Diagnosing a zombie: brain and behavior (Part two) - Tim Verstynen & Bradley Voytek

診斷殭屍: 大脑与行为 - 提姆·弗斯汀与布拉德利·弗泰克

Transcriber: tom carter Reviewer: Bedirhan Cinar

翻译人员: Geoff Chen 校对人员: Yuanqing Edberg

(Zombie noises) Doctor 1: So, here we are again.

(僵尸声） 医生1: 所以，我们又到这里了。

You know, I've been thinking. Why is this thing so angry?

我一直在想，为什么这家伙这么生气。

Doctor 2: Maybe he's just hungry.

医生2: 也许他只是饿了。

D1: (Laughs) I'm not going in there to feed it.

医生1:（大笑声） 我才不会走进去喂他呢。

No, this seems like something very primal.

不，这好像是某种很原始的东西。

D2: This is kind of a hard one,

医生2: 这似乎是个难题，

because we don't really have any biological definitions for emotions like anger.

因为我们并没有真正关于 诸如愤怒这种情绪的生物学定义

Sure, brain imaging studies have shown that some brain regions are more active when people are angry,

是的，脑成像研究已经表明 一些脑区在人们愤怒时会更活跃，

but these are almost always correlational.

但这些几乎总只是相关性的。

When it's warmer outside, people wear less clothing,

当天气变暖和时， 人们就穿少一些衣服，

but if I strip down to my birthday suit, it doesn't make it sunny.

但假设我脱光了衣服， 这并不会让天气变晴朗。

D1: (Laughs) It's like having someone run on a treadmill and saying

医生1:（大笑）这就像看到 有个人在跑步机上跑步然后说

"Look at how much more his arms move when he runs faster!

“快看这男人加速跑时 他的手臂动得多快！

The arms must be where running happens."

他跑步时手臂一定会那样摆。“

D2: That's why working with people with brain lesions is so important to neuroscience.

医生2: 这就是研究脑部病变的病人 对神经系统科学如此重要的原因。

It adds some causal evidence that a brain area might be required for a behavior.

它给某个大脑分区所指导的行为 提供了因果证据。

Same with brain simulation studies.

大脑模拟研究也是一样的道理。

If stimulating a brain area causes a behavior,

如果模拟的某个大脑分区参与了活动，

then that's good evidence that the brain region is involved in that behavior.

那么这就是大脑分区介入活动 的良好证据。

So like studies with cats in the 1950s

所以像 20 世纪 50 年代关于猫的实验

showed that stimulating a small almond-shaped area deep in the brain called the amygdala

表明了模拟的一小块位于大脑深处 杏仁状区域，杏仁核

leads to aggressive or predatory behaviors.

会导致攻击或者掠夺行为。

These things look pretty aggressive to me.

对我来说这些东西看起来 就很有侵略性。

D1: Right. But other studies have shown that stimulating different parts of the amygdala

医生1: 是的。但是其他研究也说明了 模拟的杏仁核不同区域

can actually suppress predatory behaviors.

确实可以抑制掠夺行为。

So it's kind of a complicated little brain structure.

所以这似乎是一块 虽小但很复杂的大脑结构。

D2: Yeah. And fMRI studies have found that the amygdala is active in violent criminals.

医生2: 是的。fMRI 研究已发现 杏仁核在暴力罪犯体内很活跃。

D1: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Careful there.

医生1: 哎，这里我们应该注意，

Just because criminals have the same active brain regions as people who are angry,

仅根据罪犯具有和愤怒的人们 相同的活跃大脑分区

doesn't mean that they're inherently aggressive.

不能由此判断 他们天生就具有攻击性。

That's like saying because I kiss with the same face hole that I use to burp,

这就像是说我亲吻和打嗝 用的都是一个口腔，

then these two things are related.

那么这两件事相互关联一样，

It's a false equivalence.

这是一个错误的等式。

D2: Huh! Never thought of it like that. That's a good point.

医生2: 啊！我从来没有想到。 你说的很有道理

D1: You know, the amygdala is part of the Papez circuit.

医生1: 你知道，杏仁核是巴贝兹迴路的一部分。

This system was discovered by James Papez, who used the rabies virus to lesion different areas in the cat's brain.

这个系统是由詹姆斯·巴贝兹发现的， 他曾用狂犬病毒去损害猫的不同脑区。

He found that the amygdala was physically connected to another region called the hippocampus --

他发现与杏仁核密切联系的 另外一个区域，海马区

a little seahorse-shaped area that is needed to turn short-term memories into long-term memories.

是一个很小的海马状区域， 负责把短期记忆变成长期记忆。

It's thought that this connection between the amygdala and hippocampus

人们认为杏仁核与海马区之间的联系

links emotion and memory together,

把情绪与记忆也联系在一起，

so that you remember really emotional stuff better than boring everyday things.

以致你对一些非常情绪化事物的记忆 要好于日常琐事。

D2: Yeah, like Patient H.M. In the 1950s, surgeons removed both his left and right hippocampuses

医生2: 是的，就像病人H.M.。 在 1950 年代，外科医生把他的左右海马移除

to treat his epilepsy.

来治疗他的癫痫症。

But after the surgery, he couldn't remember any new information for longer than a few minutes.

但在手术后， 他不能记住任何长于几分钟的新信息。

Zombies appear to be pretty forgetful, wouldn't you agree?

僵尸看上去十分健忘，你是否同意呢？

D1: (Laughs) Absolutely. Between the amygdala-related aggression,

医生1：（大笑）那是当然。 在与杏仁核相关的攻击性，

and memory deficits from the hippocampus,

与来自海马区的记忆缺失之间，

Papez may have actually accidentally created the first zombie cat.

巴贝兹或许是误打误撞地 创造了第一只僵尸猫。

D2: Aw, come on now, let's not get carried away.

医生2: 嗯，让我们把思路拉回来吧。

But now we do have some testable hypotheses.

但现在我们确实有一些可检验的假设。

I'd put money on its aggression and memory problems being linked to abnormalities

我打算投入一些资金到 它的攻击性以及记忆问题上，

in its amygdala and hippocampus, respectively.

这些问题分别与 它的杏仁核与海马区有关。

D1: Great! So all we need to do now is figure out how to experimentally test this.

医生1: 太棒了！所以我们现在需要做的 就是想出用什么实验方法测试它。

Do you think it'll let us examine its brain to verify our hypothesis?

你觉得它会让我们测试它的大脑 来证实我们的猜想吗？

D2: Uh, you know, I think I might be more comfortable not knowing the answer to this one.

医生2: 呃，这样吧，我觉得 我还是不知道这个问题的答案为好。

D1: Hmm. Maybe we could get a graduate student to do it for us?

嗯，或许我们可以 找一个毕业生帮我们去做实验？