What hallucination reveals about our minds | Oliver Sacks

Translator: Morten Kelder Skouboe Reviewer: Jonas Tholstrup Christensen

We see with the eyes,

Vi ser med øjnene.

but we see with the brain as well.

Men vi ser også med hjernen.

And seeing with the brain is often called imagination.

Og at se med hjernen bliver ofte kaldt fantasi.

Og vi kender vores egen fantasis landskaber,

And we are familiar with the landscapes of our own imagination,

our inscapes.

vores indskaber. Vi har levet med dem hele livet.

We've lived with them all our lives.

But there are also hallucinations as well.

Men der findes også hallucinationer.

And hallucinations are completely different.

Og hallucinationer er helt anderledes.

They don't seem to be of our creation.

De lader ikke til at være vores værk.

They don't seem to be under control.

De lader ikke til at være under vores kontrol.

They seem to come from the outside and to mimic perception.

De lader til at komme udefra

og [lader til] at efterligne opfattelsen.

So I am going to be talking about hallucinations

Så jeg vil tale om hallucinationer.

and a particular sort of visual hallucination,

Og en bestemt form for visuel hallucination,

which I see among my patients.

som jeg ser blandt mine patienter.

A few months ago, I got a phone call from a nursing home where I work.

For et par måneder siden modtog jeg et telefonopkald

fra et plejehjem, hvor jeg arbejder.

They told me that one of their residents, an old lady in her 90s,

De fortalte mig, at en af beboerne, en gammel dame i sine 90'ere,

was seeing things,

så ting.

and they wondered if she'd gone bonkers

Og de tænkte på, om hun var blevet skør.

or, because she was an old lady,

Eller, for hun var en gammel dame,

whether she'd had a stroke, or whether she had Alzheimer's.

om hun havde haft et slagtilfælde, eller om hun havde Alzheimers.

And so they asked me if I would come and see Rosalie,

Og derfor spurgte de mig, om jeg ville komme og se til Rosalie,

the old lady.

den gamle dame.

I went in to see her.

Jeg tog hen for at se til hende.

It was evident straightaway that she was perfectly sane

Det var tydeligt med det samme,

at hun var ved sine fulde fem

and lucid and of good intelligence,

og klar og godt begavet.

but she'd been very startled and very bewildered,

Men hun var blevet meget forskrækket og meget forvirret,

because she'd been seeing things.

for hun var begyndt at se ting.

And she told me -- the nurses hadn't mentioned this --

Og hun fortalte mig, --

sygeplejerskerne havde ikke nævnt dette --

that she was blind,

at hun var blind,

that she had been completely blind from macular degeneration for five years.

at hun havde været helt blind pga. makulær degeneration i fem år.

But now, for the last few days, she'd been seeing things.

Men nu, de seneste par dage var hun begyndt at se ting.

So I said, "What sort of things?"

Så jeg sagde, "Hvad slags ting?"

And she said, "People in Eastern dress,

Og hun sagde, "Folk i østligt tøj

in drapes, walking up and down stairs.

i draperinger, der går op og ned af trapper.

A man who turns towards me and smiles,

En mand, der vender sig mod mig og smiler.

but he has huge teeth on one side of his mouth.

Men han har enorme tænder i den ene side af munden.

Animals too.

Også dyr.

I see a white building. It's snowing, a soft snow.

Jeg ser en hvid bygning. Det sner, en blød sne.

I see this horse with a harness, dragging the snow away.

Jeg ser den her hest med seletøj, der trækker sneen væk.

Then, one night, the scene changes.

Så en nat ændrer scenen sig.

I see cats and dogs walking towards me.

Jeg ser katte og hunde gå imod mig.

They come to a certain point and then stop.

De kommer til et bestemt sted og stopper så.

Then it changes again.

Så ændrer det sig igen.

I see a lot of children. They're walking up and down stairs.

Jeg ser en masse børn. De går op og ned af trapper.

They wear bright colors, rose and blue,

De bærer lyse farver, rosa og blå,

like Eastern dress."

som østligt tøj."

Sometimes, she said, before the people come on,

Nogle gange, sagde hun, før folkene kom på,

she may hallucinate pink and blue squares on the floor,

kan hun hallucinere om pink og blå kvadrater på gulvet,

which seem to go up to the ceiling.

der lader til at gå op til loftet.

I said, "Is this like a dream?"

Jeg sagde, "Er det som en drøm?"

And she said, "No, it's not like a dream. It's like a movie."

Og hun sagde, "Nej, det er ikke som en drøm. Det er som en film."

Hun sagde, "Det har farver. Det har bevægelse.

She said, "It's got color. It's got motion.

But it's completely silent, like a silent movie."

Men det er helt tyst, som en stumfilm."

And she said it's a rather boring movie.

Og hun sagde, at det er en ret kedelig film.

(Laughter)

Hun sagde, "Alle disse folk med østligt tøj,

She said, "All these people with Eastern dress,

walking up and down, very repetitive, very limited."

der går op og ned, meget gentagende, meget begrænset."

(Laughter)

(Latter)

And she had a sense of humor.

Og hun havde sans for humor.

She knew it was a hallucination, but she was frightened.

Hun vidste, det var en hallucination.

Men hun var bange. Hun havde levet i 95 år,

She had lived 95 years,

and she'd never had a hallucination before.

og hun havde aldrig haft en hallucination før.

She said that the hallucinations were unrelated to anything she was thinking

Hun sagde, at hallucinationerne var uden relation

til noget som helst hun tænkte eller følte eller gjorde.

or feeling or doing,

At de lod til at komme frem af sig selv, eller forsvinde [af dem selv].

that they seemed to come on by themselves, or disappear.

She had no control over them.

Hun havde ingen kontrol over dem.

Hun sagde, at hun ikke genkendte

She said she didn't recognize any of the people or places

nogen af folkene eller stederne

in the hallucinations,

i hallucinationerne.

and none of the people or the animals --

Og ingen af folkene eller dyrene,

well, they all seemed oblivious of her.

altså, de virkede alle til ikke at ænse hende.

And she didn't know what was going on.

Og hun vidste ikke, hvad der foregik.

She wondered if she was going mad or losing her mind.

Hun spekulerede på, om hun var ved at blive skør

eller miste forstanden.

Well, I examined her carefully.

Nå, jeg undersøgte hende grundigt.

She was a bright old lady,

Hun var en kvik gammel dame.

Fuldstændig fornuftig. Hun havde ingen medicinske problemer.

perfectly sane.

She had no medical problems.

She wasn't on any medications which could produce hallucinations.

Hun var ikke på noget medicin, der kunne forårsage hallucinations.

But she was blind.

Men hun var blind.

And I then said to her, "I think I know what you have."

Og jeg sagde til hende,

"Jeg tror, jeg ved, hvad du har."

I said, "There is a special form of visual hallucination

Jeg sagde, "Der er en speciel form for visuel hallucination,

which may go with deteriorating vision or blindness.

der kan komme af nedsat syn eller blindhed."

This was originally described," I said,

"Dette blev først beskrevet," sagde jeg,

"right back in the 18th century,

"tilbage i det 18. århundrede

by a man called Charles Bonnet.

af en mand ved navn Charles Bonnet.

And you have Charles Bonnet syndrome.

Og du har Charles Bonnets syndrom.

There's nothing wrong with your brain. There's nothing wrong with your mind.

Der er intet galt med din hjerne. Der er intet galt med dit sind.

Du har Charles Bonnets syndrom."

You have Charles Bonnet syndrome."

And she was very relieved at this,

Og hun blev meget lettet over at høre,

that there was nothing seriously the matter,

at der ikke var noget seriøst i vejen

and also rather curious.

og også ret nysgerrig.

She said, "Who is this Charles Bonnet?"

Hun sagde, "Hvem er denne Charles Bonnet?"

She said, "Did he have them himself?"

Hun sagde, "Havde han dem selv?"

And she said, "Tell all the nurses that I have Charles Bonnet syndrome."

Og hun sagde, "Sig til alle sygeplejerskerne,

at jeg har Charles Bonnets syndrom."

(Laughter)

(Latter)

"I'm not crazy. I'm not demented. I have Charles Bonnet syndrome."

"Jeg er ikke gal. Jeg er ikke dement. Jeg har Charles Bonnets syndrom."

Well, so, I did tell the nurses.

Nå, så jeg fortalte sygeplejerskerne det.

Now this, for me, is a common situation.

Nå for mig er dette en normal situation.

I work in old-age homes, largely.

Jeg arbejder hovedsagligt på plejehjem,

I see a lot of elderly people

og jeg ser en masse ældre mennesker,

der er hørehæmmede eller synshæmmede.

who are hearing-impaired or visually impaired.

About 10 percent of the hearing-impaired people

Omkring 10 procent af de hørehæmmede

get musical hallucinations.

får musiske hallucinationer.

And about 10 percent of the visually impaired people

Og omkring 10 procent af de synshæmmede

get visual hallucinations.

får visuelle hallucinationer.

You don't have to be completely blind,

Du behøver ikke være helt blind,

only sufficiently impaired.

kun tilstrækkeligt hæmmet.

Now, with the original description in the 18th century,

Nå hvad angår den originale beskrivelse i det 18. århundrede,

Charles Bonnet did not have them.

havde Charles Bonnet dem ikke selv.

His grandfather had these hallucinations.

Hans bedstefar havde disse hallucinationer.

His grandfather was a magistrate, an elderly man.

Hans bedstefar var underretsdommer, en ældre mand.

He'd had cataract surgery.

Han var blevet opereret for grå stær.

His vision was pretty poor.

Hans syn var ret dårligt.

And in 1759, he described to his grandson

Og i 1759 beskrev han for sit barnebarn

various things he was seeing.

forskellige ting, han så.

The first thing he said was he saw a handkerchief in midair.

Det første, han sagde, var, at han så

et lommetørklæde frit i luften.

It was a large blue handkerchief with four orange circles.

Det var et stort, blåt lommetørklæde

med fire orange cirkler.

And he knew it was a hallucination.

Og han vidste, det var en hallucination.

You don't have handkerchiefs in midair.

Man har ikke lommetørklæder frit i luften.

And then he saw a big wheel in midair.

Og så så han et stort hjul frit i luften.

But sometimes he wasn't sure whether he was hallucinating or not,

Men nogle gange var han ikke sikker på, om han hallucinerede eller ej.

because the hallucinations would fit in the context of the visions.

For hallucinationerne ville passe

ind i sammenhængen af syn.

So on one occasion, when his granddaughters were visiting them,

Så ved én lejlighed, da hans børnebørn besøgte dem,

sagde han, "Og hvem er så disse nydelige unge mænd, I har med?"

he said, "And who are these handsome young men with you?"

(Laughter)

And they said, "Alas, Grandpapa, there are no handsome young men."

Og de sagde, "Ak, Bedstefar, der er ingen nydelige unge mænd."

And then the handsome young men disappeared.

Og så forsvandt de nydelige unge mænd.

It's typical of these hallucinations

Det er typisk for disse hallucinationer,

that they may come in a flash and disappear in a flash.

at de kan komme i et glimt og forsvinde i et glimt.

They don't usually fade in and out.

De toner som regel ikke ind og ud.

They are rather sudden, and they change suddenly.

De er ret pludselige. Og de ændrer sig pludseligt.

Charles Lullin, bedstefaren,

Charles Lullin, the grandfather,

saw hundreds of different figures,

så hundredvis af forskellige figurer,

different landscapes of all sorts.

forskellige landskaber af alle slags.

On one occasion, he saw a man in a bathrobe smoking a pipe,

Ved én lejlighed så han en mand i badekåbe, der røg pibe,

and realized it was himself.

og indså, det var ham selv.

That was the only figure he recognized.

Det var den eneste figur, han genkendte.

On one occasion, when he was walking in the streets of Paris,

Ved én lejlighed, da han gik i Paris' gader,

he saw -- this was real -- a scaffolding.

så han -- dette var ægte -- et stillads.

But when he got back home, he saw a miniature of the scaffolding,

Men da han kom hjem, så han en miniatureudgave af stilladset

six inches high,

seks tommer højt på sit skrivebord.

on his study table.

This repetition of perception is sometimes called "palinopsia."

Denne gentagelse af sansning

kaldes nogle gange palinopsia.

For ham, og for Rosalie,

With him and with Rosalie,

what seems to be going on --

hvad der lader til at foregå --

and Rosalie said, "What's going on?" --

og Rosalie sagde, "Hvad foregår der?" --

and I said that as you lose vision,

og jeg sagde, at som du mister synet,

as the visual parts of the brain are no longer getting any input,

når de visuelle dele af hjernen ikke længere modtager noget,

they become hyperactive and excitable,

bliver de hyperaktive og pirrelige.

and they start to fire spontaneously.

Og de begynder at affyre spontant.

Og man begynder at se ting.

And you start to see things.

The things you see can be very complicated indeed.

Tingene, man ser, kan i den grad være meget komplicerede.

For en anden af mine patienter,

With another patient of mine who also had some vision,

der [ligesom Charles Lullin stadig] havde noget af synet,

kunne synes hun havde være forstyrrende.

the visions she had could be disturbing.

On one occasion, she said she saw a man in a striped shirt in a restaurant.

Ved én lejlighed sagde hun, hun så

en mand i en stribet trøje i en restaurant.

And he turned round,

Og han vendte rundt. Og så

and then he divided into six figures in striped shirts,

delte han sig i seks identiske skikkelser i stribede trøjer,

who started walking towards her.

der begyndte at gå imod hende.

And then the six figures came together, like a concertina.

Og så blev de seks skikkelser sat sammen igen, som en concertina.

Once, when she was driving,

Engang, imens hun kørte,

or rather, her husband was driving,

eller rettere, hendes mand kørte,

the road divided into four

delte vejen sig i fire.

and she felt herself going simultaneously up four roads.

Og hun følte sig selv køre op ad fire veje på én gang.

Hun havde også meget mobile hallucinationer.

She had very mobile hallucinations as well.

A lot of them had to do with a car.

Mange af dem havde noget at gøre med en bil.

Sometimes she would see a teenage boy sitting on the hood of the car.

Nogle gange så hun en teenagedreng

sidde på bilens kølerhjelm.

He was very tenacious,

Han var meget vedholdende og han bevægede sig ret yndefuldt,

and he moved rather gracefully when the car turned.

når bilen drejede.

And then when they came to a stop,

Og så, når de holdt stille,

the boy would do a sudden vertical takeoff, 100 foot in the air,

ville drengen pludseligt sætte lodret af, 30 meter op i luften,

and then disappear.

og så forsvinde.

Another patient of mine had a different sort of hallucination.

En anden af mine patienter havde en anden form for hallucination.

This was a woman who didn't have trouble with her eyes

Dette var en kvinde, der ikke havde problemer med øjnene,

but the visual parts of her brain,

men med de visuelle dele af sin hjerne.

a little tumor in the occipital cortex.

En lille svulst i nakkelappen.

And, above all, she would see cartoons.

Og først og fremmest så hun tegneserier.

And these cartoons would be transparent,

Disse tegneserier var gennemsigtige

and would cover half the visual field, like a screen.

og dækkede halvdelen af det synlige felt, som en skærm.

And especially, she saw cartoons of Kermit the Frog.

Og hun så især tegneserier med Kermit.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

Now, I don't watch Sesame Street,

Nu ser jeg godt nok ikke Sesame Street.

Men hun havde en pointe i at sige,

but she made a point of saying,

"Why Kermit?" she said, "Kermit the Frog means nothing to me."

"Hvorfor Kermit?" Hun sagde, "Kermit betyder intet for mig.

You know, I was wondering about Freudian determinants: Why Kermit?

Du ved, jeg tænkte på freudianske determinanter.

Hvorfor Kermit?

"Kermit the Frog means nothing to me."

Kermit betyder intet for mig."

She didn't mind the cartoons too much.

Hun havde ikke så meget imod tegneserierne.

But what did disturb her

Men hvad der forstyrrede hende, var at hun havde meget vedvarende

was she got very persistent images or hallucinations of faces,

billeder eller hallucinationer af ansigter

and as with Rosalie, the faces were often deformed,

og som for Rosalie, var ansigterne ofte deforme

with very large teeth or very large eyes.

med meget store tænder eller meget store øjne.

And these frightened her.

Og disse skræmte hende.

Well, what is going on with these people?

Nå, hvad sker der for disse mennesker?

As a physician, I have to try and define what's going on

Som læge, er jeg nødt til at forsøge at definere, hvad der sker,

and to reassure people,

og forsikre folk.

especially to reassure them that they're not going insane.

Især forsikre dem om, at de ikke er ved at blive sindssyge.

Omkring 10 procent, som jeg sagde,

Something like 10 percent, as I said,

of visually impaired people get these.

af synshæmmede får disse.

But no more than one percent of the people acknowledge them,

Men ikke mere end en procent af menneskerne vedkender sig dem.

because they are afraid they will be seen as insane or something.

Fordi de er bange for, at de vil blive anset for gale eller sådan noget.

And if they do mention them to their own doctors,

Og hvis de nævner dem for deres egne læger,

kan de blive fejldiagnosticerede.

they may be misdiagnosed.

In particular, the notion is that if you see things or hear things,

Især er opfattelsen, at hvis du ser

ting eller hører ting, er du ved at blive gal.

you're going mad.

But the psychotic hallucinations are quite different.

Men de psykotiske hallucinationer er meget forskellige.

Psychotic hallucinations, whether they are visual or vocal,

Psykotiske hallucinationer, uanset om de er visuelle eller stemmer,

they address you.

de henvender sig til dig. De anklager dig.

They accuse you, they seduce you, they humiliate you, they jeer at you.

De forfører dig. De ydmyger dig.

De håner dig.

You interact with them.

Du interagerer med dem.

There is none of this quality of being addressed

Der er intet af denne bliven tiltalt

with these Charles Bonnet hallucinations.

ved disse Charles Bonnet-hallucinationer.

There is a film. You're seeing a film which has nothing to do with you --

Der er en film. Du ser en film, der intet har med dig at gøre.

or that's how people think about it.

Eller det er sådan folk opfatter det.

There is also a rare thing called temporal lobe epilepsy,

Der er også en sjælden ting kaldet temporallapsepilepsi.

and sometimes, if one has this,

Og somme tider, hvis man har dette,

one may feel oneself transported back to a time and place in the past.

kan man føle sig ført tilbage

til en tid og et sted i fortiden.

You're at a particular road junction.

Man er ved en bestemt vejtilslutning.

You smell chestnuts roasting.

Man kan lugte ristede kastanjer.

You hear the traffic. All the senses are involved.

Man kan høre trafikken. Alle sanser er involverede.

Og man venter på sin pige.

And you're waiting for your girl.

And it's that Tuesday evening back in 1982.

Og det er den tirsdag aften tilbage i 1982.

The temporal lobe hallucinations are all sense hallucinations,

Og tindingelaphallucinationerne

er alle mange-sansende hallucinationer

full of feeling, full of familiarity,

fyldt med følelse, fyldt med genkendelighed,

located in space and time,

placerede i rum og tid,

coherent, dramatic.

sammenhængende, dramatiske.

The Charles Bonnet ones are quite different.

Charles Bonnet hallucinationerne er helt anderledes.

In the Charles Bonnet hallucinations, you have all sorts of levels,

Så i Charles Bonnet hallucinationer

har man alle mulige niveauer

from the geometrical hallucinations --

fra de geometriske hallucinationer,

the pink and blue squares the woman had --

de pink og blå kvadrater, kvinden så,

up to quite elaborate hallucinations

op til de ret detaljerede hallucinationer

with figures and especially faces.

med figurer og især ansigter.

Faces, and sometimes deformed faces,

Ansigter, og nogle gange deforme ansigter,

are the single commonest thing in these hallucinations.

er den allermest almindelige ting

i disse hallucinationer.

And one of the second commonest is cartoons.

Og en af de næst-mest normale er tegneserier.

So, what is going on?

Så, hvad sker der?

Fascinatingly, in the last few years,

Fascinerende nok i de sidste par år

it's been possible to do functional brain imagery,

har det været muligt at skabe funktionelle hjernebilleder,

to do fMRI on people as they are hallucinating,

at lave fMRI på folk, mens de hallucinerer.

Og faktisk at finde ud af, at forskellige dele

and, in fact, to find that different parts of the visual brain are activated

af den visuelle hjerne aktiveres,

as they are hallucinating.

mens de hallucinerer.

When people have these simple, geometrical hallucinations,

Når folk har disse simple geometriske hallucinationer,

the primary visual cortex is activated.

aktiveres den primære visuelle hjernebark.

This is the part of the brain which perceives edges and patterns.

Dette er den del af hjernen, der opfatter kanter og mønstre.

You don't form images with your primary visual cortex.

Man skaber ikke billeder med sin primære visuelle hjernebark.

When images are formed,

Når billeder skabes,

a higher part of the visual cortex is involved, in the temporal lobe.

er en højere del af den visuelle hjernebark

involveret i tindingelappen.

Og især ét af områderne i tindingelappen

And in particular, one area of the temporal lobe

is called the fusiform gyrus.

hedder den tenformede gyrus.

And it's known that if people have damage in the fusiform gyrus,

Og det er kendt, at hvis folk har skader i den tenformede gyrus,

they may lose the ability to recognize faces.

mister de måske evnen til at genkende ansigter.

But if there's an abnormal activity in the fusiform gyrus,

Men hvis der er en abnorm aktivitet i den tenformede gyrus,

they may hallucinate faces,

kan de få ansigtshallucinationer.

and this is exactly what you find in some of these people.

Og dette er præcis, hvad man finder hos nogle af disse folk.

There is an area in the anterior part of this gyrus

Der er et område i den forreste del af denne gyrus,

where teeth and eyes are represented,

hvor tænder og øjne repræsenteres.

and that part of the gyrus is activated

Og denne del af gyrussen aktiveres,

when people get the deformed hallucinations.

når folk får de deforme hallucinationer.

There is another part of the brain which is especially activated

Der er en anden del af hjernen,

som især aktiveres,

when one sees cartoons.

når man ser tegneserier.

It's activated when one recognizes cartoons,

Den aktiveres, når man genkender tegneserier,

when one draws cartoons and when one hallucinates them.

når man tegner tegneserier, og når man hallucinerer om dem.

It's very interesting that that should be specific.

Det er meget interessant, at dette skulle være specifikt.

There are other parts of the brain which are specifically involved

Der er andre dele af hjernen, som er specifikt involveret

with the recognition and hallucination of buildings and landscapes.

med genkendelsen af og hallucination om

bygninger og landskaber.

Around 1970, it was found that there were not only parts of the brain,

Omkring 1970 fandt man ud af, at der ikke kun var specielle dele af hjernen [involverede],

but particular cells.

men specielle celler.

"Face cells" were discovered around 1970.

"Ansigtsceller" blev opdaget omkring 1970.

And now we know that there are hundreds of other sorts of cells,

Og nu ved vi, at der er hundredvis af andre

slags celler,

which can be very, very specific.

der kan være meget meget specifikke.

So you may not only have "car" cells, you may have "Aston Martin" cells.

Så man kan ikke bare have

"bil"-celler,

man kan have "Aston Martin"-celler.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

I saw an Aston Martin this morning. I had to bring it in.

Jeg så en Aston Martin i morges.

Jeg var nødt til at have den med.

(Laughter)

Og nu er den derinde et sted.

And now it's in there, somewhere.

So --

(Latter)

(Laughter)

now, at this level, in what's called the inferotemporal cortex,

Nå, på dette niveau i det, der kaldes den inferotemporale hjernebark,

er der kun visuelle billeder,

there are only visual images,

or figments or fragments.

eller hjernespind eller brudstykker.

It's only at higher levels that the other senses join in

Det er først på højere niveauer,

at de andre sanser kommer med,

and there are connections with memory and emotion.

og der er forbindelser med hukommelse og følelse.

Og med Charles Bonnets syndrom

And in the Charles Bonnet syndrome,

you don't go to those higher levels.

kommer man ikke op på disse højere niveauer.

You're in these levels of inferior visual cortex,

Man er på disse niveauer af lavere visuel hjernebark,

where you have thousands and tens of thousands

hvor man har tusindvis og titusindvis

and millions of images,

og millioner af billeder,

or figments or fragmentary figments,

eller hjernespind, eller brudstykker af billeder,

all neurally encoded in particular cells or small clusters of cells.

alle kodet i nerver

især celler eller små bunker af celler.

Normally, these are all part of the integrated stream of perception,

Normalt er alle disse del af

den integrerede strøm af opfattelse eller fantasi.

or imagination,

and one is not conscious of them.

Og man er dem ikke bevidst.

It is only if one is visually impaired or blind

Det er kun, hvis man er synshæmmet eller blind,

that the process is interrupted.

at processen afbrydes.

And instead of getting normal perception,

Og i stedet for at få normal opfattelse,

you're getting an anarchic,

får man en anarkisk,

convulsive stimulation, or release,

krampagtig stimulans eller frigivelse

of all of these visual cells in the inferotemporal cortex.

af alle disse visuelle celler

i den inferotemporale hjernebark.

So, suddenly, you see a face. Suddenly, you see a car.

Så pludselig ser man et ansigt. Pludselig ser man en bil.

Suddenly this and suddenly that.

Pludselig dit og pludselig dat.

The mind does its best to organize

Sindet gør sit bedste for at organisere

and to give some sort of coherence to this,

og give en form for sammenhæng i dette.

but not terribly successfully.

Men ikke med stor succes.

When these were first described,

Da disse først blev beskrevet,

it was thought that they could be interpreted like dreams.

troede man, at de kunne fortolkes som drømme.

But, in fact, people say,

Men faktisk siger folk,

"I don't recognize the people. I can't form any associations.

"Jeg genkender ikke de folk. Jeg får ingen associationer."

"Kermit betyder intet for mig."

Kermit means nothing to me."

You don't get anywhere, thinking of them as dreams.

Man kommer ingen vegne ved at tænke på dem som drømme.

Nå, jeg har mere eller mindre sagt, hvad jeg ville.

Well, I've more or less said what I wanted.

I think I just want to recapitulate and say this is common.

Jeg tror, jeg bare vil sammenfatte

og sige, at det her er normalt.

Think of the number of blind people.

Tænk på antallet af blinde

There must be hundreds of thousands of blind people

Der må være hundredtusindvis af blinde,

who have these hallucinations

der har disse hallucinationer,

but are too scared to mention them.

men er for bange til at nævne dem.

So this sort of thing needs to be brought into notice,

Så denne slags ting bør gøres opmærksom på

for patienter, for læger, for offentligheden.

for patients, for doctors, for the public.

Finally, I think they are infinitely interesting and valuable,

Endelig synes jeg, de er

uendeligt interessante og værdifulde

for giving one some insight as to how the brain works.

til at give en noget indsigt i, hvordan hjernen virker.

Charles Bonnet said, 250 years ago --

Charles Bonnet sagde for 250 år siden --

he wondered how, thinking of these hallucinations,

han spekulerede på hvordan, imens han tænkte på disse hallucinationer,

how, as he put it, the theater of the mind

hvordan, som han sagde det, sindets teater

could be generated by the machinery of the brain.

kunne skabes af hjernens maskineri.

Now, 250 years later,

Nu, 250 år senere,

I think we're beginning to glimpse how this is done.

tror jeg vi begynder at se et glimt af, hvordan dette gøres.

Thanks very much.

Mange tak.

(Applause)

(Bifald)

Chris Anderson: That was superb. Thank you so much.

Chris Anderson: Det var superbt. Mange gange tak.

You speak about these things with so much insight

Du taler om disse ting med så stor indsigt

and empathy for your patients.

og empati for dine patienter.

Have you yourself experienced any of the syndromes you write about?

Har du selv oplevet nogen af syndromerne, du skriver om?

Oliver Sacks: I was afraid you would ask that.

Oliver Sacks: Jeg frygtede, du ville spørge om det.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

Well, yeah, a lot of them.

Altså, jah, mange af dem.

And, actually, I'm a little visually impaired myself.

Og faktisk er jeg en smule synshæmmet selv.

I'm blind in one eye and not terribly good in the other.

Jeg er blind på det ene øje, og det andet er ikke frygteligt godt.

And I see the geometrical hallucinations.

Og jeg ser de geometriske hallucinationer.

But they stop there.

Men de stopper der.

CA: And they don't disturb you?

C.A.: Og de forstyrrer dig ikke?

Because you understand what's doing it, it doesn't make you worried?

Fordi du forstår, hvad der forårsager det. Det gør dig ikke bekymret?

O.S.: Altså de forstyrrer mig ikke mere end min tinnitus.

OS: Well, they don't disturb me any more than my tinnitus,

which I ignore.

Som jeg ignorerer.

They occasionally interest me,

De interesserer mig til tider.

and I have many pictures of them in my notebooks.

Og jeg har mange billeder af dem i mine notesbøger.

I've gone and had an fMRI myself,

Jeg har selv fået en FMRI

to see how my visual cortex is ticking over.

for at se, hvordan min visuelle hjernebark tager over.

And when I see all these hexagons

Og når jeg ser alle disse hexagoner

and complex things, which I also have,

og komplekse ting, som jeg også ser

in visual migraine,

under visuel migræne,

I wonder whether everyone sees things like this

tænker jeg på, hvorvidt alle ser sådanne ting,

and whether things like cave art or ornamental art

og hvorvidt ting som hulekunst eller ornamentkunst

may have been derived from them a bit.

kan være afledt af dem en smule.

CA: That was an utterly, utterly fascinating talk.

C.A.: Det var en yderst fascinerede snak.

Thank you so much for sharing.

Mange gange tak for at dele den.

OS: Thank you. Thank you.

O.S.: Tak. Tak.

(Applause)

(Bifald)