TEDGlobal 2013
Elizabeth Loftus: How reliable is your memory?
伊丽莎白•洛塔斯: 记忆的虚构
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心理学家伊丽莎白•洛塔斯是研究记忆的。更确切地说，她研究错误的记忆，当人们记得根本没发生的事时，或者记得根本不同的事时的错误记忆。错误记忆的发生比你想得要常见得多，洛塔斯将分享一些令人吃惊的故事和统计结果，并提出一些需要我们思考的、重要的道德问题。
Elizabeth Loftus - False memories scholar
Memory-manipulation expert Elizabeth Loftus explains how our memories might not be what they seem -- and how implanted memories can have real-life repercussions. Full bio
Memory-manipulation expert Elizabeth Loftus explains how our memories might not be what they seem -- and how implanted memories can have real-life repercussions. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:12
I'd like to tell you about a legal case that I worked on
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我给你们讲个我以前经手过的一个案子。
00:16
involving a man named Steve Titus.
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这个案子里有一个人叫斯蒂夫·提塔斯。
00:20
Titus was a restaurant manager.
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提塔斯以前是饭店经理。
00:23
He was 31 years old, he lived in Seattle, Washington,
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他31岁，住在华盛顿州的西雅图，
00:27
he was engaged to Gretchen,
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和一个叫格雷琴的姑娘订了婚，
00:29
about to be married, she was the love of his life.
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马上就要结婚了，她就是他一生的挚爱。
00:32
And one night, the couple went out
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一天晚上，这对情侣外出
00:34
for a romantic restaurant meal.
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去饭店吃一顿浪漫晚餐
00:37
They were on their way home,
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回来的时候，
00:39
and they were pulled over by a police officer.
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他们被警车拦下了。
00:42
You see, Titus' car sort of resembled
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知道吗？提塔斯的车有点类似
00:45
a car that was driven earlier in the evening
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当天晚上
00:49
by a man who raped a female hitchhiker,
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强奸了一位搭便车的女性的罪犯开的车。
00:52
and Titus kind of resembled that rapist.
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而提塔斯有点像那个罪犯。
00:56
So the police took a picture of Titus,
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所以警察给提塔斯拍了照，
00:59
they put it in a photo lineup,
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放到了罪犯相册里。
01:01
they later showed it to the victim,
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警察后来把他的照片给那个受害者看。
01:03
and she pointed to Titus' photo.
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她指着提塔斯的照片，
01:06
She said, "That one's the closest."
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说：“他最像。”
01:09
The police and the prosecution proceeded with a trial,
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警察和检察官继续进行审问，
01:13
and when Steve Titus was put on trial for rape,
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斯蒂夫·提塔斯被当成强奸犯告上法庭，
01:16
the rape victim got on the stand
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受害者站在法庭上
01:19
and said, "I'm absolutely positive that's the man."
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说，“我绝对肯定就是他。”
01:23
And Titus was convicted.
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提塔斯就这样被宣告有罪。
01:26
He proclaimed his innocence,
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他申明自己是无辜的，
01:28
his family screamed at the jury,
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他的家庭对着陪审团声嘶力竭，
01:30
his fiancée collapsed on the floor sobbing,
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他的未婚妻倒在地上痛哭，
01:33
and Titus is taken away to jail.
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提塔斯被带进了监狱。
01:37
So what would you do at this point?
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那么这样的时候你能做什么？
01:40
What would you do?
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你能做什么？
01:42
Well, Titus lost complete faith in the legal system,
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所以，提塔斯从此完全失去对法律体系的信任。
01:46
and yet he got an idea.
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可是他有了个想法。
01:48
He called up the local newspaper,
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他联系当地的报纸，
01:50
he got the interest of an investigative journalist,
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一个搞调查的杂志对他的案子很有兴趣，
01:53
and that journalist actually found the real rapist,
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而且这个杂志实际上找到了真的罪犯，
01:58
a man who ultimately confessed to this rape,
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这人最终供认自己的犯罪事实，
02:01
a man who was thought to have committed 50 rapes
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而且他还和其他的50起强奸案有关。
02:05
in that area,
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案件都发生在那个地区。
02:06
and when this information was given to the judge,
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法官得知这个消息以后，
02:09
the judge set Titus free.
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释放了提塔斯。
02:12
And really, that's where this case should have ended.
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好吧，这个案子到这里就该结束了吧？
02:16
It should have been over.
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真的是应该结束了。
02:17
Titus should have thought of this as a horrible year,
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提塔斯应该觉得这是多么糟糕的一年呀。
02:20
a year of accusation and trial, but over.
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一年的指控、提审，但是都结束了。
02:24
It didn't end that way.
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但是事情没有就此结束。
02:26
Titus was so bitter.
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提塔斯的生活变得更加苦涩。
02:28
He'd lost his job. He couldn't get it back.
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他失业了，无法重新回去上班。
02:31
He lost his fiancée.
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他失去了未婚妻。
02:33
She couldn't put up with his persistent anger.
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她无法忍受他一直以来的愤怒。
02:36
He lost his entire savings,
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他失去了所有存款。
02:38
and so he decided to file a lawsuit
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所以他决定提起诉讼，
02:41
against the police and others whom he felt
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状告那些警察和对那些
02:43
were responsible for his suffering.
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需要对他的遭遇负责的人。
02:45
And that's when I really started working on this case,
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我是从那时开始介入这个案子的，
02:50
trying to figure out
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想搞清楚
02:52
how did that victim go from
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受害人怎么会那么坚定地从
02:54
"That one's the closest"
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“这个人最象”
02:56
to "I'm absolutely positive that's the guy."
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到“我绝对确信就是他。”
03:00
Well, Titus was consumed with his civil case.
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那么提塔斯呢 ，把时间都花在他的案子上，
03:04
He spent every waking moment thinking about it,
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他只要醒着就想这事儿。
03:07
and just days before he was to have his day in court,
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就在要开庭的前几天，
03:11
he woke up in the morning,
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他早上醒来，
03:13
doubled over in pain,
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突然疼痛不已，
03:15
and died of a stress-related heart attack.
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结果死于精神压力引起的心肌梗死。
03:18
He was 35 years old.
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那时他才35岁。
03:21
So I was asked to work on Titus' case
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我之所以介入提塔斯的案子，
03:26
because I'm a psychological scientist.
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是因为我是个研究心理学的科学家。
03:28
I study memory. I've studied memory for decades.
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我研究记忆，已经研究有几十年了。
03:32
And if I meet somebody on an airplane --
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如果我在飞机上遇到谁－
03:35
this happened on the way over to Scotland --
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恰巧是去苏格兰的－
03:37
if I meet somebody on an airplane,
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如果我在飞机上遇到谁－
03:39
and we ask each other, "What do you do? What do you do?"
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我们会互相打招呼，“你是做什么的？做什么的？”
03:42
and I say "I study memory,"
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我就说，“我是研究记忆的。”
03:44
they usually want to tell me how they have trouble remembering names,
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他们一般都会告诉我，他们很难记住别人的名字呀，
03:47
or they've got a relative who's got Alzheimer's
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他们有个亲戚得了痴呆症呀，
03:50
or some kind of memory problem,
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或者一些和记忆有关的问题。
03:52
but I have to tell them
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然后我就告诉他们，
03:54
I don't study when people forget.
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我不研究人的遗忘。
03:58
I study the opposite: when they remember,
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正相反，我研究的是人的记忆。
04:01
when they remember things that didn't happen
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当他们记着根本没有发生的事儿，
04:03
or remember things that were different
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或者记着与他们做的
04:05
from the way they really were.
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根本不同的事儿。
04:07
I study false memories.
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我研究的就是错误记忆。
04:12
Unhappily, Steve Titus is not the only person
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不幸的是，斯蒂夫·提塔斯不是唯一一个
04:16
to be convicted based on somebody's false memory.
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被别人的错误记忆所害的人。
04:21
In one project in the United States,
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在美国的一项课题中，
04:24
information has been gathered
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这个课题集中了
04:26
on 300 innocent people,
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300个无辜的人们，
04:30
300 defendants who were convicted of crimes they didn't do.
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300个被宣判有罪的无辜者。
04:34
They spent 10, 20, 30 years in prison for these crimes,
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他们因此而在监狱度过了10年，20年，30年
04:39
and now DNA testing has proven
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现在的DNA检测证明
04:42
that they are actually innocent.
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他们是无辜的。
04:45
And when those cases have been analyzed,
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当对这些案子进行分析后，
04:47
three quarters of them
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其中四分之三的案子
04:49
are due to faulty memory, faulty eyewitness memory.
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归结于错误的记忆，目击者的错误记忆。
04:55
Well, why?
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那么，这是为什么呢？
04:56
Like the jurors who convicted those innocent people
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给无辜者定罪的那些陪审团成员，
05:00
and the jurors who convicted Titus,
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给提塔斯定罪的那些陪审团成员，
05:02
many people believe that memory
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他们都相信记忆
05:04
works like a recording device.
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可以作为记录装置。
05:06
You just record the information,
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就是人记住了一些信息，
05:08
then you call it up and play it back
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然后唤起这些信息，重放这些信息
05:11
when you want to answer questions or identify images.
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来回答警察的提问和鉴别嫌犯照片。
05:14
But decades of work in psychology
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数十年的心理学研究
05:16
has shown that this just isn't true.
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显示这不一定是对的。
05:20
Our memories are constructive.
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我们的记忆具有可塑性的，
05:22
They're reconstructive.
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也是可重塑的。
05:24
Memory works a little bit more like a Wikipedia page:
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记忆有点像维基百科页面：
05:27
You can go in there and change it, but so can other people.
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你可以登录编辑它，但是别人也可以这样做。
05:32
I first started studying this constructive memory process
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我刚开始研究这个可塑性记忆
05:37
in the 1970s.
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是在70年代。
05:40
I did my experiments that involved showing people
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我做了实验，向受试者展示
05:44
simulated crimes and accidents
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模拟的犯罪事件和事故。
05:47
and asking them questions about what they remember.
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我然后问他们都记住了什么。
05:50
In one study, we showed people a simulated accident
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在一项研究中，我们给受试者展示模拟的事故
05:54
and we asked people,
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然后我们问他们
05:56
how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?
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他们相撞的时候，车速有多快。
05:58
And we asked other people,
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然后我们问其他的人
06:00
how fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?
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如果他们重撞在一起时，车速有多快。
06:04
And if we asked the leading "smashed" question,
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如果我们用"重撞“这个词儿来引导他们时，
06:07
the witnesses told us the cars were going faster,
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受试者更倾向于告诉我们车速是非常快的。
06:10
and moreover, that leading "smashed" question
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不仅如此，用”重撞“来诱导问题时，
06:14
caused people to be more likely to tell us
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人们更倾向于告诉我们，
06:17
that they saw broken glass in the accident scene
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他们在事故现场看到了破碎的玻璃。
06:20
when there wasn't any broken glass at all.
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其实，根本就没有什么破碎的玻璃。
06:24
In another study, we showed a simulated accident
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在另一项研究中，我们展示的是一个模拟事故，
06:27
where a car went through an intersection with a stop sign,
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一辆车正经过一个有”停车”牌的十字路口。
06:30
and if we asked a question that insinuated it was a yield sign,
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如果我们暗示受试者那是个“让路”牌的时候，
06:35
many witnesses told us they remember seeing a yield sign
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很多受试者会说他们记得十字路口有“让路”牌，
06:39
at the intersection, not a stop sign.
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而不是“停车”牌。
06:43
And you might be thinking, well, you know,
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你会说，嗯，
06:45
these are filmed events,
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这只是拍摄下来的模拟现场，
06:46
they are not particularly stressful.
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受试者没有什么精神压力。
06:48
Would the same kind of mistakes be made
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如果在真实的现场会有同样的错误吗？
06:51
with a really stressful event?
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那可是真正紧张的时刻。
06:54
In a study we published just a few months ago,
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我们最近发表了一个几个月前的研究课题。
06:57
we have an answer to this question,
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正好可以回答你的这个问题。
06:59
because what was unusual about this study
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这项研究不同以往的地方在于
07:02
is we arranged for people to have a very stressful experience.
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我们见了有过紧张压力体验的受试者。
07:07
The subjects in this study
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这项研究的受试者
07:10
were members of the U.S. military
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是美军军方人士。
07:12
who were undergoing a harrowing training exercise
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他们经历了残酷的训练
07:17
to teach them what it's going to be like for them
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来体验
07:19
if they are ever captured as prisoners of war.
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被活捉成为战犯的场面。
07:23
And as part of this training exercise,
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这个训练的其中一部分就是
07:26
these soldiers are interrogated in an aggressive,
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这些士兵遭到长达30分钟的刑讯逼供和
07:29
hostile, physically abusive fashion for 30 minutes
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严刑拷打。
07:34
and later on they have to try to identify
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后来他们必须努力辨别出
07:37
the person who conducted that interrogation.
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是谁对他们施加了暴行。
07:40
And when we feed them suggestive information
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当我们向他们建议
07:44
that insinuates it's a different person,
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审讯人可能另有其人时，
07:47
many of them misidentify their interrogator,
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他们中的很多人认不出真正的审讯人。
07:51
often identifying someone who doesn't even remotely
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他们经常指认出
07:55
resemble the real interrogator.
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完全不相近的人。
07:58
And so what these studies are showing
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这些研究结果表明
08:00
is that when you feed people misinformation
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当你向人们提供错误信息
08:04
about some experience that they may have had,
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误导他们经历过的事情时
08:07
you can distort or contaminate or change their memory.
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你完全可以破坏、搅乱甚至改变他们的记忆。
08:13
Well out there in the real world,
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大千世界，
08:15
misinformation is everywhere.
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错误的信息无处不在。
08:18
We get misinformation
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我们得到错误的信息，
08:19
not only if we're questioned in a leading way,
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不仅是因为我们遇到误导性提问，
08:22
but if we talk to other witnesses
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而且也可能是我们与其他人交谈时
08:25
who might consciously or inadvertently feed us
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被有意无意地
08:28
some erroneous information,
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灌输了错误信息。
08:30
or if we see media coverage about some event we might have experienced,
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也可能是我们看到了与我们经历有关的媒体报道。
08:35
all of these provide the opportunity
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这一切都有可能
08:37
for this kind of contamination of our memory.
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扭曲我们的记忆。
08:42
In the 1990s, we began to see
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90年代，我们观察到
08:46
an even more extreme kind of memory problem.
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一个更为极端的记忆问题。
08:50
Some patients were going into therapy with one problem --
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一些患者因为一个单纯的问题去看医生，
08:53
maybe they had depression, an eating disorder --
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也许是因为抑郁，或者饮食失调。
08:56
and they were coming out of therapy
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但当他们结束治疗时，
08:59
with a different problem.
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往往会产生完全不同的问题。
09:02
Extreme memories for horrific brutalizations,
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那些关于残酷暴行的极端记忆，
09:05
sometimes in satanic rituals,
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有些象是邪教仪式
09:07
sometimes involving really bizarre and unusual elements.
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有些带有非常奇怪、非常特殊的成分。
09:12
One woman came out of psychotherapy
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一个结束了心理治疗的妇女
09:15
believing that she'd endured years
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坚信自己经受了数年的
09:17
of ritualistic abuse, where she was forced into a pregnancy
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残忍的性侵害，使她不幸怀孕。
09:21
and that the baby was cut from her belly.
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孩子从她的肚子里被夺走。
09:24
But there were no physical scars
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可是她身上根本就没有任何伤疤
09:26
or any kind of physical evidence
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也没有任何体征
09:28
that could have supported her story.
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来支持她的观点。
09:31
And when I began looking into these cases,
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当我研究这些案例时，
09:34
I was wondering,
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我想知道
09:35
where do these bizarre memories come from?
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这些奇特的记忆是从何而来呢？
09:38
And what I found is that most of these situations
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我发现很多这样奇怪的情况
09:42
involved some particular form of psychotherapy.
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都源于患者的一些心理治疗。
09:47
And so I asked,
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我不禁想到
09:49
were some of the things going on in this psychotherapy --
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这些问题可能跟他们所进行的心理治疗有关-
09:52
like the imagination exercises
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比如想象力训练，
09:55
or dream interpretation,
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比如解梦，
09:57
or in some cases hypnosis,
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比如催眠疗法，
10:00
or in some cases exposure to false information --
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或者无意接触到的错误信息。
10:03
were these leading these patients
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这些是不是都会使患者
10:06
to develop these very bizarre,
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产生一些非常奇怪的
10:09
unlikely memories?
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不正确的记忆呢？
10:12
And I designed some experiments
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因此我设计了一些实验，
10:14
to try to study the processes that were being used
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使用心理治疗中会采用的步骤
10:19
in this psychotherapy so I could study
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来研究这些丰富的错误记忆是如何产生的。
10:22
the development of these very rich false memories.
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来研究这些丰富的错误记忆是如何产生的。
10:26
In one of the first studies we did,
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我们最初的一个研究是，
10:28
we used suggestion,
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我们对受试者提出建议，
10:30
a method inspired by the psychotherapy we saw in these cases,
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这个方法借鉴了我们在案例里看到的一些心理治疗法。
10:34
we used this kind of suggestion
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我们用我们的建议
10:36
and planted a false memory
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植入一个错误的记忆。
10:38
that when you were a kid, five or six years old,
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那就是：当你还五六岁的时候，
10:41
you were lost in a shopping mall.
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你在一个购物中心走丢了，
10:44
You were frightened. You were crying.
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你害怕得哭了，
10:46
You were ultimately rescued by an elderly person
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最终，你在一个长者的帮助下
10:49
and reunited with the family.
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找到了家人。
10:51
And we succeeded in planting this memory
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我们成功地
10:53
in the minds of about a quarter of our subjects.
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给大约四分之一的受试者植入了这个错误记忆。
10:57
And you might be thinking, well,
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你会说，好吧，
10:59
that's not particularly stressful.
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可是这个不是在心理压力下的测试呀。
11:02
But we and other investigators have planted
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我们以及其他的研究人员成功地植入过
11:05
rich false memories of things that were
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一些错误的记忆，
11:08
much more unusual and much more stressful.
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错误得非常离谱，也非常纠结的记忆。
11:11
So in a study done in Tennessee,
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在田纳西的一项研究中，
11:13
researchers planted the false memory
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科研人员植入的错误记忆是
11:16
that when you were a kid, you nearly drowned
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你小的时候，差点淹死过，
11:18
and had to be rescued by a life guard.
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是一个救生员救了你。
11:21
And in a study done in Canada,
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加拿大的一项研究中，
11:23
researchers planted the false memory
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研究人员植入的错误记忆是
11:25
that when you were a kid,
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你小的时候
11:27
something as awful as being attacked by a vicious animal
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曾经被凶恶的动物
11:30
happened to you,
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攻击过。
11:32
succeeding with about half of their subjects.
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近一半的受试者之后有了这样的错误记忆。
11:35
And in a study done in Italy,
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在意大利的一项研究中，
11:38
researchers planted the false memory,
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研究者植入的错误记忆是
11:40
when you were a kid, you witnessed demonic possession.
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你小时候目睹过恶魔附身
11:45
I do want to add that it might seem
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在这里我想说
11:48
like we are traumatizing these experimental subjects
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看起来我们是在伤害受试者
11:51
in the name of science,
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却打着科学的旗号。
11:53
but our studies have gone through thorough evaluation
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其实，我们的研究都要经过
11:58
by research ethics boards
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科研道德委员会的层层审批的。
12:00
that have made the decision
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经审批，委员会认为，
12:02
that the temporary discomfort that some
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对那些会有短暂不适感的
12:05
of these subjects might experience in these studies
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受试者的研究工作
12:08
is outweighed by the importance of this problem
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可以帮助我们更好地
12:12
for understanding memory processes
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理解记忆的过程
12:15
and the abuse of memory that is going on
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和记忆的破坏，那些发生
12:18
in some places in the world.
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在世界各地的问题。
12:22
Well, to my surprise,
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令我惊奇的是，
12:25
when I published this work and began to speak out
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我发表的研究开始引起了
12:28
against this particular brand of psychotherapy,
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一些著名理疗师的反对。
12:32
it created some pretty bad problems for me:
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他们给我制造了很多麻烦，
12:36
hostilities, primarily from the repressed memory therapists,
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敌对主要来自于一些心情压抑的记忆治疗师。
12:41
who felt under attack,
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他们觉得自己受到了攻击。
12:43
and by the patients whom they had influenced.
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敌对也来自那些认为自己被无端牵扯进来的患者。
12:46
I had sometimes armed guards at speeches
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我有的时候不得不带着保镖
12:49
that I was invited to give,
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去做演讲嘉宾。
12:51
people trying to drum up letter-writing campaigns to get me fired.
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人们写信投诉，要勒令我辞职。
12:55
But probably the worst
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可能最糟糕的还有
12:57
was I suspected that a woman
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我曾经认为一位妇女
13:00
was innocent of abuse
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根本就是无辜的。
13:02
that was being claimed by her grown daughter.
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可是她长大的女儿偏认为
13:05
She accused her mother of sexual abuse
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她的妈妈曾经性侵过她，
13:09
based on a repressed memory.
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仅仅凭着那些压抑的记忆。
13:11
And this accusing daughter had actually allowed her story
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这个女儿甚至把她的所谓的故事
13:13
to be filmed and presented in public places.
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搬上了银幕，曝光给公众。
13:17
I was suspicious of this story,
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我非常怀疑这个故事的真实性。
13:19
and so I started to investigate,
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所以我开始了调查，
13:22
and eventually found information that convinced me
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最终的调查结果让我相信
13:26
that this mother was innocent.
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这位妈妈是无辜的。
13:28
I published an exposé on the case,
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我发表文章来揭露真相，
13:31
and a little while later, the accusing daughter
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后来那位女儿
13:35
filed a lawsuit.
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把我告上法庭。
13:36
Even though I'd never mentioned her name,
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即使我没有提及她的姓名，
13:39
she sued me for defamation and invasion of privacy.
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她仍然状告我诽谤和侵犯隐私。
13:43
And I went through nearly five years
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这个案子经过了五年的时间。
13:46
of dealing with this messy, unpleasant litigation,
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我不得不经历大量的令人厌恶的诉讼。
13:52
but finally, finally, it was over and I could really
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最终，最终，案子终于结束了，我得以
13:56
get back to my work.
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回到我的工作岗位。
13:58
In the process, however, I became part
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然而，在这个过程中，我成为
14:01
of a disturbing trend in America
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一直令人不安的趋势的一部分。
14:04
where scientists are being sued
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那就是科学家仅仅因为
14:06
for simply speaking out on matters of great public controversy.
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在有争议的公共事务中提出自己的观点而遭诉讼。
14:10
When I got back to my work, I asked this question:
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我回到工作岗位时，我提出这样一个问题，
14:14
if I plant a false memory in your mind,
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当我给你植入一个错误记忆后，
14:16
does it have repercussions?
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它会有后续影响吗？
14:18
Does it affect your later thoughts,
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它会改变你将来的想法和
14:20
your later behaviors?
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将来的行为吗？
14:22
Our first study planted a false memory
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我们给你植入错误记忆
14:24
that you got sick as a child eating certain foods:
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你因此就像孩子吃错了东西一样生病。
14:27
hard-boiled eggs, dill pickles, strawberry ice cream.
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2999
就象吃错了坏鸡蛋、腌菜、草莓冰激凌一样生病。
14:30
And we found that once we planted this false memory,
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我们发现一旦我们植入了错误记忆，
14:34
people didn't want to eat the foods as much
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人们就不那么喜欢在野餐的时候吃那些食物了
14:36
at an outdoor picnic.
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人们就不那么喜欢在野餐的时候吃那些食物了
14:38
The false memories aren't necessarily bad or unpleasant.
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错误记忆不一定就是不好的，不愉快的。
14:42
If we planted a warm, fuzzy memory
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如果我们植入一个温暖、温馨的记忆，
14:44
involving a healthy food like asparagus,
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记忆里面有美味的芦笋的话，
14:48
we could get people to want to eat asparagus more.
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我们就会让人们更喜欢吃芦笋。
14:51
And so what these studies are showing
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所以这些研究表明，
14:53
is that you can plant false memories
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你可以植入错误记忆，
14:55
and they have repercussions
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而记忆有后续反应。
14:57
that affect behavior long after the memories take hold.
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一旦形成了这个记忆，它会长久地影响你的行为。
15:02
Well, along with this ability
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那么，
15:04
to plant memories and control behavior
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通过植入记忆来影响行为的这种能力
15:07
obviously come some important ethical issues,
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很明显会带来一些严肃的道德问题。
15:11
like, when should we use this mind technology?
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比如，我们什么情况下可以使用这样的意识技术？
15:15
And should we ever ban its use?
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我们应该不应该禁止它的使用？
15:18
Therapists can't ethically plant false memories
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在伦理上，治疗师不能
15:21
in the mind of their patients
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给患者植入错误的记忆，
15:23
even if it would help the patient,
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即使这有助于帮助患者。
15:25
but there's nothing to stop a parent
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但是这不能阻止一些家长为了
15:27
from trying this out on their overweight or obese teenager.
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他们超重和肥胖的孩子去尝试这种治疗。
15:31
And when I suggested this publicly,
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我建议公开使用这种疗法时，
15:34
it created an outcry again.
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又引起了舆论大哗。
15:37
"There she goes. She's advocating that parents lie to their children."
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“看看她，她主张让父母跟孩子撒谎。”
15:41
Hello, Santa Claus. (Laughter)
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你好，圣诞老人。（笑声）
15:43
I mean, another way to think about this is,
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9497
我的意思是，从另一个角度想这个问题，
15:53
which would you rather have,
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2033
你是宁可
15:55
a kid with obesity, diabetes, shortened lifespan,
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3029
有一个肥胖的，有糖尿病的，短命的
15:58
all the things that go with it,
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1532
问题众多的孩子，
16:00
or a kid with one little extra bit of false memory?
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3016
还是想要一个有一点小小错误记忆的孩子？
16:03
I know what I would choose for a kid of mine.
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3391
我知道我会怎么给我的孩子选，
16:06
But maybe my work has made me different from most people.
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也许是我的工作让我和别人不大一样。
16:10
Most people cherish their memories,
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2079
很多人珍视他们的记忆，
16:12
know that they represent their identity,
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2154
知道那些代表他的身份，
16:14
who they are, where they came from.
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代表他们是谁，从哪儿来。
16:16
And I appreciate that. I feel that way too.
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我明白这些。我也是那么认为的。
16:19
But I know from my work
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2205
但从我的工作中我知道，
16:21
how much fiction is already in there.
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一个人的记忆中到底有多少是虚构的。
16:26
If I've learned anything from these decades
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2732
这么几十年的工作确实让我
16:28
of working on these problems, it's this:
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2410
学到些东西，那就是：
16:31
just because somebody tells you something
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2211
即使有人告诉过你，
16:33
and they say it with confidence,
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1575
而且是胸有成竹地告诉你，
16:35
just because they say it with lots of detail,
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即使他们描述了很多细节，
16:37
just because they express emotion when they say it,
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2759
即使他们满怀激情地描述，
16:40
it doesn't mean that it really happened.
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那也不等于它真的就发生过。
16:43
We can't reliably distinguish true memories from false memories.
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我们无法从真实的记忆中识别错误记忆。
16:47
We need independent corroboration.
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我们需要独立的佐证。
16:51
Such a discovery has made me more tolerant
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这样的发现使我能够忍受
16:54
of the everyday memory mistakes
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2139
每天发生的记忆错误，
16:56
that my friends and family members make.
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那些来自朋友家人的记忆错误。
16:59
Such a discovery might have saved Steve Titus,
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4534
这样的发现本来可以挽救斯蒂夫•塔提斯，
17:03
the man whose whole future was snatched away
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3576
那个被无端夺走生命的人。
17:07
by a false memory.
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这一切仅仅源于一个错误的记忆。
17:09
But meanwhile, we should all keep in mind,
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但同时，我们需要记住，
17:12
we'd do well to,
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我们需要做好事。
17:14
that memory, like liberty,
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那些记忆就像自由一样，
17:18
is a fragile thing.
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3694
是很脆弱的。
17:21
Thank you. Thank you.
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谢谢，谢谢！
17:24
Thank you. (Applause)
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2728
非常感谢！（掌声）
17:27
Thanks very much. (Applause)
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非常感谢！（掌声）
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Elizabeth Loftus - False memories scholarMemory-manipulation expert Elizabeth Loftus explains how our memories might not be what they seem -- and how implanted memories can have real-life repercussions.
Why you should listen
Elizabeth Loftus altered the course of legal history by revealing that memory is not only unreliable, but also mutable. Since the 1970s, Loftus has created an impressive body of scholarly work and has appeared as an expert witness in hundreds of courtrooms, bolstering the cases of defendants facing criminal charges based on eyewitness testimony, and debunking “recovered memory” theories popular at the time, as in her book The Myth of Repressed Memory: False Memories and Allegations of Sexual Abuse (with Katherine Ketcham).
Since then, Loftus has dedicated herself to discovering how false memories can affect our daily lives, leading her to surprising therapeutic applications for memory modification -- including controlling obesity by implanting patients with preferences for healthy foods.
Elizabeth Loftus | Speaker | TED.com