TED2009
Jim Fallon: Exploring the mind of a killer
吉姆-法龙：探索杀人凶手的心理世界
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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。
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. Full bio
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, a professor at the University of California.
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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 35 years,
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在过去的35年里，
00:24
I've studied behavior
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我都在研究人的行为。
00:26
on the basis of everything from genes
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不过研究的基础主要集中在基因
00:29
through neurotransmitters, dopamine, things like that,
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多巴胺之类的神经传导素
00:31
all the way through circuit analysis.
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以及目标分析。
00:33
So that's what I normally do.
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这些都是我通常所做的。
00:35
But then, for some reason,
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但出于某种原因，
00:37
I got into something else, just recently.
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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 out of one of my colleagues asking me
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究其缘由，则是因为我的一个同事
00:42
to analyze a bunch of brains
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叫我去研究一批
00:44
of psychopathic killers.
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心理变态的杀人犯的大脑。
00:46
And so this would be the typical 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 up with a psychopathic killer?"
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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 killer
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我对心理变态的杀手的定义
00:54
are these people, these types 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 that I've studied
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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 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. They also gave me normal 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 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 up was a number of pieces of data.
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并从中获取了一些数据。
01:09
So we look at these sorts of things theoretically,
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我们从理论化的角度出发，
01:12
on the basis of genetics,
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将基因
01:14
and brain damage, and interaction with environment,
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脑损伤、与环境的相互作用，
01:17
and exactly how that machine works.
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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 in exactly 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 part of the brain.
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和大脑中最重要的部分。
01:23
So we've 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 of genes,
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基因之间的相互作用，
01:28
what's called epigenetic effects,
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也就是所谓的后生效应，
01:30
brain damage, and environment,
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大脑的损伤，环境因素，
01:32
and how these are tied together.
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以及他们之间的联系。
01:34
And how you end up with a psychopath, and a killer,
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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 on exactly when the damage occurs.
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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 timed thing.
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时机的掌握真的需要恰到好处。
01:42
You get different kinds of psychopaths.
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心理变态狂是有各种各样的。
01:44
So we're going along with this. And here's, just to give you the pattern.
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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 is that those people, every one of them I looked at,
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这些人，我检查过的每一个人，
01:50
who was a murderer, and was a serial killer,
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每一个杀人凶手，每一个连环杀手，
01:53
had damage to their orbital cortex,
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都在大脑的额眶部皮质有所损伤，
01:55
which is right above the eyes, the orbits,
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就在眼睛、眼眶的正上方。
01:57
and also the interior part 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 that every 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 too.
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但彼此之间有稍微有点不同。
02:03
They had other sorts of brain damage.
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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 violence genes,
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最主要的暴力基因
02:10
it's called the MAO-A gene.
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被称作为MAO-A基因。
02:13
And there is a variant of this gene that is in the normal population.
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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.
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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。
02:20
It's on the X chromosome. 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.
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你只能从你母亲那里遗传这个基因。
02:25
And in fact this is probably why mostly men, boys,
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事实上，这也许就是为什么男人、男孩
02:29
are psychopathic killers,
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更有可能成为心理变态的杀人凶手，
02:31
or are very aggressive.
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变得非常有暴力倾向。
02:33
Because a daughter can get one X from the father,
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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，
02:36
one X from the mother, 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, he can only get
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但如果是个儿子的话，
02:40
the X chromosome from his mother.
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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 from mother to son.
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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 during development,
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它也跟成长过程中分泌的血清素有关。
02:49
which is kind of interesting because serotonin
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这其实是挺有趣的现象，
02:51
is supposed to make you calm and relaxed.
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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, in utero
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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 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 brain becomes insensitive to serotonin,
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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 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 this one talk in Israel,
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我之前在以色列给过这个演讲，
03:07
just this past year.
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就在去年。
03:09
And it does have some consequences.
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而这项研究发现确实有着深远的影响。
03:11
Theoretically what this means
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因为从理论上来讲，
03:13
is that in order to express this gene,
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若想让这个基因发挥其作用，
03:16
in a violent way,
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引发暴力，
03:18
very early on, before puberty,
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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 in something that is really traumatic --
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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, not being spanked 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 violence,
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而是真正目睹暴力，
03:27
or being involved in it, in 3D.
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或者是置身其中。
03:29
Right? That's how the mirror neuron system works.
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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,
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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
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而又在某个场合下
03:37
in a certain situation,
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目睹了大量的暴力，
03:39
this is the recipe for disaster, absolute disaster.
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那么灾难就会产生，绝对的灾难。
03:42
And what I think might happen in these areas of the world,
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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 violence,
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很有可能发生的就是
03:48
you end up having generations of kids
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一代又一代的孩子
03:51
that are seeing all this violence.
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目睹着周边的一切暴力。
03:53
And if I was a young girl, somewhere in a violent 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,
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14岁，想找个伴侣，
03:58
I'd find some tough guy, right, to protect 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 is this tends to concentrate these genes.
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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 and the girls 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 generations,
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所以我觉得几代过后，
04:09
and here is the idea, we really have a tinderbox.
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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.
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主要的概念就是这样。
04:14
But then my mother 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 killers.
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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 family."
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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 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 family 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 this on my father's side, of course.
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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 in her background,
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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 did.
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但我父亲那边却有。
04:35
Well she said, "There is good news and bad news.
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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 is Ezra Cornell, founder of Cornell university.
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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 is that your cousin is also Lizzie Borden.
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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."
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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 worse, 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 Strangely," and it's this historical 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
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里面记载的第一桩谋杀，
04:56
of a mother by a son
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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.
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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 of matricide.
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那就是第一起杀母案。
05:04
And that book is very interesting. Because it's about witch trials,
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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, on my father's side,
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在我父亲那边，还有七位男士，
05:14
starting then, Cornells, that were all murderers.
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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.
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这就让人不得不倒吸口冷气了。
05:21
(Laughter)
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（笑声）
05:23
Because my father himself,
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因为我老爸他自己，
05:25
and my three uncles, in World War II,
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还有我三个叔伯，在二战的时候
05:27
were all conscientious objectors, all pussycats.
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都是反战主义者，都是很温和的。
05:30
But every once in a while, like Lizzie Borden, like three times a century,
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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.
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现在差不多该轮到我们这一辈了。
05:34
(Laughter)
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（笑声）
05:37
So the moral of the story is:
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所以教训就是：
05:39
people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
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居住玻璃屋者不宜以石掷人。
05:41
But more likely is this.
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但真正的教训是：
05:44
(Laughter)
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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. Now our kids found 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 to be OK.
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他们看上去还不错。
05:53
But our grandkids are going to be kind of concerned 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 done is I've started to do PET scans
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所以我开始为家里面的每个人
05:59
of everybody in the family.
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做大脑扫描。
06:01
(Laughter)
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（笑声）
06:02
We started to do PET scans, EEGs and genetic analysis
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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 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 and one daughter, siblings,
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是一对兄妹，
06:12
didn't get along and their patterns are exactly the same.
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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 brain, and the same EEG.
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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 somewhere.
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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 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)
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（笑声）
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Jim Fallon - NeurobiologistSloan 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 >>
Jim Fallon | Speaker | TED.com