TED2009
Oliver Sacks: What hallucination reveals about our minds
奥利弗·萨克斯：幻觉背后的心智
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奥利弗·萨克斯是一位神经学家和作家。他将带我们认识邦纳症候群，也就是视力受损的人产生鲜明幻觉。他用温馨的细节描述了病人的经历，并以这样的叙述让我们了解这种鲜少被报道的现象背后的生理原理。
Oliver Sacks - Neurological anthropologist
Since "Awakenings" stormed the bestseller lists (and the silver screen), Oliver Sacks has become an unlikely household name, single-handedly inventing the genre of neurological anthropology. Full bio
Since "Awakenings" stormed the bestseller lists (and the silver screen), Oliver Sacks has become an unlikely household name, single-handedly inventing the genre of neurological anthropology. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:12
We see with the eyes,
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我们用眼睛看世界
00:15
but we see with the brain as well.
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但我们也用大脑看
00:18
And seeing with the brain is often called imagination.
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用大脑来看，也就是我们常说的想象
00:22
And we are familiar with the landscapes of our own imagination,
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我们很熟悉自己想象的模式
00:27
our inscapes. We've lived with them all our lives.
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也就是内心世界，它伴随我们一生
00:31
But there are also hallucinations as well,
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然而想象之外还有幻觉
00:35
and hallucinations are completely different.
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幻觉跟想象截然不同
00:38
They don't seem to be of our creation.
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它似乎不是我们所创造的
00:40
They don't seem to be under our control.
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好像也不受我们的控制
00:42
They seem to come from the outside,
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它似乎源自外界
00:44
and to mimic perception.
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又伪装成我们自己的感知
00:47
So I am going to be talking about hallucinations,
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所以我将就幻觉做一些解释
00:51
and a particular sort of visual hallucination
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也会提到我在病人身上观察到的
00:55
which I see among my patients.
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一种特殊的视觉幻觉
01:00
A few months ago, I got a phone call
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几个月前我接到从我工作的养老院
01:04
from a nursing home where I work.
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打来的一个电话
01:06
They told me that one of their residents, an old lady in her 90s,
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他们告诉我住客中有一位90多的老太太
01:11
was seeing things,
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“看到了一些东西”
01:13
and they wondered if she'd gone bonkers
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他们怀疑她是不是疯了
01:16
or, because she was an old lady,
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或者因为年纪大
01:18
whether she'd had a stroke, or whether she had Alzheimer's.
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得了中风，或是老年痴呆症
01:21
And so they asked me if I would come and see Rosalie,
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所以他们请我去看看罗萨莉
01:26
the old lady.
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也就是那个老太太
01:28
I went in to see her.
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我去了后
01:30
It was evident straight away
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马上就发现
01:32
that she was perfectly sane
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她不仅完全神志正常
01:35
and lucid and of good intelligence,
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还非常清醒、明智
01:38
but she'd been very startled and very bewildered,
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就是有点吓坏了，还有点奇怪
01:42
because she'd been seeing things.
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为什么她会出现幻视
01:45
And she told me --
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她还说
01:48
the nurses hadn't mentioned this --
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护士忘了告诉我
01:50
that she was blind,
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她眼睛是看不见的
01:52
that she had been completely blind from macular degeneration for five years.
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她五年前就因为视网膜黄斑退化而完全失明了
01:57
But now, for the last few days, she'd been seeing things.
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近几天却看到了幻象
02:00
So I said, "What sort of things?"
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我问：“什么样的幻象？”
02:03
And she said, "People in Eastern dress,
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她说：“许多人穿着东方服饰
02:06
in drapes, walking up and down stairs.
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那种长袍式的，在楼梯上上下下
02:10
A man who turns towards me and smiles.
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一个男的转过来对我笑
02:13
But he has huge teeth on one side of his mouth.
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但他的嘴巴只有一边长着牙，很大的牙
02:17
Animals too.
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还有很多动物
02:19
I see a white building. It's snowing, a soft snow.
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有一栋白色的楼，天在下雪，小雪
02:22
I see this horse with a harness, dragging the snow away.
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我还看到一匹戴着挽具的马不断把雪拖走
02:27
Then, one night, the scene changes.
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然后有一天晚上，幻象变了
02:31
I see cats and dogs walking towards me.
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变成好多猫和狗朝我这边走
02:33
They come to a certain point and then stop.
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走着走着就停了
02:36
Then it changes again.
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然后又变了
02:38
I see a lot of children. They are walking up and down stairs.
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这回我看到很多小朋友在楼梯上爬上爬下
02:41
They wear bright colors, rose and blue,
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他们穿着颜色鲜艳的衣服，有玫瑰色，有蓝色
02:44
like Eastern dress."
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就像东方服饰。”
02:47
Sometimes, she said, before the people come on,
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她说，有时候在她看到人之前
02:50
she may hallucinate pink and blue squares on the floor,
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她还能看到地板上粉色和蓝色的方块
02:54
which seem to go up to the ceiling.
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跑到天花板上
02:57
I said, "Is this like a dream?"
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我问：“像不像做梦？”
03:01
And she said, "No, it's not like a dream. It's like a movie."
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她说：“不，不像梦。像个电影。”
03:04
She said, "It's got color. It's got motion.
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“它是有颜色的，还有动作
03:07
But it's completely silent, like a silent movie."
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不过一点声音都没有，像默片。”
03:11
And she said that it's a rather boring movie.
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她还说那电影相当无聊
03:13
She said, "All these people with Eastern dress,
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她说：“所有人都穿着东方衣服
03:16
walking up and down, very repetitive, very limited."
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爬上爬下，不停地，一点别的花样都没有。”
03:21
(Laughter)
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(笑声)
03:23
And she has a sense of humor.
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她很幽默
03:25
She knew it was a hallucination.
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而且知道那是个幻觉
03:27
But she was frightened. She'd lived 95 years
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但她有点害怕，因为她活了95年
03:29
and she'd never had a hallucination before.
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从来没有出现过幻觉
03:32
She said that the hallucinations were unrelated
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她说那些幻觉跟她的意识和行为
03:35
to anything she was thinking or feeling or doing,
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一点都不相干
03:39
that they seemed to come on by themselves, or disappear.
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总是这么无缘无故地出现，又无缘无故地消失
03:43
She had no control over them.
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完全不受她控制
03:45
She said she didn't recognize
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而幻觉中出现的
03:47
any of the people or places
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人和地点
03:49
in the hallucinations.
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她一个都不认识
03:51
And none of the people or the animals,
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里面的人和动物
03:53
well, they all seemed oblivious of her.
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也好像看不见她
03:57
And she didn't know what was going on.
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她不知道这是这么了
03:59
She wondered if she was going mad
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她想，她是疯了
04:01
or losing her mind.
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还是在失去理智
04:03
Well, I examined her carefully.
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于是我为这个活泼的老太太
04:05
She was a bright old lady,
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做了详尽的检查
04:07
perfectly sane. She had no medical problems.
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结果发现她的神智完全正常，没有精神问题
04:11
She wasn't on any medications which could produce hallucinations.
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她所吃的药也都没有致幻的副作用
04:15
But she was blind.
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不过，她是盲的
04:17
And I then said to her,
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所以我说：
04:19
"I think I know what you have."
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“我想我知道你的问题是什么了。
04:21
I said, "There is a special form of visual hallucination
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有一种特殊的视觉幻觉
04:25
which may go with deteriorating vision or blindness.
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会发生在视力受损或完全失明的人身上
04:29
This was originally described," I said,
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这种现象
04:32
"right back in the 18th century,
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最早在18世纪
04:34
by a man called Charles Bonnet.
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被一个叫查尔斯·邦纳的人描述过
04:37
And you have Charles Bonnet syndrome.
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你得的就是邦纳症候群(Charles Bonnet syndrome)
04:40
There is nothing wrong with your brain. There is nothing wrong with your mind.
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问题既不在你的大脑，也不在你的意识
04:42
You have Charles Bonnet syndrome."
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你只是得了这种邦纳症候群。”
04:45
And she was very relieved at this,
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她大松一口气
04:48
that there was nothing seriously the matter,
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还好不是什么重病
04:52
and also rather curious.
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完了还相当好奇
04:55
She said, "Who is this Charles Bonnet?"
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她问：“这个查尔斯
04:57
She said, "Did he have them himself?"
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他也有这种幻觉吗？
05:00
And she said, "Tell all the nurses
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还有，告诉那些护工，
05:03
that I have Charles Bonnet syndrome."
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我只不过是得了邦纳症候群。“
05:06
(Laughter)
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(笑声)
05:08
"I'm not crazy. I'm not demented. I have Charles Bonnet syndrome."
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“我没疯，也没傻，我只是得了邦纳症候群。”
05:12
Well, so I did tell the nurses.
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于是我照她的意思告诉了护工们
05:14
Now this, for me, is a common situation.
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其实这种现象对我来说并不稀奇
05:17
I work in old-age homes, largely.
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我在养老院工作
05:19
I see a lot of elderly people
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认识很多老人
05:21
who are hearing impaired or visually impaired.
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是听力或视力受损的
05:25
About 10 percent of the hearing impaired people
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10%的听力受损者
05:27
get musical hallucinations.
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有听觉幻觉
05:30
And about 10 percent of the visually impaired people
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10%的视力受损者
05:33
get visual hallucinations.
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有视觉幻觉
05:35
You don't have to be completely blind,
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不一定要完全失明
05:37
only sufficiently impaired.
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或完全听不到，才会有这种幻觉
05:39
Now with the original description in the 18th century,
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18世纪的查尔斯·邦纳
05:43
Charles Bonnet did not have them.
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其实并没有这种症状
05:45
His grandfather had these hallucinations.
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产生幻觉的是他的祖父
05:48
His grandfather was a magistrate, an elderly man.
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一位年长的长官
05:51
He'd had cataract surgery.
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这个长官曾接受过白内障手术
05:54
His vision was pretty poor.
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视力不大好
05:56
And in 1759, he described to his grandson
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1759年，他向孙子描述了
06:01
various things he was seeing.
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他看到的各种各样的幻象
06:03
The first thing he said was he saw
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第一个幻象
06:05
a handkerchief in midair.
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是一块悬浮在空中的手帕
06:07
It was a large blue handkerchief
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大大的，蓝色的
06:09
with four orange circles.
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还有四个橙色的圆圈
06:11
And he knew it was a hallucination.
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他知道这是个幻觉
06:14
You don't have handkerchiefs in midair.
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因为手帕不会浮在半空
06:16
And then he saw a big wheel in midair.
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他还看到过一个大轮子浮在空中
06:20
But sometimes he wasn't sure whether he was hallucinating or not,
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不过有时候他也搞不清楚看到的到底是不是幻觉
06:25
because the hallucinations would fit
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因为这些幻觉
06:27
in the context of the visions.
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会融合在现实的背景里
06:29
So on one occasion, when his granddaughters were visiting them,
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有一次，当他的孙女们来探望他时，他又看到了幻觉
06:32
he said, "And who are these handsome young men with you?"
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他问：“这几个跟你们在一起的帅小伙子是谁啊？”
06:37
And they said, "Alas, Grandpapa, there are no handsome young men."
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孙女们却说：“诶，爷爷，没有你说的帅小伙啊。”
06:41
And then the handsome young men disappeared.
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突然间帅小伙们就消失了
06:45
It's typical of these hallucinations
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这是一种典型的幻觉
06:48
that they may come in a flash and disappear in a flash.
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刷一下来，刷一下去
06:51
They don't usually fade in and out.
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没有渐变
06:53
They are rather sudden, and they change suddenly.
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相当突然，变得也快
06:56
Charles Lullin, the grandfather,
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查尔斯·鲁林，也就是那个祖父
06:59
saw hundreds of different figures,
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看到过几百个不同的人像
07:02
different landscapes of all sorts.
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还有各种各样的景色
07:04
On one occasion, he saw a man in a bathrobe smoking a pipe,
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有一次，他看到一个穿浴袍的男人在抽烟斗
07:08
and realized it was himself.
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然后意识到，那就是他自己
07:11
That was the only figure he recognized.
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那是唯一一个他辨认出来的人像
07:14
On one occasion when he was walking in the streets of Paris,
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还有一次，他在巴黎的街道上
07:18
he saw -- this was real -- a scaffolding.
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当真看到了一个脚手架
07:21
But when he got back home, he saw a miniature of the scaffolding
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回到家后，却看到了那个脚手架的迷你版
07:24
six inches high, on his study table.
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六英尺高，就立在他的书桌上
07:28
This repetition of perception
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这种感知的重复
07:31
is sometimes called palinopsia.
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有时会被称作视像保留
07:33
With him and with Rosalie,
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这种在查尔斯·鲁林和罗斯莉
07:38
what seems to be going on --
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身上发生的
07:40
and Rosalie said, "What's going on?" --
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让罗斯莉问道“我这是这么了？”的现象
07:42
and I said that as you lose vision,
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我这么解释吧：随着视力的减退
07:45
as the visual parts of the brain are no longer getting any input,
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大脑与视力相关的部分渐渐失去了信息输入
07:48
they become hyperactive and excitable,
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从而进入一种过度活跃的、待激活的状态
07:51
and they start to fire spontaneously.
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于是它开始自发地活动
07:53
And you start to see things.
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让人产生幻象
07:56
The things you see can be very complicated indeed.
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产生的幻象可以相当复杂
07:59
With another patient of mine,
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我有一个病人
08:03
who, also had some vision,
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（像查尔斯·鲁林一样）视力没有完全减退
08:05
the vision she had could be disturbing.
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她看到的幻象比较恼人
08:09
On one occasion, she said she saw
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她说有一次她看到
08:12
a man in a striped shirt in a restaurant.
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餐馆里有一个穿条纹恤衫的男人
08:15
And he turned around. And then
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他转过身
08:17
he divided into six figures in striped shirts,
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然后就突然分裂成6个同样穿条纹恤衫的人像
08:20
who started walking towards her.
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开始朝她走来
08:23
And then the six figures came together again, like a concertina.
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然后六个人就合了起来，就像手风琴一样
08:26
Once, when she was driving,
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有一次她正在开车
08:28
or rather, her husband was driving,
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应该说，是他丈夫在开
08:30
the road divided into four
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路突然就分裂成了4条
08:32
and she felt herself going simultaneously up four roads.
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她感觉就像同时在4条路上行驶
08:36
She had very mobile hallucinations as well.
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她的幻觉充满动感
08:41
A lot of them had to do with a car.
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往往会牵涉到车
08:44
Sometimes she would see a teenage boy
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有时她会看到一个青年男孩
08:46
sitting on the hood of the car.
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坐在引擎盖上
08:49
He was very tenacious and he moved rather gracefully
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紧抓不放，车转弯时
08:51
when the car turned.
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他便随着车的动作缓缓倾斜
08:53
And then when they came to a stop,
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车停下后
08:56
the boy would do a sudden vertical takeoff, 100 foot in the air,
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男孩便会突然垂直飞到100尺的高空
08:59
and then disappear.
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然后消失
09:02
Another patient of mine had a different sort of hallucination.
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还有一个病人，有另外一种幻觉
09:07
This was a woman who didn't have trouble with her eyes,
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这位女病人视力并无问题
09:10
but the visual parts of her brain,
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问题出在她脑部的视觉部分
09:12
a little tumor in the occipital cortex.
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她的枕叶皮层有一个小肿瘤
09:15
And, above all, she would see cartoons.
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尤其引人注意的是，她看到的幻象是卡通的
09:20
These cartoons would be transparent
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而且是半透明的
09:25
and would cover half the visual field, like a screen.
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像屏幕一样盖住半个视野
09:28
And especially she saw cartoons of Kermit the Frog.
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特别的是，她看到的是青蛙柯密特（芝麻街人物）
09:34
(Laughter)
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（笑声）
09:35
Now, I don't watch Sesame Street,
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我不看芝麻街的
09:38
but she made a point of saying,
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不过她坚持要问我：
09:41
"Why Kermit?" She said, "Kermit the Frog means nothing to me.
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”为什么是柯密特？“她说，”青蛙柯密特对我来说一点意义都没有啊。“
09:45
You know, I was wondering about Freudian determinants.
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当时我正在研究弗洛伊德决定因素
09:48
Why Kermit?
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为什么是柯密特？
09:50
Kermit the Frog means nothing to me."
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”青蛙柯密特对我来说一点意义都没有啊。“
09:52
She didn't mind the cartoons too much.
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她并不大关注那部卡通
09:54
But what did disturb her was she got very persistent
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让她非常苦恼的是
09:58
images or hallucinations of faces
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这些幻觉持续地出现
10:01
and as with Rosalie, the faces were often deformed,
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而且跟罗斯莉的情况一样，幻觉中的脸往往是扭曲的
10:04
with very large teeth or very large eyes.
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要么长着大牙，要么长着大眼
10:08
And these frightened her.
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这让她感到非常不安
10:11
Well, what is going on with these people?
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那么，这些病人是怎么了？
10:15
As a physician, I have to try and define what's going on,
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作为一个医生，我必须尝试阐释这些现象
10:18
and to reassure people,
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来安抚他们
10:20
especially to reassure them that they're not going insane.
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尤其得告诉他们，他们没疯
10:24
Something like 10 percent, as I said,
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我前面提到过，视力受损的人
10:27
of visually impaired people get these.
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有10%会产生幻觉
10:30
But no more than one percent of the people acknowledge them,
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但不超过1%会承认
10:34
because they are afraid they will be seen as insane or something.
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因为他们担心会被当成疯子之类
10:37
And if they do mention them to their own doctors
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而如果他们向医生提起这种症状
10:39
they may be misdiagnosed.
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医生可能会做出错误的诊断
10:42
In particular, the notion is that if you see
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而且，大家往往认为
10:44
things or hear things, you're going mad,
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如果你看到或听到幻觉，你就是疯了
10:47
but the psychotic hallucinations are quite different.
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其实我们提到的这种幻觉跟精神病幻觉是不一样的
10:50
Psychotic hallucinations, whether they are visual or vocal,
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精神病的幻觉，不管是视觉的还是听觉的
10:53
they address you. They accuse you.
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都对付你，指控你
10:55
They seduce you. They humiliate you.
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诱惑你，羞辱你
10:57
They jeer at you.
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嘲弄你
11:00
You interact with them.
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跟你互动
11:02
There is none of this quality of being addressed
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而这些
11:05
with these Charles Bonnet hallucinations.
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都没有出现在邦纳式的幻觉中
11:08
There is a film. You're seeing a film which has nothing to do with you,
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邦纳式幻觉就像一部电影，尽管你在看，电影却没有牵涉到你
11:12
or that's how people think about it.
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反正患者们是这么认为的
11:15
There is also a rare thing called temporal lobe epilepsy,
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还有一种少有的症状叫颞叶癫痫
11:19
and sometimes, if one has this,
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有时，如果一个人产生这种症状
11:22
one may feel oneself transported back
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他可能会感到自己被带回
11:24
to a time and place in the past.
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到过去的一个时空
11:27
You're at a particular road junction.
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在某一个路口
11:29
You smell chestnuts roasting.
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闻到烤栗子的香味
11:31
You hear the traffic. All the senses are involved.
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听到车来车往，所有的感官都参与着
11:34
And you're waiting for your girl.
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等待着心上人
11:36
And it's that Tuesday evening back in 1982.
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那可能是1982年的某个周二夜晚
11:40
And the temporal lobe hallucinations
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这种颞叶异常导致的幻觉
11:42
are all-sense hallucinations,
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是多感官的
11:44
full of feeling, full of familiarity,
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充满着情绪和熟悉感
11:47
located in space and time,
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发生在特定时空中
11:49
coherent, dramatic.
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情节合乎逻辑而戏剧感十足
11:51
The Charles Bonnet ones are quite different.
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邦纳式的不一样
11:54
So in the Charles Bonnet hallucinations,
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在邦纳式幻觉中
11:58
you have all sorts of levels,
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有好几种等级
12:00
from the geometrical hallucinations --
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从几何幻觉
12:02
the pink and blue squares the woman had --
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比如老太太看到的粉色和蓝色的方块
12:05
up to quite elaborate hallucinations
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到非常复杂的幻觉
12:09
with figures and especially faces.
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比如各种人像，尤其是面容
12:12
Faces, and sometimes deformed faces,
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这些面容，有时是扭曲的面容
12:15
are the single commonest thing
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是唯一一种在这些幻觉中
12:18
in these hallucinations.
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最常见的幻象
12:20
And one of the second commonest is cartoons.
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一种第二常见的幻象是卡通
12:23
So, what is going on?
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那么，究竟为什么会产生幻觉呢？
12:26
Fascinatingly, in the last few years,
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很棒的是，近几年
12:28
it's been possible to do functional brain imagery,
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我们能够做出脑功能成像
12:32
to do fMRI on people as they are hallucinating.
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当我们给正产生幻觉的人做功能性磁共振成像(fMRI)时
12:36
And in fact, to find that different parts
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我们的确发现大脑视觉部位
12:40
of the visual brain are activated
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有不同区域被激活
12:43
as they are hallucinating.
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这时被检测者正在经历幻觉
12:45
When people have these simple geometrical hallucinations,
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如果被检测者有的是简单的几何幻觉
12:48
the primary visual cortex is activated.
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被激活的区域则是初级视觉皮质
12:52
This is the part of the brain which perceives edges and patterns.
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这是大脑感知边缘和图案的部分
12:55
You don't form images with your primary visual cortex.
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而我们光靠这里是无法形成完整影像的
12:59
When images are formed,
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影像形成时
13:02
a higher part of the visual cortex
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一个位于颞叶的较高级视觉皮质
13:04
is involved in the temporal lobe.
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会有一定活动
13:06
And in particular, one area of the temporal lobe
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尤其是颞叶中
13:11
is called the fusiform gyrus.
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叫做梭状回的一个区域，显著地活跃
13:13
And it's known that if people have damage in the fusiform gyrus,
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调查显示，如果梭状回损伤
13:17
they maybe lose the ability to recognize faces.
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患者可能因此无法辨认面容
13:21
But if there is an abnormal activity in the fusiform gyrus,
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而当梭状回异常时
13:25
they may hallucinate faces,
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患者则可能看到面容的幻象
13:27
and this is exactly what you find in some of these people.
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这正是我们前面提到的几位病人所出现的症状
13:30
There is an area in the anterior part of this gyrus
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梭状回的前部有一个区域
13:34
where teeth and eyes are represented,
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负责处理有关牙齿和眼睛的影像
13:39
and that part of the gyrus is activated
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而当病人出现扭曲的幻觉时
13:42
when people get the deformed hallucinations.
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正是这一部位出现了活动
13:46
There is another part of the brain
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还有一个区域
13:48
which is especially activated
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会在病人看到卡通幻象时
13:50
when one sees cartoons.
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出现活动
13:52
It's activated when one recognizes cartoons,
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人们观看卡通
13:55
when one draws cartoons, and when one hallucinates them.
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画卡通，或看到卡通幻象时，都是这一部位被激活
13:59
It's very interesting that that should be specific.
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这是一个特别有趣的现象
14:02
There are other parts of the brain which are specifically involved
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大脑还有几个别的部位
14:05
with the recognition and hallucination
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相应地跟其他视觉元素的辨别与幻觉有关
14:07
of buildings and landscapes.
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比如楼房和风景
14:10
Around 1970, it was found that there were not only parts of the brain,
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1970年左右，人们发现特化的不是一块区域
14:13
but particular cells.
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而是相应的脑细胞
14:15
"Face cells" were discovered around 1970.
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“脸细胞”是1970年左右发现的
14:20
And now we know that there are hundreds of other
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至今，我们已经发现了
14:22
sorts of cells,
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数百种与各类视觉元素对应的脑细胞
14:24
which can be very, very specific.
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这种对应关系可以非常琐细、明确
14:26
So you may not only have
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比如说
14:28
"car" cells,
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“车”细胞
14:30
you may have "Aston Martin" cells.
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可能还有“阿斯顿·马丁(一种车)”细胞
14:33
(Laughter)
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(笑声)
14:35
I saw an Aston Martin this morning.
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今早我看到一部阿斯顿·马丁
14:37
I had to bring it in.
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我一直想提提它
14:39
And now it's in there somewhere.
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现在我的脑子里就有这种“阿斯顿·马丁”细胞
14:42
(Laughter)
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(笑声)
14:45
Now, at this level, in what's called the inferotemporal cortex,
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那么，这一程度的幻觉，只会由这一整块可以称作下颞叶皮质的区域
14:49
there are only visual images,
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形成视觉影像、
14:52
or figments or fragments.
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幻象，或片段
14:55
It's only at higher levels
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只有更高程度的幻觉
14:58
that the other senses join in
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才会有视觉以外的感官参与
15:00
and there are connections with memory and emotion.
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同时牵涉到记忆与情感
15:02
And in the Charles Bonnet syndrome,
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在邦纳症候群中
15:05
you don't go to those higher levels.
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更高程度的幻觉并不会出现
15:07
You're in these levels of inferior visual cortex
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牵涉到初级视觉皮质的幻觉
15:10
where you have thousands and tens of thousands
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有上百上千
15:12
and millions of images,
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甚至更多的图像、
15:15
or figments, or fragmentary figments,
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幻象，或残缺幻象
15:17
all neurally encoded
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这些都被编译
15:19
in particular cells or small clusters of cells.
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在特定的脑细胞或脑细胞簇中
15:23
Normally these are all part of
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这些细胞通常
15:26
the integrated stream of perception, or imagination,
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参与形成感知和想象
15:30
and one is not conscious of them.
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人们通常是无法意识到这一过程的
15:33
It is only if one is visually impaired or blind
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只有当你的视力受损或丧失
15:37
that the process is interrupted.
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这一过程才会被干扰
15:39
And instead of getting normal perception,
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在这种情况下，你的感知不再正常
15:42
you're getting an anarchic,
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一种不受控的、
15:44
convulsive stimulation, or release,
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痉挛的释放活动
15:47
of all of these visual cells
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发生在位于初级视觉皮质的
15:49
in the inferotemporal cortex.
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这些视觉脑细胞中
15:51
So, suddenly you see a face. Suddenly you see a car.
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这种活动的结果就是，你突然看到一张脸，转瞬看到一辆车
15:54
Suddenly this, and suddenly that.
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突然这，突然那
15:57
The mind does its best to organize
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大脑会尝试控制场面
15:59
and to give some sort of coherence to this,
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尝试使这一切符合逻辑
16:02
but not terribly successfully.
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但不会很成功
16:04
When these were first described,
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这些现象最初被描述时
16:06
it was thought that they could be interpreted like dreams.
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人们相信，跟梦一样，这种幻觉也能被强行中止
16:10
But in fact people say,
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不过实际上患者表示
16:12
"I don't recognize the people. I can't form any associations."
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“我认不出来谁是谁。完全没办法想到任何信息。”
16:15
"Kermit means nothing to me."
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”青蛙柯密特对我来说一点意义都没有啊。“
16:18
You don't get anywhere thinking of them as dreams.
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把这种现象视作梦的一种是行不通的
16:23
Well, I've more or less said what I wanted.
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唔，我应该说得差不多了
16:28
I think I just want to recapitulate
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我再概括一下
16:31
and say this is common.
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其实帮纳症候群是个常见现象
16:33
Think of the number of blind people.
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你们想，在盲人人群中
16:35
There must be hundreds of thousands of blind people
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肯定有上百上千
16:37
who have these hallucinations,
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有这样的幻觉
16:39
but are too scared to mention them.
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然而却不敢提起
16:41
So this sort of thing needs to be brought into
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所以不管是病人，医生还是公众
16:44
notice, for patients, for doctors, for the public.
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都有必要认识到这一现象的常见性
16:50
Finally, I think they are
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最后
16:52
infinitely interesting and valuable,
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我发现帮助别人认识大脑作用的原理
16:55
for giving one some insight as to how the brain works.
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是一件无比有趣而有意义的事情
16:59
Charles Bonnet said, 250 years ago --
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查尔斯·邦纳在250年前
17:02
he wondered how, thinking these hallucinations,
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在对这些幻觉现象的观察的促使下，思考了这个问题
17:06
how, as he put it, the theater of the mind
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心智的戏剧性
17:09
could be generated by the machinery of the brain.
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是如何产生于大脑运作的呢？
17:12
Now, 250 years later,
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250年后的今天
17:15
I think we're beginning to glimpse how this is done.
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我想我们已经能够开始领悟这个精妙的过程
17:18
Thanks very much.
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非常感谢
17:20
(Applause)
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(掌声)
17:23
Chris Anderson: That was superb. Thank you so much.
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克里斯·安德森：非常精彩，非常感谢你
17:26
You speak about these things with so much insight
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你说得非常精到
17:28
and empathy for your patients.
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也很能理解你的病人
17:31
Have you yourself experienced any of the syndromes you write about?
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你自己有没有过这些症状呢？
17:36
Oliver Sacks: I was afraid you'd ask that.
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奥利弗·萨克斯：我挺怕你问这个的
17:38
(Laughter)
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(笑声)
17:39
Well, yeah, a lot of them.
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嗯，有，很大一部分
17:42
And actually I'm a little visually impaired myself.
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事实上我自己也有一定的视力受损
17:45
I'm blind in one eye, and not terribly good in the other.
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我的一只眼睛是看不到的，另一只视力也不大好
17:48
And I see the geometrical hallucinations.
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我看到过几何幻觉
17:52
But they stop there.
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不过最多也就这个程度了
17:54
CA: And they don't disturb you?
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安德森：它们会不会让你感到很不安？
17:56
Because you understand what's doing it, it doesn't make you worried?
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或者说是不是因为你了解这一现象而没这么担心？
17:58
OS: Well they don't disturb me any more than my tinnitus,
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萨克斯：耳鸣让我烦心得多
18:02
which I ignore.
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耳鸣我也是听而不闻
18:05
They occasionally interest me,
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不过偶尔我会对自己的幻觉很感兴趣
18:07
and I have many pictures of them in my notebooks.
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我还把它们画在了笔记本里
18:10
I've gone and had an fMRI myself,
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我自己就曾做过功能性磁共振成像
18:13
to see how my visual cortex is taking over.
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看看我的视觉皮层在造什么反
18:16
And when I see all these hexagons
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我看到六边形的幻觉
18:20
and complex things, which I also have,
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或更复杂的幻觉，
18:22
in visual migraine,
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往往伴随着偏头痛
18:24
I wonder whether everyone sees things like this,
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那是我就会想是不是别人也会有这样的幻觉
18:26
and whether things like cave art or ornamental art
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洞穴壁画和装饰艺术
18:29
may have been derived from them a bit.
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是不是也取材于这种幻觉
18:32
CA: That was an utterly, utterly fascinating talk.
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安德森：你今天的演讲非常非常精彩
18:34
Thank you so much for sharing.
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感谢你的分享
18:36
OS: Thank you. Thank you.
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萨克斯：谢谢，谢谢
18:38
(Applause)
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(掌声)
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Oliver Sacks - Neurological anthropologistSince "Awakenings" stormed the bestseller lists (and the silver screen), Oliver Sacks has become an unlikely household name, single-handedly inventing the genre of neurological anthropology.
Why you should listen
Oliver Sacks was a ground-breaking neurologist -- and a gifted storyteller who enriched our knowledge of the infinite variations of human psychology. After his pioneering work with “sleepy sickness” patients (who were in fact survivors of an early-20th-century pandemic), Sacks went on to study the connections between music and the brain, as well as disorders such as Tourette's syndrome, Parkinson's disease, and many other little-understood disorders that often count Sacks as one of their first chroniclers.
Sacks was well known as a writer of such best-selling case histories as Hallucinations, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, An Anthropologist on Mars, and his memoir of his early work, Awakenings, all of which have breathed new life into the dusty 19th-century tradition of the clinical anecdote. Sacks' writing, compassion and wide-ranging knowledge catapults the genre into the 21st century and brings the far frontiers of neurological experience into the view of millions of readers worldwide. Sacks died at age 82 in August 2015.
Read TED's long, wonderful Q&A with Oliver Sacks >>
Oliver Sacks | Speaker | TED.com