What hallucination reveals about our minds | Oliver Sacks

Translator: Begoña Laka Reviewer: Janire Domínguez

We see with the eyes,

Begiekin ikusten dugu

but we see with the brain as well.

baina garunarekin ere ikusten dugu.

And seeing with the brain is often called imagination.

Eta garunarekin ikusteari irudimena deitzen zaio.

Ondo ezagutzen ditugu gure irudimenaren paisaiak,

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

our inscapes.

barne paisaiak. Bizitza osoa daramagu elkarrekin.

We've lived with them all our lives.

But there are also hallucinations as well.

Baina badira haluzinazioak ere,

And hallucinations are completely different.

eta haluzinazioak guztiz desberdinak dira.

They don't seem to be of our creation.

Ez dirudite guk sortutakoak.

They don't seem to be under control.

Ez dirudite gure kontrolpekoak.

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

Kanpotik datozela ematen du,

eta pertzepzioa imitatzen dutela.

So I am going to be talking about hallucinations

Beraz, haluzinazioei buruz arituko naiz

and a particular sort of visual hallucination,

eta baita ikusmen-haluzinazio mota berezi bati buruz ere,

which I see among my patients.

nire pazienteengan ikusten dudana.

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

Orain dela hilabete batzuk dei bat jaso nuen

lan egiten dudan zahar-etxe batetik.

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

Esan zidaten bertako zahar batek, 90 urteko andrea batek,

was seeing things,

gauzak ikusten zituela

and they wondered if she'd gone bonkers

eta burua galdu zuela uste zutela

or, because she was an old lady,

edo, adineko andrea zenez,

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

beharbada apoplexia jasan zuela edo Alzheimerra izango zela.

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

Beraz, bertara joatea eta Rosalie ikustea eskatu zidaten,

the old lady.

Rosalie, adineko andrea.

I went in to see her.

Bera ikustera joan nintzen.

It was evident straightaway that she was perfectly sane

Berehala ikusi nuen

osasun oneko pertsona zela,

and lucid and of good intelligence,

zuhurra eta inteligentzia finekoa,

but she'd been very startled and very bewildered,

baina guztiz izututa eta zurtuta zegoen

because she'd been seeing things.

gauzak ikusten zituelako.

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

Eta esan zidan

(erizainek ez zuten hori aipatu)

that she was blind,

itsua zela,

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

azkenengo bost urteotan ikusmena guztiz galdu zuela, makula degenerazioa pairatu zuela eta.

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

Baina orain, azken egunotan, gauzak ikusten zituen.

So I said, "What sort of things?"

Esan nion: "Zer nolako gauzak?"

And she said, "People in Eastern dress,

Erantzun zidan: "Ekialdeko arropaz jantzitako jendea,

in drapes, walking up and down stairs.

jantzietan, eskaileretan gora eta behera.

A man who turns towards me and smiles,

Gizon bat, nigana biratu eta irri egiten didana.

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

Ahoaren alde batean hortz itzelak ditu.

Animals too.

Animaliak ere bai.

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

Etxe zuri bat ikusten dut. Elurra ari du, elur leuna.

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

Arnesdun zaldia ikusten dut, elurra arrastatzen.

Then, one night, the scene changes.

Orduan, gau batean, eszena aldatzen da.

I see cats and dogs walking towards me.

Nigana datozen katuak eta txakurrak ikusten ditut.

They come to a certain point and then stop.

Puntu batera heltzerakoan, gelditu egiten dira.

Then it changes again.

Orduan, berriz ere aldatzen da.

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

Ume pila ikusten dut. Eskaileretan gora eta behera doaz.

They wear bright colors, rose and blue,

Kolore biziez jantzita daude, arrosa eta urdina,

like Eastern dress."

ekialdeko arropen antzera".

Sometimes, she said, before the people come on,

Batzuetan, zioen, jendea heldu baino lehen

she may hallucinate pink and blue squares on the floor,

haluzinazioetan karratu arrosa eta urdinak ikusten zituen lurrean

which seem to go up to the ceiling.

sabairano heltzen zirela ziruditenak.

I said, "Is this like a dream?"

Esan nion: "Amets baten modukoa da?"

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

Eta andreak: "Ez, ez da ametsetan bezala. Film baten antzerakoa da"

Esan zuen: "Kolorea eta mugimendua ditu.

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

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

Baina guztiz isila da, film mutuen antzerakoa".

And she said it's a rather boring movie.

Film oso aspergarria zela zioen.

(Laughter)

Esan zuen: "Ekialdeko arropa zeraman jende hau guztia

She said, "All these people with Eastern dress,

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

gora eta behera zebilela, behin eta berriro errepikatzen zen, oso pobrea zen".

(Laughter)

(Barreak)

And she had a sense of humor.

Andreak umore-sena du.

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

Bazekien haluzinazioa zela.

Baina beldur zen. 95 urtez bizi izan zen

She had lived 95 years,

and she'd never had a hallucination before.

eta ordura arte ez zuen inoiz haluzinaziorik izan.

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

Esan zuen haluzinazioek ez zutela zerikusirik

pentsatzen, sentitzen edo egiten ari zenarekin,

or feeling or doing,

berez agertu eta desagertzen zirela.

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

She had no control over them.

Ez zituen inolaz ere kontrolatzen.

Esan zuen ez zituela ezagutzen

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

haluzinazioetan agerturiko

in the hallucinations,

pertsonak edo lekuak.

and none of the people or the animals --

Halaber, pertsona eta animaliak

well, they all seemed oblivious of her.

ez ziren beraz ohartzen.

And she didn't know what was going on.

Ez zekien zer ari zen gertatzen.

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

Zoratzen ari zela uste zuen

edo burua galtzen.

Well, I examined her carefully.

Ondo aztertu nuen andrea.

She was a bright old lady,

Adineko andre bizkorra zen,

bere senean. Ez zuen inolako osasun arazorik.

perfectly sane.

She had no medical problems.

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

Ez zuen haluzinazioak eragin ahal zituen botikarik hartzen.

But she was blind.

Baina itsua zen.

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

Eta esan nion:

"Uste dut badakidala zer gertatzen zaizun".

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

Bada ikusmen-haluzinazio forma berezi bat

which may go with deteriorating vision or blindness.

itsutasun edo ikusmen arazoekin etorri ahal dena.

This was originally described," I said,

XVIII. mendean lehenegoz

"right back in the 18th century,

deskribatu zena,

by a man called Charles Bonnet.

Charles Bonnet-en eskutik.

And you have Charles Bonnet syndrome.

Zuk Charles Bonnet sindromea daukazu.

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

Ez da zure garunean edo zure buruan ezer gertatzen ari.

Zuk Charles Bonnet sindromea daukazu".

You have Charles Bonnet syndrome."

And she was very relieved at this,

Asko lasaitu zen orduan,

that there was nothing seriously the matter,

gertatzen ari zitzaiona larria ez zelako,

and also rather curious.

bitxia baizik.

She said, "Who is this Charles Bonnet?"

Galdetu zuen: "Nor da Charles Bonnet hori?

She said, "Did he have them himself?"

Berak ere haluzinazioak izan al zituen?"

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

Esan zuen: "Esaiezu erizainei

Charles Bonnet sindromea dudala".

(Laughter)

(Barreak)

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

"Ez nago zoratuta, ez nago demente. Charles Bonnet sindromea dut".

Well, so, I did tell the nurses.

Tira, erizainei esan nien.

Now this, for me, is a common situation.

Zera, hau, niretzako eguneroko kontua da.

I work in old-age homes, largely.

Batik bat zahar-etxeetan aritzen naiz.

I see a lot of elderly people

Adineko jende asko ikusten dut

entzumen edo ikusmen arazoak ditzutenak.

who are hearing-impaired or visually impaired.

About 10 percent of the hearing-impaired people

Entzumen urrikoen %10k

get musical hallucinations.

musika-haluzinazioak izaten ditu.

And about 10 percent of the visually impaired people

Eta ikusmen urriko jendearen %10k

get visual hallucinations.

ikusmen-haluzinazioak izaten ditu.

You don't have to be completely blind,

Ez gara guztiz itsu izan behar;

only sufficiently impaired.

ikusmen urrikoa izatea nahikoa da.

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

Baina XVIII. mendeko deskribapenari dagokionez,

Charles Bonnet did not have them.

Charles Bonnetek ez zuen horrelakorik izan.

His grandfather had these hallucinations.

Bere aitonak izan zituen haluzinazioak.

His grandfather was a magistrate, an elderly man.

Aitona epailea zen, adineko gizona.

He'd had cataract surgery.

Kataraten ebakuntza izan zuen.

His vision was pretty poor.

Bere ikusmena nahiko urria zen.

And in 1759, he described to his grandson

Eta 1759an, bere ilobari deskribatu zizkion

various things he was seeing.

ikusten zituen hainbat gauza.

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

Esan zuen lehengo gauza

airean sudur-zapi bat ikusten zuela izan zen.

It was a large blue handkerchief with four orange circles.

Sudur-zapi handia eta urdina zen

lau zirkulu laranja zituena.

And he knew it was a hallucination.

Bazekien haluzinazioa zela.

You don't have handkerchiefs in midair.

Ez dago sudur-zapirik airean.

And then he saw a big wheel in midair.

Gero, gurpil handi bat ikusi zuen airean.

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

Baina batzuetan ez zekien haluzinazioak ziren ala ez,

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

haluzinazioak ondo egokitzen zirelako

ikusten zuenaren kontestuan.

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

Behin, bere ilobak bera ikustera etorri ziren

eta esan zien:" Nortzuk dira zurekin datozen mutil goapo hauek?"

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

(Laughter)

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

Eta ilobek :"Tamalez, ez dago inolako mutil goaporik, aitona."

And then the handsome young men disappeared.

Orduan mutil goapoak desagertu egin ziren.

It's typical of these hallucinations

Normala da haluzinazio horietan

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

une batez agertuetzea eta hurrengoan desagertzea.

They don't usually fade in and out.

Ez dira normalean pixkanaka agertzen eta desagertzen.

They are rather sudden, and they change suddenly.

Bat-batekoak dira, eta bat-batean aldatzen dira.

Charles Lullinek, aitonak,

Charles Lullin, the grandfather,

saw hundreds of different figures,

ehunka irudi ezberdin ikusi zituen,

different landscapes of all sorts.

mota guztietako paisaiak.

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

Behin, gizon bat ikusi zuen bainu-batan pipa erretzen

and realized it was himself.

eta bera zela konturatu zen.

That was the only figure he recognized.

Hori izan zen ezagutu zuen irudi bakarra.

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

Behin, Parisen zehar zihoala

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

aldamioa ikusi zuen (egiazkoa zen).

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

Baina etxera bueltatzean, aldamio-miniatura ikusi zuen

six inches high,

15 zentimetroko altuerakoa, idazmahaiaren gainean.

on his study table.

This repetition of perception is sometimes called "palinopsia."

Pertzepzioaren errepikapen horri

palipnosia deitzen zaio batzuetan.

Berari eta Rosalieri

With him and with Rosalie,

what seems to be going on --

gertatzen zitzaiena.

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

Eta Rosaliek esan zuen: Zer gertatzen ari da?

and I said that as you lose vision,

esan nion ikusmena galtzean,

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

burmuinean ikusmenaren atalakinolako input-ik jasotzen ez dutenez

they become hyperactive and excitable,

hiperaktibo eta kitzikakor egiten direla,

and they start to fire spontaneously.

eta berez jartzen direla abian.

Eta gauzak ikusten hasten zara.

And you start to see things.

The things you see can be very complicated indeed.

Ikusten dituzun gauzak konplikatuak izan daitezke benetan.

Nire beste paziente baten kasuan,

With another patient of mine who also had some vision,

zertxobait ikusi ahal zuena ere,

irudipenak kezkagarriak izan zitekeen.

the visions she had could be disturbing.

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

Behin, esan zuen

marradun alkandora zeraman gizon bat jatetxe baten ikusi zuela.

And he turned round,

Buelta eman zuen. Eta orduan

and then he divided into six figures in striped shirts,

marradun alkandora zeramaten sei gizonetan bihurtu zen

who started walking towards her.

eta seiak beregana ibiltzen hasi ziren.

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

Gero sei gizonak berriz elkartu ziren, akordeoiaren eran.

Once, when she was driving,

Behin, autoa gidatzen ari zela,

or rather, her husband was driving,

hobeto esanda, senarra gidatzen ari zela,

the road divided into four

bidea lau zatitan banatu zen

and she felt herself going simultaneously up four roads.

eta lau bideetan zehar aldi berean zihoala sentitu zuen.

Haluzinazio oso mugikorrak izaten zituen ere.

She had very mobile hallucinations as well.

A lot of them had to do with a car.

Askok autoekin zerikusia zuten.

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

Batzuetan mutil gazte bat ikusten zuen

autoaren kapotaren gainean eserita.

He was very tenacious,

Nekaezina zen eta sotilki mugitzen zen

and he moved rather gracefully when the car turned.

autoa biratu zenean.

And then when they came to a stop,

Eta gelditu zirenean

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

mutilak 30 metroko jauzia egin zuen bat-batean airean gora

and then disappear.

eta desagertu zen.

Another patient of mine had a different sort of hallucination.

Beste paziente batek beste haluzinazio mota bat zuen.

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

Andre honek ez zuen begietan arazorik,

but the visual parts of her brain,

baina bai garunaren ikusmenaren atalean,

a little tumor in the occipital cortex.

tumore txiki bat kortex okzipitalean baitzeukan.

And, above all, she would see cartoons.

Marrazki bizidunak ikusten zituen batez ere.

And these cartoons would be transparent,

Marrazki hauek gardenak izan ziren

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

eta ikus-eremuaren erdia hartzen zuten, pantaila baten antzera.

And especially, she saw cartoons of Kermit the Frog.

Gustavo igelaren marrazkiak ikusten zituen batez ere.

(Laughter)

(Barreak)

Now, I don't watch Sesame Street,

Nik ez dut "Sesamo kalea" ikusten,

baina berak hura azpimarratu zuen:

but she made a point of saying,

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

"Zergatik Gustavo? Bost axola dit niri Gustavo igelak".

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

Ni Freudiar eragileei buruz hausnartzen hasi nintzen.

Zer dela eta Gustavo?

"Kermit the Frog means nothing to me."

"Bost axola dit niri Gustavo igelak".

She didn't mind the cartoons too much.

Marrazkiek ez zuten gehiegi kezkatzen.

But what did disturb her

Kezkatzen zuena, askotan

was she got very persistent images or hallucinations of faces,

irudi edo aurpegien haluzinazioak ikusten zituela izan zen

and as with Rosalie, the faces were often deformed,

eta Rosalien antzera, aurpegiak askotan deformatuta zeuden,

with very large teeth or very large eyes.

hortz edo begi handiekin.

And these frightened her.

Eta horrek beldurtzen zuen.

Well, what is going on with these people?

Zer gertatzen ari zaio jende honi?

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

Medikua naizenez gero, gertatzen dena frogatu eta zehaztu behar dut

and to reassure people,

eta gaixoak lasaitu behar ditut,

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

burua galtzen ez daudela azalduz batez ere.

Ikusmen urrikoen %10k

Something like 10 percent, as I said,

of visually impaired people get these.

haluzinazioak izaten ditu.

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

Baina %1ek baino ez ditu aitortzen

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

burutik jota daudela esango dutelaren beldur.

And if they do mention them to their own doctors,

Eta euren medikuei haluzinazioak aipatuz gero

diagnostiko okerra jaso ahal dute.

they may be misdiagnosed.

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

Normalean, uste dugu zoratzen ari garela

gauzak ikusten edo entzuten baditugu.

you're going mad.

But the psychotic hallucinations are quite different.

Baina haluzinazio psikotikoak oso bestelakoak dira.

Psychotic hallucinations, whether they are visual or vocal,

Haluzinazio psikotikoek, ikusmenezkoak edo ahozkoak,

they address you.

zuri egiten dizute hitz, zalatzen zaituzte.

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

Zu limurtzen zaituzte, umiliatu.

Burla egiten dizute.

You interact with them.

Elkarri eragiten diozue.

There is none of this quality of being addressed

Arazo horietako batek ere ez du zerikusirik

with these Charles Bonnet hallucinations.

Charles Bonnet haluzinazioekin.

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

Film bat dago. Zurekin zerikusirik ez duen film bat ikusten zaude

or that's how people think about it.

edo horrela uste du jendeak.

There is also a rare thing called temporal lobe epilepsy,

Bada beste gauza arraro bat, lobulu tenporaleko epilepsia deritzona,

and sometimes, if one has this,

eta batzuetan, hau jasanez gero,

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

norberak bere burua ikusten du

iraganeko leku batean.

You're at a particular road junction.

Bidegurutze jakin batean zaude.

You smell chestnuts roasting.

Gaztaina erreen usaina etortzen zaizu.

You hear the traffic. All the senses are involved.

Trafikoa entzuten duzu. Zentzu guztiak daude lanean.

Zure neskaren zain zaude.

And you're waiting for your girl.

And it's that Tuesday evening back in 1982.

1982 urteko astearte gaua da.

The temporal lobe hallucinations are all sense hallucinations,

Eta lobulu tenporaleko haluzinazioak

zentzumen guztien haluzinazioak dira,

full of feeling, full of familiarity,

sentsazioz eta gauza ezagunez beteak,

located in space and time,

espazioan eta denboran kokatuak,

coherent, dramatic.

koherenteak, dramatikoak.

The Charles Bonnet ones are quite different.

Charles Bonnet haluzinazioak oso desberdinak dira.

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

Charles Bonnet haluzinazioetan

mota guztietako mailak daude,

from the geometrical hallucinations --

haluzinazio geometrikoetatik

the pink and blue squares the woman had --

(andre haren karratu arrosa eta urdinak)

up to quite elaborate hallucinations

haluzinazio konplexuetaraino,

with figures and especially faces.

zenbakiz eta bereziki aurpegiz beteta.

Faces, and sometimes deformed faces,

Aurpegiak, deformatuak batzuetan,

are the single commonest thing in these hallucinations.

haluzinazio horien

ohiko gauza bakarrak dira.

And one of the second commonest is cartoons.

Maiz agertzen den bigarren gauza marrazki bizidunak dira.

So, what is going on?

Zer gertatzen ari da?

Fascinatingly, in the last few years,

Modu liluragarrian, azken urteotan

it's been possible to do functional brain imagery,

garunaren funtzionamenduaren irudiak egitea posiblea izan da,

to do fMRI on people as they are hallucinating,

haluzinazioak gertatzen diren bitartean erresonantzia magnetiko funtzionalak egitea.

Halaber, garunaren ikusmen-gune desberdinak

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

aktibatzen direla aurkitu da,

as they are hallucinating.

haluzinazioak izaten ditzuten uneetan.

When people have these simple, geometrical hallucinations,

Jendeak haluzinazio geometriko sinple hauek dituenean,

the primary visual cortex is activated.

ikusmen-kortex primarioa aktibatzen da.

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

Hau da ertzak eta diseinuak hautematen dituen garunaren zatia.

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

Ikusmen-kortex primarioan ez dira irudiak eratzen.

When images are formed,

Irudiak eratzen direnean,

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

ikusmen-kortexaren goragoko zati bat

jarduten da lobulu tenporalean.

Bereziki, lobulu tenporaleko eremu bat

And in particular, one area of the temporal lobe

is called the fusiform gyrus.

zirkunboluzio fusiformea deritzona.

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

Ezaguna da norbaitek zirkunboluzio fusiformean kalterik izanez gero

they may lose the ability to recognize faces.

aurpegiak ezagutzeko gaitasuna gal dezakeela.

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

Baina zirkunboluzio fusiformean ezohizko aktibitatea egonez gero,

they may hallucinate faces,

aurpegien haluzinazioak izan ditzakeela

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

eta hori da zehazki jende horrengan batzuetan aurkitzen duguna.

There is an area in the anterior part of this gyrus

Zirkunboluzio honen aurreko zatian bada eremu bat

where teeth and eyes are represented,

zeinetan hortzak eta begiak irudikatzen diren,

and that part of the gyrus is activated

eta zirkunboluzioaren zati hori aktibatzen da

when people get the deformed hallucinations.

jendeak haluzinazio deformatuak dituenean.

There is another part of the brain which is especially activated

Bada garunaren beste zati bat

bereziki aktibatzen dena

when one sees cartoons.

norbaitek marrazki bizidunak ikusten dituenean.

It's activated when one recognizes cartoons,

Marrazkiak igartzean aktibatzen da,

when one draws cartoons and when one hallucinates them.

marrazkiak marraztean eta marrazkiekin haluzinazioak izatean.

It's very interesting that that should be specific.

Oso interesgarria da hori hain zehatza izatea.

There are other parts of the brain which are specifically involved

Badira garunaren beste zati batzuk bereziki jarduten direnak

with the recognition and hallucination of buildings and landscapes.

eraikin eta paisaien

ezagupen eta haluzinazioekin.

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

1970 inguruan aurkitu zen ez zeudela bakarrik garunaren zatiak,

but particular cells.

baizik eta zelula bereziak ere.

"Face cells" were discovered around 1970.

"Aurpegien zelulak" 1970. urtean aurkitu zituzten.

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

Gaur egun badakigu ehunka zelula mota

desberdin dagoela,

which can be very, very specific.

oso zehatzak izan daitezkeenak.

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

Beraz, izan ditzakezu

"auto" zelulez gain

"Aston Martin" zelulak ere.

(Laughter)

(Barreak)

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

Aston Martin bat ikusi dut gaur goizean.

Hitzaldian aipatu behar nuen.

(Laughter)

Eta orain hemen dago nonbait.

And now it's in there, somewhere.

So --

(Barreak)

(Laughter)

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

Maila honetan, azpiko kortex tenporala deritzon eremuan,

ikuste-irudiak daude bakarrik,

there are only visual images,

or figments or fragments.

edo irudipenak edo pusketak.

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

Goragoko mailetan bakarrik

elkartzen dira beste zentzumenak

and there are connections with memory and emotion.

eta konexioak daude memoria eta emozioarekin.

Charles Bonnet sindromean

And in the Charles Bonnet syndrome,

you don't go to those higher levels.

ez zara goragoko mailetara heltzen.

You're in these levels of inferior visual cortex,

Azpiko ikusmen-kortex honetan zaude

where you have thousands and tens of thousands

eta hor milaka eta ehun milaka

and millions of images,

eta milioika irudi dituzu,

or figments or fragmentary figments,

edo irudipenak edo irudipen pusketak,

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

denak neuronen mailan kodetuta

zelula berezietan edo zelula talde txikietan.

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

Normalean hauek

pertzepzioaren korronte integratuaren edo irudimenaren parte dira,

or imagination,

and one is not conscious of them.

eta norbera ez da horietaz ohartzen.

It is only if one is visually impaired or blind

Ikusmen-urriko edo itsua zarenean bakarrik

that the process is interrupted.

mozten da prozesua.

And instead of getting normal perception,

Eta ohizko pertzepzioa izan beharrean,

you're getting an anarchic,

azpiko kortex tenporaleko

convulsive stimulation, or release,

ikusmen-zelula hauen

of all of these visual cells in the inferotemporal cortex.

askapen edo estimulazio anarkikoa

daukazu.

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

Beraz, bat-batean aurpegi bat ikusten duzu. Gero auto bat ikusten duzu.

Suddenly this and suddenly that.

Orain hau, gero beste hura.

The mind does its best to organize

Burua ahalegintzen da hau antolatzen

and to give some sort of coherence to this,

eta honi koherentzia pixka bat ematen,

but not terribly successfully.

baina ez du ondoegi lortzen.

When these were first described,

Haluzinazioak lehengoz deskribatu zirenean

it was thought that they could be interpreted like dreams.

ametsen moduan interpretatu liratekeela uste izan zuten.

But, in fact, people say,

Baina jendeak esaten zuena izan zen:

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

"Ez dut jendea hau ezagutzen. Ezin dut inolako asoziaziorik egin".

"Bost axola dit niri Gustavo igelak".

Kermit means nothing to me."

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

Amets gisa ikusten badituzu ez zara inora heltzen.

Tira, esan dut esan nahi nuena.

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

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

Laburbilduz esan nahi nuke

hau arrunta dela.

Think of the number of blind people.

Pentsa zenbat itsu dagoen.

There must be hundreds of thousands of blind people

Ehun milaka itsu egon behar dute

who have these hallucinations

haluzinazio hauek dituztenak,

but are too scared to mention them.

baina aipatzeko beldurra dutenak.

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

Honelako gauzak jakitera eman behar dira

pazienteentzat, medikuentzat, jendearentzat.

for patients, for doctors, for the public.

Finally, I think they are infinitely interesting and valuable,

Amaitzeko, uste dut

infinituki interesgarri eta baliotsuak direla,

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

buruaren funtzionamenduari buruzkoideia batzuk ematen dituztelako.

Charles Bonnet said, 250 years ago --

Charles Bonnetek esan zuen duela 250 urte,

he wondered how, thinking of these hallucinations,

bere buruari galdetu ziola, haluzinazio horietaz hausnartuz,

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

nola, buruaren teatroa, bere hitzetan,

could be generated by the machinery of the brain.

sortu ahal zuen burmuinaren makineriak.

Now, 250 years later,

Orain, 250 urte geroago,

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

nola egiten den sumatzen hasi garela uste dut.

Thanks very much.

Eskerrik asko.

(Applause)

(Txaloak)

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

Chris Anderson: Zoragarria izan da. Eskerrik asko.

You speak about these things with so much insight

Gauza hauetaz zorroztasun handiz

and empathy for your patients.

eta zure gaixoenganako enpatiaz aritzen zara.

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

Jasan izan duzu deskribatu duzun sindrome horietarikoren bat?

Oliver Sacks: I was afraid you would ask that.

Oliver Sacks: Hori galdetuko zenuenaren beldur nintzen.

(Laughter)

(Barreak)

Well, yeah, a lot of them.

Tira, bai, horietako asko.

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

Egiaz ni neu ikusmen urrikoa naiz.

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

Ez dut begi batetik ikusten,eta bestea ez dago oso ondo.

And I see the geometrical hallucinations.

Eta haluzinazio geometrikoak ikusten ditut.

But they stop there.

Baina hor gelditzen dira.

CA: And they don't disturb you?

CA: Eta ez zaituzte kezkatzen?

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

Gertatzen ari dena ulertzen duzunez, ez zaituzte kezkatzen?

OS: Ez naute nire akufenoak baino gehiago molestatzen,

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

which I ignore.

kontutan hartzen ez ditudanak.

They occasionally interest me,

Noizean behin interesatzen naute

and I have many pictures of them in my notebooks.

eta nire koadernoetan horien irudi asko dago.

I've gone and had an fMRI myself,

Erresonantzia magnetiko funtzionala egin didate

to see how my visual cortex is ticking over.

nire ikusmen-kortexanola nola moldatzen den ikusteko.

And when I see all these hexagons

Eta hexagono guzti horiek ikusten ditudanean

and complex things, which I also have,

eta beste gauza konplexuak, ikusten ditudanak ere,

in visual migraine,

ikusmen-migrainian,

I wonder whether everyone sees things like this

jakin nahiko nuke jendeak horrelako gauzak ikusten dituen

and whether things like cave art or ornamental art

eta kobazuloetako artea edo ornamentazio-artea

may have been derived from them a bit.

nolabait euretatik etorri diren.

CA: That was an utterly, utterly fascinating talk.

CA: Hitzaldi erabat zoragarria izan da benetan.

Thank you so much for sharing.

Eskerrik asko hitzaldia emateagatik.

OS: Thank you. Thank you.

Eskerrik asko.

(Applause)

(Txaloak)