ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Jim Fallon - Neurobiologist
Sloan Scholar, Fulbright Fellow, Professor Emeritus of Neuroscience, Jim Fallon looks at the way nature and nurture intermingle to wire up the human brain.

Why you should listen

Jim Fallon has taught neuroscience and psychiatry grand rounds at the University of California Irvine for thirty-five years. Through research he explores the way genetic and perinatal environmental factors affect the way the brain gets built -- and then how an individual's experience further shapes his or her development. He lectures and writes on creativity, consciousness and culture, and has made key contributions to our understanding of adult stems and stroke, schizophrenia, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease.

Only lately has Fallon turned his research toward the subject of psychopaths -- particularly those who kill. With PET scans and EEGs, he's beginning to uncover the deep, underlying traits that make people violent and murderous. In his talk at TEDDIY at TED@PalmSprings, he shared a surprise discovery about his own family that prompted him to bring his work home.

Watch his followup talk from The Moth at the 2011 World Science Festival >>

More profile about the speaker
Jim Fallon | Speaker | TED.com
TED2009

Jim Fallon: Exploring the mind of a killer

吉姆-法龙:探索杀人凶手的心理世界

Filmed:
2,772,955 views

心理变态的杀人凶手为许多经典的电视节目提供了素材,但他们行径的背后到底着隐藏怎样的动机呢?神经学家吉姆-发龙通过对大脑扫描和基因分析的讲解,揭开了杀人凶手的遗传(与环境)中所出现的问题。而他所分享的一段神奇的家庭史,则是为整个演讲提供了一个不可思议的转折,令他的工作充满了让人不寒而栗的个人色彩。
- Neurobiologist
Sloan Scholar, Fulbright Fellow, Professor Emeritus of Neuroscience, Jim Fallon looks at the way nature and nurture intermingle to wire up the human brain. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:18
I'm a neuroscientist神经学家, a professor教授 at the University大学 of California加州.
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我是一名神经学家,一名加州大学的教授。
00:21
And over the past过去 35 years年份,
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在过去的35年里,
00:24
I've studied研究 behavior行为
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我都在研究人的行为。
00:26
on the basis基础 of everything from genes基因
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不过研究的基础主要集中在基因
00:29
through通过 neurotransmitters神经递质, dopamine多巴胺, things like that,
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多巴胺之类的神经传导素
00:31
all the way through通过 circuit电路 analysis分析.
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以及目标分析。
00:33
So that's what I normally一般 do.
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这些都是我通常所做的。
00:35
But then, for some reason原因,
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但出于某种原因,
00:37
I got into something else其他, just recently最近.
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我最近开始迷上了另外的一样东西。
00:39
And it all grew成长 out of one of my colleagues同事 asking me
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究其缘由,则是因为我的一个同事
00:42
to analyze分析 a bunch of brains大脑
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叫我去研究一批
00:44
of psychopathic心理变态 killers杀手.
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心理变态的杀人犯的大脑。
00:46
And so this would be the typical典型 talk I would give.
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所以你们这里看到的就是我通常会给的演讲。
00:49
And the question is, "How do you end结束 up with a psychopathic心理变态 killer凶手?"
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而我探索的问题就是,“一个人是怎样变成心理变态的杀人凶手的呢?”
00:52
What I mean by psychopathic心理变态 killer凶手
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我对心理变态的杀手的定义
00:54
are these people, these types类型 of people.
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主要是针对这些人,这些种类的人。
00:56
And so some of the brains大脑 that I've studied研究
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所以我所研究的一些大脑实际上是属于
00:58
are people you know about.
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你们所听说过的人的。
01:00
When I get the brains大脑 I don't know what I'm looking at.
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当我刚拿到这些大脑的时候,我其实不知道我查看的究竟是何种大脑。
01:02
It's blind experiments实验. They also gave me normal正常 people and everything.
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算是一个单盲实验,因为他们所给我的大脑中也混杂着正常人的大脑。
01:04
So I've looked看着 at about 70 of these.
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我一共查看了大概70个大脑,
01:06
And what came来了 up was a number of pieces of data数据.
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并从中获取了一些数据。
01:09
So we look at these sorts排序 of things theoretically理论上,
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我们从理论化的角度出发,
01:12
on the basis基础 of genetics遗传学,
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将基因
01:14
and brain damage损伤, and interaction相互作用 with environment环境,
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脑损伤、与环境的相互作用,
01:17
and exactly究竟 how that machine works作品.
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以及大脑的工作原理作为分析研究的基础。
01:19
So we're interested有兴趣 in exactly究竟 where in the brain,
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我们所感兴趣的是大脑中的具体位置
01:21
and what's the most important重要 part部分 of the brain.
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和大脑中最重要的部分。
01:23
So we've我们已经 been looking at this:
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所以这就是我们长期以来的研究对象:
01:26
the interaction相互作用 of genes基因,
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基因之间的相互作用,
01:28
what's called epigenetic后生 effects效果,
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也就是所谓的后生效应,
01:30
brain damage损伤, and environment环境,
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大脑的损伤,环境因素,
01:32
and how these are tied together一起.
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以及他们之间的联系。
01:34
And how you end结束 up with a psychopath精神病患者, and a killer凶手,
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而一个人变成心理变态狂,变成杀手的原因
01:36
depends依靠 on exactly究竟 when the damage损伤 occurs发生.
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就决定于脑损伤发生的确切时间。
01:39
It's really a very precisely恰恰 timed时控 thing.
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时机的掌握真的需要恰到好处。
01:42
You get different不同 kinds of psychopaths精神病患者.
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心理变态狂是有各种各样的。
01:44
So we're going along沿 with this. And here's这里的, just to give you the pattern模式.
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这就是我们研究的主要方向。而我们所发现的规律就是
01:47
The pattern模式 is that those people, every一切 one of them I looked看着 at,
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这些人,我检查过的每一个人,
01:50
who was a murderer凶手, and was a serial串行 killer凶手,
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每一个杀人凶手,每一个连环杀手,
01:53
had damage损伤 to their orbital轨道的 cortex皮质,
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都在大脑的额眶部皮质有所损伤,
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which哪一个 is right above以上 the eyes眼睛, the orbits轨道,
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就在眼睛、眼眶的正上方。
01:57
and also the interior室内 part部分 of the temporal lobe.
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再有就是太阳穴的内侧。
01:59
So there is the pattern模式 that every一切 one of them had,
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所以他们这些人之间是有规律可寻的。
02:01
but they all were a little different不同 too.
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但彼此之间有稍微有点不同。
02:03
They had other sorts排序 of brain damage损伤.
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他们也有其他类型的脑损伤。
02:05
A key thing is that
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重点就在于
02:07
the major重大的 violence暴力 genes基因,
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最主要的暴力基因
02:10
it's called the MAO-AMAO-A gene基因.
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被称作为MAO-A基因。
02:13
And there is a variant变种 of this gene基因 that is in the normal正常 population人口.
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正常人群中是有这个基因的变种。
02:17
Some of you have this. And it's sex-linked性连锁.
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你们中的一些人就有这个变种。它是跟性别有关的。
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It's on the X chromosome染色体. And so in this way
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是在X染色体上。正因为如此,
02:22
you can only get it from your mother母亲.
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你只能从你母亲那里遗传这个基因。
02:25
And in fact事实 this is probably大概 why mostly大多 men男人, boys男孩,
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事实上,这也许就是为什么男人、男孩
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are psychopathic心理变态 killers杀手,
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更有可能成为心理变态的杀人凶手,
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or are very aggressive侵略性.
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变得非常有暴力倾向。
02:33
Because a daughter女儿 can get one X from the father父亲,
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因为女儿还是可以从爸爸那里得到一个X染色体,
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one X from the mother母亲, it's kind of diluted out.
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从妈妈那里得到另一个,所以总体上的效果就好像被抵消了一样。
02:38
But for a son儿子, he can only get
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但如果是个儿子的话,
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the X chromosome染色体 from his mother母亲.
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他就只能从妈妈那里得到一个X染色体。
02:42
So this is how it's passed通过 from mother母亲 to son儿子.
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这就是它如何从母亲传到儿子的。
02:45
And it has to do with too much brain serotonin血清素 during development发展,
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它也跟成长过程中分泌的血清素有关。
02:49
which哪一个 is kind of interesting有趣 because serotonin血清素
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这其实是挺有趣的现象,
02:51
is supposed应该 to make you calm冷静 and relaxed轻松.
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因为血清素本该让你平静放松下来。
02:54
But if you have this gene基因, in utero子宫
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但如果你拥有这个基因,在母体里的时候
02:57
your brain is bathed沐浴 in this,
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你的大脑就是整个沉浸在血清素之中。
02:59
so your whole整个 brain becomes insensitive麻木不仁 to serotonin血清素,
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所以你的整个大脑都对血清素麻木了。
03:01
so it doesn't work later后来 on in life.
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正因此,在你随后的生命中,它就起不到它应有的作用。
03:04
And I'd given特定 this one talk in Israel以色列,
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我之前在以色列给过这个演讲,
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just this past过去 year.
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就在去年。
03:09
And it does have some consequences后果.
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而这项研究发现确实有着深远的影响。
03:11
Theoretically理论上 what this means手段
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因为从理论上来讲,
03:13
is that in order订购 to express表现 this gene基因,
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若想让这个基因发挥其作用,
03:16
in a violent暴力 way,
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引发暴力,
03:18
very early on, before puberty青春期,
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那么在很早的时候,在青春期之前,
03:20
you have to be involved参与 in something that is really traumatic创伤 --
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你就必须经历一些非常惨痛的事情,
03:23
not a little stress强调, not being存在 spanked打屁股 or something,
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不只是一点小小的压力,不只是被打屁股这么简单,
03:25
but really seeing眼看 violence暴力,
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而是真正目睹暴力,
03:27
or being存在 involved参与 in it, in 3D.
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或者是置身其中。
03:29
Right? That's how the mirror镜子 neuron神经元 system系统 works作品.
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这就是镜像神经元系统的工作原理,对吧?
03:31
And so, if you have that gene基因,
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这样一来,如果你有那个基因,
03:34
and you see a lot of violence暴力
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而又在某个场合下
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in a certain某些 situation情况,
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目睹了大量的暴力,
03:39
this is the recipe食谱 for disaster灾害, absolute绝对 disaster灾害.
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那么灾难就会产生,绝对的灾难。
03:42
And what I think might威力 happen发生 in these areas of the world世界,
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而我觉得在这些长期被暴力笼罩的区域,
03:45
where we have constant不变 violence暴力,
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很有可能发生的就是
03:48
you end结束 up having generations of kids孩子
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一代又一代的孩子
03:51
that are seeing眼看 all this violence暴力.
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目睹着周边的一切暴力。
03:53
And if I was a young年轻 girl女孩, somewhere某处 in a violent暴力 area,
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假如我是一个小女生,生活在某个暴力的地区,
03:56
you know, a 14 year old, and I want to find a mate伴侣,
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14岁,想找个伴侣,
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I'd find some tough强硬 guy, right, to protect保护 me.
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我当然是会找一个非常强壮的男生,来保护我。
04:01
Well what the problem问题 is this tends趋向 to concentrate集中 these genes基因.
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这样一来,问题就产生了,因为这些基因被聚集到了一起。
04:05
And now the boys男孩 and the girls女孩 get them.
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他们的儿子和女儿也因此会遗传这些基因。
04:07
So I think after several一些 generations,
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所以我觉得几代过后,
04:09
and here is the idea理念, we really have a tinderbox火绒箱.
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我们真的就有了个引发暴乱的根源。
04:12
So that was the idea理念.
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主要的概念就是这样。
04:14
But then my mother母亲 said to me, "I hear you've been going around talking
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但有一天我母亲对我说道:“我听说你到处进行演讲,
04:16
about psychopathic心理变态 killers杀手.
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讨论心理变态的杀人狂,
04:19
And you're talking as if you come from a normal正常 family家庭."
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听起来你好像来自一个正常家庭一样。”
04:22
I said, "What the hell地狱 are you talking about?"
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我说道:“ 你到底在讲什么鬼?”
04:24
She then told me about our own拥有 family家庭 tree.
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她随后就告诉了我们自己的家庭史。
04:27
Now she blamed指责 this on my father's父亲的 side, of course课程.
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当然了,她现在是把一切都归咎在我爸爸那边。
04:29
This was one of these cases, because she has no violence暴力 in her background背景,
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这算得上是案例之一,因为她的家族史是没有什么暴力倾向的,
04:33
but my father父亲 did.
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但我父亲那边却有。
04:35
Well she said, "There is good news新闻 and bad news新闻.
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她说:“我有一个好消息还有一个坏消息。
04:37
One of your cousins表兄弟 is Ezra以斯拉 Cornell康奈尔, founder创办人 of Cornell康奈尔 university大学.
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埃兹拉-康奈尔,康奈尔大学的创办者,是你的表兄。
04:40
But the bad news新闻 is that your cousin表姐 is also Lizzie丽兹 Borden博登.
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但坏消息是利兹-伯顿是你的表姐。”
04:43
Now I said, "Okay, so what? We have Lizzie丽兹."
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我回答到:“那又怎样呢?利兹是我的亲戚。”
04:50
She goes, "No it gets得到 worse更差, read this book."
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她说:“事情比这糟糕。读读这本书。”
04:52
And here is this "Killed杀害 Strangely奇怪的是," and it's this historical历史的 book.
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就是这本书,叫做“离奇谋杀”,是本记录历史的书。
04:54
And the first murder谋杀
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里面记载的第一桩谋杀,
04:56
of a mother母亲 by a son儿子
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是一个儿子杀害母亲的案件,
04:58
was my great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather伟大的伟大伟大伟大伟大的曾曾祖父.
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而犯案者就是我的曾曾曾曾曾祖父。
05:01
Okay, so that's the first case案件 of matricide弑母.
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那就是第一起杀母案。
05:04
And that book is very interesting有趣. Because it's about witch巫婆 trials试验,
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这本书其实非常有趣。它讲述了巫女审判,
05:07
and how people thought back then.
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还有那时候人们的想法。
05:09
But it doesn't stop there.
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但它不单单仅此而已。
05:11
There were seven more men男人, on my father's父亲的 side,
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在我父亲那边,还有七位男士,
05:14
starting开始 then, CornellsCornells, that were all murderers杀人犯.
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都是康奈尔家族的人,都是杀人凶手。
05:18
Okay, now this gives one a little pause暂停.
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这就让人不得不倒吸口冷气了。
05:21
(Laughter笑声)
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(笑声)
05:23
Because my father父亲 himself他自己,
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因为我老爸他自己,
05:25
and my three uncles叔叔, in World世界 War战争 IIII,
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还有我三个叔伯,在二战的时候
05:27
were all conscientious有良心 objectors反对者, all pussycats猫咪.
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都是反战主义者,都是很温和的。
05:30
But every一切 once一旦 in a while, like Lizzie丽兹 Borden博登, like three times a century世纪,
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但我们家族隔三岔五,就会出现一个像利兹-伯顿这号人物,大概每100年出现三次,
05:32
and we're kind of due应有.
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现在差不多该轮到我们这一辈了。
05:34
(Laughter笑声)
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(笑声)
05:37
So the moral道德 of the story故事 is:
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所以教训就是:
05:39
people in glass玻璃 houses房屋 shouldn't不能 throw stones石头.
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居住玻璃屋者不宜以石掷人。
05:41
But more likely容易 is this.
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但真正的教训是:
05:44
(Laughter笑声)
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[我不管这个世界对我有多了解,只要我老妈不知道就好。](笑声)
05:48
And we had to take action行动. Now our kids孩子 found发现 out about it.
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我们家人不得不做点什么。我们的孩子们也是得知了这些情况。
05:51
And they all seemed似乎 to be OK.
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他们看上去还不错。
05:53
But our grandkids孙子 are going to be kind of concerned关心 here.
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但我们的孙子一辈则是需要格外注意的一辈。
05:56
So what we've我们已经 doneDONE is I've started开始 to do PET宠物 scans扫描
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所以我开始为家里面的每个人
05:59
of everybody每个人 in the family家庭.
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做大脑扫描。
06:01
(Laughter笑声)
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(笑声)
06:02
We started开始 to do PET宠物 scans扫描, EEGs脑电图 and genetic遗传 analysis分析
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我们已经开始做脑扫描,脑电图,基因分析,
06:05
to see where the bad news新闻 is.
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来查明问题将会出现在哪里。
06:07
Now the only person -- it turns out
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结果唯一有问题的
06:09
one son儿子 and one daughter女儿, siblings兄弟姐妹,
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是一对兄妹,
06:12
didn't get along沿 and their patterns模式 are exactly究竟 the same相同.
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曾经合不来。他们的图象是完全一样。
06:14
They have the same相同 brain, and the same相同 EEG脑电图.
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同样的大脑,同样的脑电图。
06:17
And now they are close as can be.
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但他们现在却是亲密无间。
06:20
But there's gonna be bad news新闻 somewhere某处.
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可是我们知道肯定在某个地方有问题,
06:22
And we don't know where it's going to pop流行的 up.
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只不过我们不确定问题将会出现在哪里。
06:24
So that's my talk.
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这就是我的演讲。
06:26
(Laughter笑声)
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(笑声)
Translated by Zachary Lin Zhao
Reviewed by Wang Qian

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Jim Fallon - Neurobiologist
Sloan Scholar, Fulbright Fellow, Professor Emeritus of Neuroscience, Jim Fallon looks at the way nature and nurture intermingle to wire up the human brain.

Why you should listen

Jim Fallon has taught neuroscience and psychiatry grand rounds at the University of California Irvine for thirty-five years. Through research he explores the way genetic and perinatal environmental factors affect the way the brain gets built -- and then how an individual's experience further shapes his or her development. He lectures and writes on creativity, consciousness and culture, and has made key contributions to our understanding of adult stems and stroke, schizophrenia, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease.

Only lately has Fallon turned his research toward the subject of psychopaths -- particularly those who kill. With PET scans and EEGs, he's beginning to uncover the deep, underlying traits that make people violent and murderous. In his talk at TEDDIY at TED@PalmSprings, he shared a surprise discovery about his own family that prompted him to bring his work home.

Watch his followup talk from The Moth at the 2011 World Science Festival >>

More profile about the speaker
Jim Fallon | Speaker | TED.com