;形象;画像;雕像;(image的第三人称单数和复数)
Here we go. 接下来开始了。
It's not that easy. It's an artichoke . 这个不太容易。这是一朵菊芋。
artichoke:n.洋蓟,球蓟(圆形蔬菜,绿色厚叶基部及茎内部均可食用);
Okay, let's try another one, starting from the bottom and going through the top. 试试另外一个。 从底部开始向顶部移动。
Broccoli ! It's a head of broccoli. 花椰菜！这一一朵花椰菜的顶部。
Broccoli:n.花椰菜;西兰花;
Isn't it beautiful? I love that. 它很漂亮,不是吗？我很喜欢。
Okay, here's another one. It's a brain, of course. 这里还有一个。当然,这是大脑。
In fact, it's my brain. 实际上,这是我的大脑。
We're going through slices through my head like that. 我们在一部分一部分看透我的大脑。
slices:n.切片,切割(slice的复数形式);v.切成薄片(slice的三单形式);
That's my nose over on the right, and now we're going over here, right there. 刚才右边的是我的鼻子, 现在我们已经到了这里,就是这里。
So this picture's nice, if I do say so myself, but it shows only anatomy. 要我说,这张照片挺好, 可是它只展示了内部构造。
The really cool advance with functional imaging happened when scientists figured out how to make pictures that show not just anatomy but activity, that is, where neurons are firing. 功能性影像最酷的进步在于 科学家找到制作出 不仅展示构造,更展示内部活动的图片。 也就是神经元的活动。
functional:adj.功能的;
So here's how this works. 那么接下来是这项技术的原理。
Brains are like muscles . 大脑就像肌肉,
muscles:n.肌肉(muscle的复数);
When they get active, they need increased blood flow to supply that activity, and lucky for us, blood flow control to the brain is local, so if a bunch of neurons, say, right there get active and start firing, then blood flow increases just right there. 当大脑变得活跃时, 他们需要更多的血液来支撑这样的活动。 正好,控制大脑的血液就存在与大脑中。 所以比如说这儿的一些神经元 变得活跃,开始传输信号, 接下来这儿的血液流量就会增加。
a bunch of:一群;一束;一堆;
So functional MRI picks up on that blood flow increase, producing a higher MRI response where neural activity goes up. 所以功能性MRI专门探测血流量的增加, 当神经活动增强时, 就产生更高的MRI回应。
response:n.响应;反应;回答;
So to give you a concrete feel for how a functional MRI experiment goes and what you can learn from it and what you can't, let me describe one of the first studies I ever did. 为了让你们更直观的感受 功能性MRI实验如何运作, 还有你们能从中学到什么, 学不到什么, 让我给你们讲一讲我做过的第一个研究。
concrete:n.混凝土;adj.混凝土制的;确实的,具体的;vt.用混凝土覆盖 describe:v.描述;形容;把…称为;画出…图形;
We wanted to know if there was a special part of the brain for recognizing faces, and there was already reason to think there might be such a thing based on this phenomenon of prosopagnosia that I described a moment ago, but nobody had ever seen that part of the brain in a normal person, so we set out to look for it. 我们想要弄清楚大脑中到底有没有一个特定的部分帮助人们分辨脸庞。 基于我先前提到的面容失认症的现象, 我们有理由相信, 大脑中这样的部位确实存在。 但是没有人在常人的大脑中 看见过这个部位。 所以我们开始寻找那个部位。
recognizing:v.认识;认出;承认;接受,赞成(recognize的现在分词) phenomenon:n.现象;杰出的人;非凡的人(或事物); described:v.描述;形容;把…称为;做…运动;(describe的过去分词和过去式)
So I was the first subject. 我是第一个实验对象。
I went into the scanner , I lay on my back, 我走进扫描仪,平躺下。
scanner:n.[计]扫描仪;扫描器;光电子扫描装置;
I held my head as still as I could while staring at pictures of faces like these and objects like these and faces and objects for hours. 我尽量让我的头保持静止 看着像这些照片上的脸庞, 和像这些照片上的物体。 人脸,物体,重复了几个小时。
staring:adj.凝视的,目不转睛的;显眼的;v.凝视;盯着看;显眼;(stare的现在分词)
So as somebody who has pretty close to the world record of total number of hours spent inside an MRI scanner, 作为一个已经接近 在MRI扫描仪内待的时间的世界纪录的人
I can tell you that one of the skills that's really important for MRI research is bladder control. 我能告诉你,MRI研究中其中一个 重要的技巧就是 憋尿的本领。
bladder:n.膀胱;皮囊,气囊(如球胆);
(Laughter) （笑声）
When I got out of the scanner, 我走出扫描仪后,
I did a quick analysis of the data, looking for any parts of my brain that produced a higher response when I was looking at faces than when I was looking at objects, and here's what I saw. 我快速分析了那些数据, 寻找有没有任何大脑的部分 在我看人脸时产生了比我看物体时 更高的反应。 这是我看到的数据。
analysis:n.分析;分解;验定;
Now this image looks just awful by today's standards , but at the time I thought it was beautiful. 这些图像以今天的标准来看很糟, 但在当时我看来,它很漂亮。
standards:n.标准,水平,规格(standard的复数)
What it shows is that region right there, that little blob , it's about the size of an olive and it's on the bottom surface of my brain about an inch straight in from right there. 它展示了这里的一块区域, 这里的一小团。 大概和一颗橄榄差不多大。 这部分在我大脑的底层, 大概从这里向里一英寸。
region:n.地区;范围;部位; blob:n.一滴;一抹;v.弄脏;把…做错;得零分; olive:n.橄榄;橄榄树;橄榄色;adj.橄榄的;橄榄色的;
And what that part of my brain is doing is producing a higher MRI response, that is, higher neural activity, when I was looking at faces than when I was looking at objects. 当我看到人脸的时候 我的大脑的这一部分 比我看到物体的时候 产生了更高的MRI反应, 也就是更高的神经活动。
So that's pretty cool, but how do we know this isn't a fluke ? 这个结果令人振奋, 但我们怎么能知道这是不是偶然呢？
fluke:n.侥幸;锚爪;意外的挫折;vt.侥幸成功;意外受挫;vi.侥幸成功;
Well, the easiest way is to just do the experiment again. 当然,最简单的方法, 就是重复做这个实验。
So I got back in the scanner, 所以我回到了扫描仪里。
I looked at more faces and I looked at more objects and I got a similar blob, and then I did it again and I did it again and again and again, and around about then 我盯着更多的人脸和更多的物体, 也得到了相似的结果。 我又重复, 又重复 重复再重复。 直到那时,
again and again:adv.再三地,反复地;
I decided to believe it was for real. 我才决定相信,实验结果是正确的。
But still, maybe this is something weird about my brain and no one else has one of these things in there, so to find out, we scanned a bunch of other people and found that pretty much everyone has that little face-processing region in a similar neighborhood of the brain. 但是,仍然有可是事我的大脑有些不同寻常。 有可能其他人都没有我那种问题。 为了证实实验结果,我们又扫描了其他很多人的大脑。 最后发现几乎每个人的大脑里, 在相似的位置上, 都有那一小块识别人脸的区域。
neighborhood:n.附近;地区;街坊;adj.附近的;
So the next question was, what does this thing really do? 那么下一个问题来了, 这个区域到底做些什么？
Is it really specialized just for face recognition? 它是专门只用来识别人脸吗？
Well, maybe not, right? 或许有可能不是这样的。
Maybe it responds not only to faces but to any body part. 也许它不仅仅对人脸有反应, 也会对任何的人体部位有反应。
responds:v.(口头或书面)回答,回应;作出反应;响应;(respond的第三人称单数)
Maybe it responds to anything human or anything alive or anything round. 也许它会对任何与人类相关的 或者任何生物 或者任何圆形的东西起反应。
The only way to be really sure that that region is specialized for face recognition is to rule out all of those hypotheses . 为了确定那块小区域 是专门用来识别人脸的, 必须排除掉刚才提到的所有假设。
hypotheses:n.假定;臆测(hypothesis的复数);
So we spent much of the next couple of years scanning subjects while they looked at lots of different kinds of images, and we showed that that part of the brain responds strongly when you look at any images that are faces of any kind, and it responds much less strongly to any image you show that isn't a face, like some of these. 所以我们花了接下来的好几年, 在实验对象看着许多不同种类图像时 扫描他们的大脑。 我们证明了大脑的那一区域 在你看着任何种类的脸的任何图像时 会起强烈的反应。 当你看的是非脸庞的图像时, 那块区域的反应会弱很多 就像这些图像。
So have we finally nailed the case that this region is necessary for face recognition? 那么我们是不是已经确定 脸庞识别必须依靠这一区域了呢？
finally:adv.终于;最终;(用于列举)最后;彻底地;
No, we haven't. 不,我们没有。
Brain imaging can never tell you if a region is necessary for anything. 大脑图像永远不能告诉你 任何东西是否依靠一块区域。
All you can do with brain imaging is watch regions turn on and off as people think different thoughts. 大脑图像能让你做的 只有看着当人们想着不同东西时, 他们大脑各个区域变得活跃或不活跃。
regions:n.地区;地域;行政区;左近;(region的复数)
To tell if a part of the brain is necessary for a mental function, you need to mess with it and see what happens, and normally we don't get to do that. 为了确定大脑的一部分是否对于精神功能至关重要, 你需要干扰那一部分的功能,看看会发生什么。 一般我们无法那样做。
mess:n.混乱;餐厅;杂乱;肮脏;v.使不整洁;弄脏;弄乱;随地便溺; normally:adv.正常地;通常地,一般地;
But an amazing opportunity came about very recently when a couple of colleagues of mine tested this man who has epilepsy and who is shown here in his hospital bed where he's just had electrodes placed on the surface of his brain to identify the source of his seizures . 但是,一个绝好的机会出现了。 最近我的一些同事 测试了这个在病床上躺着的 患有癫痫的男人。 在他大脑的表层 刚刚被装上了电极, 来弄清他癫痫发作的来源。
recently:adv.最近;新近; colleagues:n.同事;同行(colleague的复数); epilepsy:n.[内科]癫痫,癫痫症; electrodes:n.[电]电极(electrode的复数);电焊条; identify:v.识别:鉴定:确认:发现: source:n.来源;水源;原始资料; seizures:n.癫痫,痉挛;发作(seizure的复数);
So it turned out by total chance that two of the electrodes happened to be right on top of his face area. 结果是非常碰巧地, 其中两个电极 正好在他面部区域的顶端。
So with the patient 's consent , the doctors asked him what happened when they electrically stimulated that part of his brain. 所以经过了患者的同意, 医生问他,当电极刺激大脑那个区域时, 发生了什么。
patient:adj.有耐心的,能容忍的;n.病人;患者; consent:vi.同意;赞成;答应;n.同意;(意见等的)一致;赞成; electrically:adv.电力地;有关电地; stimulated:adj.受激的;v.刺激(stimulate的过去式和过去分词);
Now, the patient doesn't know where those electrodes are, and he's never heard of the face area. 那时,患者还不知道 那些电极在哪儿, 他也从未听说过面部区域。
So let's watch what happens. 让我们来看看发生了什么。
It's going to start with a control condition that will say " Sham " nearly invisibly in red in the lower left, when no current is delivered, and you'll hear the neurologist speaking to the patient first. So let's watch. 一开始,会有一个控制条件。 当没有电流被输送时 左下角会出现一个几乎看不见的 红色字“假装的”。 你会听到神经学家对患者讲话。我们来看看吧。
Sham:n.伪装;假象;假情假义;伪善;v.假装;冒充;adj.虚假的;假装的; invisibly:adv.看不见地;看不出地; neurologist:神经学家;神经科专门医师;
(Video) Neurologist: Okay, just look at my face and tell me what happens when I do this. （视频）神经学家:好的,看着我的脸。 当我这样做的时候告诉我发生了些什么。
All right? 好吗？
Patient: Okay. 患者:好的。
Neurologist: One, two, three. 神经学家:一,二,三。
Patient: Nothing. Neurologist: Nothing? Okay. 患者:什么也没有发生
I'm going to do it one more time. 神经学家:什么也没有？好的,我会再做一次。
Look at my face. 看着我的脸。
One, two, three. 一,二,三。
Patient: You just turned into somebody else. 患者:你变成了另外一个人。
Your face metamorphosed . 你的脸变形了。
metamorphosed:vt.变质;变形;使变成;
Your nose got saggy , it went to the left. 你的鼻子变得松弛,偏向了左边。
saggy:adj.下垂的;松懈的;
You almost looked like somebody I'd seen before, but somebody different. 你看起来就像一个我以前见过的人, 但其实又不是。
That was a trip. 那是幻觉
(Laughter) （笑声）
Nancy Kanwisher: So this experiment — this experiment finally nails the case that this region of the brain is not only selectively responsive to faces but causally involved in face perception . Nancy Kanwisher:那么这个实验— 这个实验最终证实 大脑这块区域 不仅仅有选择性地对脸庞起反应, 还因此牵涉到脸的感知。
Nancy:adj.柔弱的;搞同性关系的;n.假娘儿们; selectively:adv.有选择地; responsive:adj.响应的;应答的;回答的; causally:adv.有原因地; involved:adj.有关的; v.涉及; (involve的过去式和过去分词) perception:n.感知;知觉;看法;洞察力;
So I went through all of these details about the face region to show you what it takes to really establish that a part of the brain is selectively involved in a specific mental process. 我快速过了一遍有关 面部识别区域的细节来向你们展示 是什么真正证实大脑的一部分 有选择地参与了特别的心理过程。
establish:v.创立;设立;建立;确立;使立足;查实;
Next, I'll go through much more quickly some of the other specialized regions of the brain that we and others have found. 接下来我会讲得更快一些。 我会讲我们和其他人发现的 其他有专门功能的大脑区域。
So to do this, I've spent a lot of time in the scanner over the last month so I can show you these things in my brain. 过去的一个月里,为了做这件事 我已经在扫描仪里呆了很长时间, 来给你们看看我大脑里的这些东西。
So let's get started. Here's my right hemisphere . 我们开始吧。这是我的右半脑。
hemisphere:n.半球;
So we're oriented like that. You're looking at my head this way. 我们的方向是这样的。你们在从这个方向看我的大脑。
oriented:adj.导向的; v.调整;
Imagine taking the skull off and looking at the surface of the brain like that. 想象一下把头骨拿走, 像那样看着大脑的皮层。
skull:n.头盖骨,脑壳;
Okay, now as you can see , the surface of the brain is all folded up. 那么,现在如你所见, 大脑的皮层都是有褶皱的。
as you can see:正如你所看到的;你是知道的;
So that's not good. Stuff could be hidden in there. 这可不太好,可能有东西会藏在里面。
Stuff:n.东西:物品:基本特征:v.填满:装满:标本:
We want to see the whole thing, so let's inflate it so we can see the whole thing. 我们想看看到完整的图像。 那我们就展开它来看到完整的东西吧。
inflate:vt.使充气;使通货膨胀;vi.膨胀;充气;
Next, let's find that face area I've been talking about that responds to images like these. 接下来,我们来找一找一直都在说的那个 对像这些图像有反应的区域吧。
To see that, let's turn the brain around and look on the inside surface on the bottom, and there it is, that's my face area. 为了能看见它,我们把大脑转一圈, 从底部看大脑的内部表层, 就是这了,这就是我的脸庞识别区域。
Just to the right of that is another region that is shown in purple that responds when you process color information, and near those regions are other regions that are involved in perceiving places, 在它的右边是另一个 标示成紫色的区域。 当你在处理颜色信息时它会有反应。 在这些区域的附近还有其他 参与感知地点的区域。
purple:n.紫色;紫袍;v.变紫;使成紫色;adj.紫色的;华丽的文辞; perceiving:v.注意到;意识到;将…理解为;认为;(perceive的现在分词)
like right now, I'm seeing this layout of space around me and these regions in green right there are really active. 就像现在,我正在看着我周围的布局, 在那这些绿色的区域 非常的活跃。
layout:n.布局;规划;设计;版面设计;
There's another one out on the outside surface again where there's a couple more face regions as well. 还有一个区域在外部的大脑皮层, 这儿也还有几个脸庞识别区域。
Also in this vicinity is a region that's selectively involved in processing visual motion , like these moving dots here, and that's in yellow at the bottom of the brain, and near that is a region that responds when you look at images of bodies and body parts like these, and that region is shown in lime green at the bottom of the brain. 在这附近 有一个区域,专门参与 处理可视的物体移动 像这些移动的小点。 就是这个在大脑底部的黄色部分。 在那附近有一个区域, 它在你看着身体或身体的部分时会有反应 就是这些在大脑底部 标注成酸橙绿色的区域。
vicinity:n.邻近,附近;近处; processing:v.加工;处理;审核;数据处理;v.列队行进;缓缓前进;(process的现在分词) visual:adj.视觉的,视力的;栩栩如生的; motion:n.动作;移动;手势;请求;意向;议案;v.运动;打手势; lime green:adj.酸橙绿的;淡绿色的;
Now all these regions I've shown you so far are involved in specific aspects of visual perception. 目前为止我给你们展示的区域 都参与了特定视觉感知的处理。
aspects:n.方面;相位;面貌(aspect的复数);
Do we also have specialized brain regions for other senses, like hearing? 那么我们是否有大脑区域, 专门处理其他感官,比如听感呢？
Yes, we do. So if we turn the brain around a little bit, here's a region in dark blue that we reported just a couple of months ago, and this region responds strongly when you hear sounds with pitch , like these. 是的,我们有。如果我们稍微转转大脑。 这有一个深蓝色区域。 我们几个月前才报告了它的存在。 当你听到像这样的有音高的声音时, 这个区域会强烈反应。
pitch:v.抛:用力扔:针对:触地:n.场地:程度:力度:推销的话:纵摇:
(Sirens) (警报)
(Cello music) （大提琴声）
(Doorbell) （门铃）
In contrast , that same region does not respond strongly when you hear perfectly familiar sounds that don't have a clear pitch, like these. 相比之下,当你听到一些 像这些没有音高的熟悉的声音时, 这个区域反应不会那么强烈。
contrast:n.对比;对照;反差;明显的差异;v.对比;对照;形成对比;
(Chomping) （咀嚼声）
(Drum roll) （鼓声）
(Toilet flushing) （马桶水声）
Okay. Next to the pitch region is another set of regions that are selectively responsive when you hear the sounds of speech. 好的。在这个区域旁边 是另一堆专门对 说话声起反应的区域。
Okay, now let's look at these same regions. 现在我们来看一看这些一样的区域。
In my left hemisphere, there's a similar arrangement — not identical , but similar — and most of the same regions are in here, albeit sometimes different in size. 在我的左半脑,有相似的排列—— 不是完全一样,但是很相似—— 大多数区域,尽管有时大小不同, 都排列在这里。
arrangement:n.安排;筹备;布置;商定;约定;改编乐曲; identical:adj.同一的;完全相同的;n.完全相同的事物; albeit:conj.虽然;即使;
Now, everything I've shown you so far are regions that are involved in different aspects of perception, vision and hearing. 目前为止我给你们展示的东西 都是参与了不同感官,视觉和听觉, 处理的区域。
Do we also have specialized brain regions for really fancy , complicated mental processes ? 那我们还有没有专门处理 很复杂的心理活动的区域呢？
fancy:n.幻想; adj.想象的; v.想象; complicated:adj.复杂的;难懂的;v.使复杂化;(complicate的过去分词和过去式) processes:n.过程; v.处理(process的第三人称单数形式);
Yes, we do. 是的,我们有。
So here in pink are my language regions. 这个粉色区域是我的语言区。
So it's been known for a very long time that that general vicinity of the brain is involved in processing language, but we showed very recently that these pink regions respond extremely selectively. 很早,人们就知道 大脑中的这一片区域 参与了语言的处理, 但是我们最近才证实 这些粉色区域 极有选择性地起反应。
extremely:adv.非常,极其;极端地;
They respond when you understand the meaning of a sentence, but not when you do other complex mental things, like mental arithmetic or holding information in memory or appreciating the complex structure in a piece of music. 它们在你理解一句话的意思时起反应, 却不在你做其他复杂心理活动起反应, 比如说心算, 或者试着记住一条信息, 或者在欣赏一段音乐的 复杂结构。
complex:adj.复杂的;合成的;n.复合体;综合设施; mental arithmetic:n.心算; appreciating:v.欣赏;感激;感谢;理解(appreciate的现在分词) structure:n.结构;构造;建筑物;vt.组织;构成;建造;
The most amazing region that's been found yet is this one right here in turquoise . 迄今为止发现的最神奇的区域 是这一片青绿色的部分。
turquoise:n.绿松石;蓝绿色;adj.蓝绿色的;
This region responds when you think about what another person is thinking. 这片区域在你思考别人在思考什么的时候 会有反应。
So that may seem crazy, but actually, we humans do this all the time. 这可能看起来很疯狂, 但事实上,我们人类一直都在做这样的事。
You're doing this when you realize that your partner is going to be worried if you don't call home to say you're running late. 当你意识到 如果你不打电话回家 说你会跑步跑很晚,你的同伴会担心时
I'm doing this with that region of my brain right now when I realize that you guys are probably now wondering about all that gray, uncharted territory in the brain, and what's up with that? 我在想你们在座各位 可能会琢磨 剩下的那块灰色的没标识的区域 到底是起什么作用的？
uncharted:adj.未知的;图上未标明的; territory:n.领土,领域;范围;地域;版图;
Well, I'm wondering about that too, and we're running a bunch of experiments in my lab right now to try to find a number of other possible specializations in the brain for other very specific mental functions. 我也在琢磨这个问题。 我们现在在实验室里做大量的实验 来试着寻找其他 大脑可能存在的有特殊功能的 高度专门化区域。
specializations:n.特殊化;[经]专门化(specialization的复数);
But importantly, I don't think we have specializations in the brain for every important mental function, even mental functions that may be critical for survival . 但是很重要的一点是,我不认为我们的大脑 对每一个重要的功能 甚至是关乎生存的功能 都有专门处理的区域。
critical:adj.鉴定的;[核]临界的;批评的,爱挑剔的;危险的;决定性的;评论的; survival:n.幸存,残存;幸存者,残存物;
In fact, a few years ago, there was a scientist in my lab who became quite convinced that he'd found a brain region for detecting food, and it responded really strongly in the scanner when people looked at images like this. 事实上,几年前, 有一位在我实验室的科学家, 非常确信地说 他发现了一块大脑区域 专门用来识别食物。 在扫描仪里当人们看见这些图像时 这块区域会强烈反应。
convinced:adj.坚信; v.使确信; (convince的过去分词和过去式) detecting:n.检测;检定;v.发现;探知(detect的现在分词);adj.探测的; responded:v.回答,回应;作出反应;响应;反应灵敏;(respond的过去式和过去分词)
And further, he found a similar response in more or less the same location in 10 out of 12 subjects. 此外,他还在12个对象的10个中的大脑中 几乎同样的区域 发现了相同的反应。
more or less:或多或少; location:n.地方;地点;位置;定位
So he was pretty stoked , and he was running around the lab telling everyone that he was going to go on " Oprah " 他兴奋得不得了 在实验室里跑跑跳跳 告诉每一个人他就要带着他的研究成果
stoked:adj.振奋的;v.烧火(stoke的过去式和过去分词); Oprah:n.奥普拉(美国电视节目主持人);
with his big discovery. 上奥普拉的脱口秀了。
But then he devised the critical test: 但接下来他做了一个修正实验:
devised:v.设计(devise的过去式和过去分词);计划;发明;
He showed subjects images of food like this and compared them to images with very similar color and shape, but that weren't food, like these. 他给实验对象展示了像这样的食物图片, 并用了一些在形状和颜色上相似 但不是食物的图片做对比。
compared:adj.比较的,对照的; v.相比; (compare的过去式和过去分词)
And his region responded the same to both sets of images. 结果是那片区域对于两套图片的 反应强度是一样的。
So it wasn't a food area, it was just a region that liked colors and shapes. 那么那就不是一块识别食物的区域了 只是一块会对颜色和形状产生反应的区域。
So much for "Oprah." 不过这也够拿上奥普拉脱口秀的台面了。
But then the question, of course, is, how do we process all this other stuff that we don't have specialized brain regions for? 但接下来的问题就是 我们怎样用非专门化的大脑区域 来处理其他的信息呢？
Well, I think the answer is that in addition to these highly specialized components that I've been describing , we also have a lot of very general- purpose machinery in our heads that enables us to tackle whatever problem comes along. 我认为答案就是 在我刚才说到的那些高度专门化部分以外 我们大脑里还有很多非专业化的机件 他们让我们能够处理 任何出现的困难。
in addition to:除…之外; describing:v.描述;形容;把…称为;做…运动;(describe的现在分词) machinery:n.机械;机器;机构;机械装置; tackle:v.处理; n.用具;
In fact, we've shown recently that these regions here in white respond whenever you do any difficult mental task well, of the seven that we've tested. 事实上,我们最近证实了 这些白色的区域 会在你做任何困难的大脑工作时起反应。 都是这样的结果。
So each of the brain regions that I've described to you today is present in approximately the same location in every normal subject. 所以今天我给你们描述的 每一个大脑区域, 在正常的实验对象的大脑上 都在大概相同的位置。
approximately:adv.大约,近似地;近于;
I could take any of you, pop you in the scanner, and find each of those regions in your brain, and it would look a lot like my brain, although the regions would be slightly different in their exact location and in their size. 我能挑你们其中的任意一个人, 把你塞进扫描仪, 然后发现你大脑的那些区域 和我大脑的区域非常相似。 尽管可能这两者间 会在准确的位置和大小上有所不同。
slightly:adv.些微地,轻微地;纤细地;
What's important to me about this work is not the particular locations of these brain regions, but the simple fact that we have selective, specific components of mind and brain in the first place . 对我而言这项工作最重要的 不是那些大脑区域的准确位置, 而是我们得出的结论: 我们的大脑和思想从一开始就由 选择性的和精细的各部分组成。
locations:n.地方;地点;位置;定位(location的复数) in the first place:首先;起初;
I mean, it could have been otherwise. 我的意思是,我们的大脑大可不必成为这样。
The brain could have been a single, general-purpose processor, more like a kitchen knife than a Swiss Army knife . 大脑可以是一个独立的, 功能宽泛的处理器, 看起来更像一把菜刀 而不是瑞士军刀。
Swiss Army knife:n.瑞士军刀;万能的方法;
Instead, what brain imaging has delivered is this rich and interesting picture of the human mind. 但是,大脑成像呈现给我们的 是人类思想的丰富的和有趣的图景。
So we have this picture of very general-purpose machinery in our heads in addition to this surprising array of very specialized components. 这样这图片展示了大脑中 既有功能宽泛的机件, 也有令人惊讶的数量的 高度专门化的组分。
array:n.数组,阵列;排列,列阵;大批,一系列;衣服;v.排列,部署;打扮;
It's early days in this enterprise. 我们仍在这项研究的初期,
early days:初期;为时尚早;前期;
We've painted only the first brushstrokes in our neural portrait of the human mind. 我们只在人类思想的神经学解释上 迈出了第一步。
brushstrokes:n.一笔;笔的一划;绘画技巧;
The most fundamental questions remain unanswered . 最基本的问题仍然没有解答。
fundamental:n.基础; adj.十分重大的; unanswered:adj.未答复的;无反应的;
So for example, what does each of these regions do exactly? 比如说,每个这些区域究竟是做什么的？
Why do we need three face areas and three place areas, and what's the division of labor between them? 为什么我们需要三个脸部区域 和三个地点区域？ 它们之间的分工是怎么样的？
division:n.师;分配;分开;分歧;
Second, how are all these things connected in the brain? 第二,这些东西 和大脑又是怎样联系起来的？
With diffusion imaging, you can trace bundles of neurons that connect to different parts of the brain, and with this method shown here, you can trace the connections of individual neurons in the brain, potentially someday giving us a wiring diagram of the entire human brain. 借助弥散成像, 你能够追踪许多连接到 大脑各个部分的神经元。 通过这里展示的方法, 你就能找到单个神经元和大脑的联系。 这样也许有一天就能给我们 一幅大脑的线路状图象。
diffusion:n.扩散,传播;[光]漫射; trace:追溯,追踪 bundles:[解剖]束; individual:n.个人;有个性的人;adj.单独的;个别的; potentially:adv.可能地,潜在地;
Third, how does all of this very systematic structure get built, both over development in childhood and over the evolution of our species ? 第三,这些非常系统的结构 是怎样在幼年的成长 和在物种的进化中 被建立起来的呢？
systematic:adj.系统的;体系的;有系统的;[图情]分类的;一贯的,惯常的; childhood:n.童年;幼年;孩童时期 evolution:n.演变;进化;发展;渐进; species:n.[生物]物种;种类;
To address questions like that, scientists are now scanning other species of animals, and they're also scanning human infants . 为了解答这样的问题, 科学家们现在在扫描 其他种类的动物。 他们也在扫描人类婴孩。
infants:n.婴儿(infant的复数);婴幼儿;
Many people justify the high cost of neuroscience research by pointing out that it may help us someday to treat brain disorders like Alzheimer's and autism . 许多人为神经元科学研究的高成本辩护, 他们指出这项研究也许某天会帮助我们 治疗如阿兹海默症和自闭症这些神经紊乱。
justify:v.证明合法;整理版面;替…辩护; neuroscience:n.神经系统科学(指神经病学,神经化学等); treat:v.治疗;处理;招待;款待;n.款待;乐事;乐趣; disorders:n.无秩序,混乱; v.[电子]扰乱(disorder的单三形式); autism:n.[心理][内科]孤独症;自我中心主义;
That's a hugely important goal, and I'd be thrilled if any of my work contributed to it, but fixing things that are broken in the world is not the only thing that's worth doing. 这是极其重要的目标, 如果我的工作能够给予帮助,我将非常激动。 但是修理世上已经坏掉的东西 不是唯一值得去做的事。
thrilled:adj.非常兴奋; v.使非常兴奋; (thrill的过去分词和过去式) contributed:v.捐献,捐赠(尤指款或物); (contribute的过去式和过去分词)
The effort to understand the human mind and brain is worthwhile even if it never led to the treatment of a single disease . 为了了解人类心理和大脑而做出的努力 即使无法用于治疗某种疾病 也是有价值的。
worthwhile:adj.值得做的,值得花时间的; treatment:n.治疗;疗法;对待;处理;讨论; disease:n.病,[医]疾病;弊病;vt.传染;使…有病;
What could be more thrilling than to understand the fundamental mechanisms that underlie human experience, to understand, in essence , who we are? 还有什么事 能比了解人类体验的基础机制 和本质上了解“我们是谁” 更令人激动的呢？
thrilling:adj.惊心动魄的; v.使非常兴奋; (thrill的现在分词) mechanisms:n.机制;[机]机构(mechanism的复数);机械;[机]机构学; underlie:vt.成为…的基础;位于…之下; in essence:本质上;其实;大体上;
This is, I think, the greatest scientific quest of all time. 我认为,这是有史以来 最伟大的科学探寻
scientific:adj.科学的,系统的; quest:n.追求;寻找;vi.追求;寻找;vt.探索;
(Applause) （掌声）