【TED演讲】注意神经骗局

中英文字幕

I'm a neuroscientist, and I study decision-making.

我是位神经学家，我研究决策制定。

I do experiments to test how different chemicals in the brain influence the choices we make.

我做了一些试验，来测试大脑中不同的化学物质如何影响我们所作的选择。

I'm here to tell you the secret to successful decision-making: a cheese sandwich.

我在这里是要告诉你们制定成功决策的秘诀：一个奶酪三明治。

That's right.

没错。

According to scientists, a cheese sandwich is the solution to all your tough decisions.

据科学家所言，奶酪三明治是解决一切艰难决定的良伴。

How do I know?

我是怎么知道的呢？

I'm the scientist who did the study.

因为我就是做这个研究的科学家。

A few years ago,

几年前，

my colleagues and I were interested in how a brain chemical called serotonin would influence people's decisions in social situations.

我和我的同事们对此产生兴趣——大脑中一种称为血清素的化学物质如何影响人们在社会情境下所做的决定。

Specifically, we wanted to know how serotonin would affect the way people react when they're treated unfairly.

具体来讲，我们想知道，血清素如何影响人们在遭到不公待遇时的反应。

So we did an experiment.

所以我们做了一项试验。

We manipulated people's serotonin levels by giving them this really disgusting-tasting artificial lemon-flavored drink that works by taking away the raw ingredient for serotonin in the brain.

通过提供这种极其难喝的柠檬味饮料来操控人们的血清素水平，其原理是带走大脑中制造血清素的原料。

This is the amino acid tryptophan.

也就是色氨酸。

So what we found was, when tryptophan was low, people were more likely to take revenge when they're treated unfairly.

我们的发现是，当色氨酸含量低时，人们更倾向于采取报复行为来应对不公平待遇。

That's the study we did, and here are some of the headlines that came out afterwards.

这就是我们所做的实验，这里有一些新闻标题是后来报道的：

At this point you might be wondering did I make something?

这时你可能会想我是不是做了什么?

Cheese? Chocolate?

奶酪？巧克力?

Where did that come from?

这是从哪里来的？

And I thought the same thing myself when these came out, because our study had nothing to do with cheese or chocolate.

当这些新闻报道后，我自己也有同样的想法，因为我们的试验与奶酪和巧克力无关。

We gave people this horrible-tasting drink that affected their tryptophan levels.

我们给人们这种难喝的饮料，它会影响他们的色氨酸水平。

But it turns out that tryptophan also happens to be found in cheese and chocolate.

但我们发现，色氨酸也恰好存在于奶酪与巧克力中。

And of course when science says cheese and chocolate help you make better decisions, well, that's sure to grab people's attention.

当然，《科学》杂志声称奶酪与巧克力能帮助人做出更好的决定，这必然会吸引眼球。

So there you have it: the evolution of a headline.

所以你们现在明白了：这是新闻标题的“演化”过程。

When this happened, a part of me thought, well, what's the big deal?

当这些发生时，我会想，好吧这有什么大不了的？

So the media oversimplified a few things, but in the end, it's just a news story.

媒体过度简化了一些东西，但说到底它只是一则新闻故事而已。

And I think a lot of scientists have this attitude.

我想很多科学家都有这样的态度。

But the problem is that this kind of thing happens all the time,

但问题是，这样的事情总在发生，

and it affects not just the stories you read in the news but also the products you see on the shelves.

它们不仅会影响你所读到的新闻故事，还会影响你在货架上所见的商品。

When the headlines rolled, what happened was, the marketers came calling.

当这些新闻发布之后，接下来营销人员会打来电话，

Would I be willing to provide a scientific endorsement of a mood-boosting bottled water?

问我愿不愿意提供一份科学认证，证明某种瓶装水具有改善情绪的功能，

Or would I go on television to demonstrate, in front of a live audience, that comfort foods really do make you feel better?

或者问我是否愿意参加电视节目面对一群现场直播的观众，证明安抚性的食品真的能够让你感觉更棒？

I think these folks meant well, but had I taken them up on their offers, I would have been going beyond the science,

我想这些人的出发点是好的，但是如果我接受了他们的邀请，我就是在逾越科学的界限，

and good scientists are careful not to do this.

好的科学家会谨慎地避免这种做法。

But nevertheless, neuroscience is turning up more and more in marketing.

然而尽管如此，神经科学正在越来越多地出现在市场中。

Here's one example: Neuro drinks, a line of products, including Nuero Bliss here, which according to its label helps reduce stress, enhances mood,

例如：神经性饮料一系列产品，包括这种叫做“神经福佑”的饮料，它的标签上注明能够帮助减轻压力改善情绪，

provides focused concentration, and promotes a positive outlook.

提高注意力，促进乐观态度。

I have to say, this sounds awesome.

我不得不说，这听起来很棒。

I could totally have used this 10 minutes ago.

十分钟前我要是喝上一瓶就好了。

So when this came up in my local shop, naturally I was curious about some of the research backing these claims.

当这些产品出现在我家附近的商店时，我自然想弄清楚有哪些科学研究支持着这些说法。

So I went to the company's website looking to find some controlled trials of their products.

因此我浏览了这家公司的网站，寻找他们产品的对照实验。

But I didn't find any.

但我什么也没找到。

Trial or no trial, these claims are front and center on their label right next to a picture of a brain.

不管有没有实验，这些宣传说法都非常抢眼醒目写在标签上，围绕着一张画有大脑的图片。

And it turns out that pictures of brains have special properties.

事实上，那些大脑的图片是有特殊功能的。

A couple of researchers asked a few hundred people to read a scientific article.

一组科研人员请几百人读一篇科学论文。

For half the people, the article included a brain image, and for the other half, it was the same article but it didn't have a brain image.

一半的人，所读文章配有一幅大脑图片，另一半人，读同样的文章但是没有配大脑图片。

At the end — you see where this is going — people were asked whether they agreed with the conclusions of the article.

最终——您知道是要干什么——参试人员被提问是否赞同文章的结论。

So this is how much people agree with the conclusions with no image.

这就是人们在没有图片的情况下对结论的认同程度。

And this is how much they agree with the same article that did include a brain image.

这是人们在有图片的情况下对结论的认同程度。

So the take-home message here is, do you want to sell it?

因此值得深思的结论就是，想要卖得好？

Put a brain on it.

那就放上一张大脑图片。

Now let me pause here and take a moment to say that neuroscience has advanced a lot in the last few decades,

这里我要暂停一下，来谈谈神经科学在近几十年里取得的许多进步，

and we're constantly discovering amazing things about the brain.

我们不断地发现有关大脑的令人惊叹的事情。

Like, just a couple of weeks ago,

就在几周前，

neuroscientists at MIT figured out how to break habits in rats just by controlling neural activity in a specific part of their brain.

麻省理工学院的神经学家们想出了如何通过控制老鼠大脑特定区域的神经活动来改变老鼠的习惯。

Really cool stuff.

这真的很酷。

But the promise of neuroscience has led to some really high expectations and some overblown, unproven claims.

但神经科学给人的希望，也带来了一些过高的期望和一些夸大的，未经证实的说辞。

So what I'm going to do is show you how to spot a couple of classic moves, dead giveaways, really, for what's variously been called neuro-bunk,

所以我要展示的就是如何识别一些经典花招——是的我要彻底揭秘——它们统称为“神经骗局”，

neuro-bollocks, or, my personal favorite, neuro-flapdoodle.

“神经吹牛”，或我最喜欢的说法“神经瞎话”。

So the first unproven claim is that you can use brain scans to read people's thoughts and emotions.

第一个未经证明的说辞就是你可以通过扫描人脑来读取人们的想法和情绪。

Here's a study published by a team of researchers as an op-ed in The New York Times.

以下是一组研究人员在《纽约时报》上发表的一篇专栏文章。

The headline?

标题是什么？

"You Love Your iPhone. Literally."

“你爱你的iPhone，真的。”

It quickly became the most emailed article on the site.

这篇文章很快成为该网站转发最多的文章。

So how'd they figure this out?

那么他们是如何得出结论的呢？

They put 16 people inside a brain scanner and showed them videos of ringing iPhones.

他们把16个人放入大脑扫描仪中，让他们看iPhone振铃的视频扫描仪。

The brain scans showed activation in a part of the brain called the insula, a region they say is linked to feelings of love and compassion.

大脑扫描显示，大脑中一个名为脑岛的区域处于激活状态，他们认为这个区域与爱和同情心的感觉有关。

So they concluded that because they saw activation in the insula, this meant the subjects loved their iPhones.

因此他们得出结论，看到了脑岛的活动就意味着受试者对他们的iPhone有爱意。

Now there's just one problem with this line of reasoning, and that's that the insula does a lot.

这个推理过程只有一个问题——脑岛有很多活动。

Sure, it is involved in positive emotions like love and compassion, but it's also involved in tons of other processes, like memory, language,

确实，脑岛与正面情绪有关，比如爱和同情心，但脑岛也与很多其他事情相关，例如记忆，语言，

attention, even anger, disgust and pain.

注意力甚至愤怒，厌恶和痛感。

So based on the same logic, I could equally conclude you hate your iPhone.

因此，基于同样的逻辑，我也可以推断说你恨你的iPhone。

The point here is, when you see activation in the insula, you can't just pick and choose your favorite explanation from off this list,

这里的重点是，当你看到脑岛激活时，你不能只从这个列表中挑选你最喜欢的解释，

and it's a really long list.

这个列表实在有很多选项。

My colleagues Tal Yarkoni and Russ Poldrack have shown that the insula pops up in almost a third of all brain imaging studies that have ever been published.

我的同事Tal Yarkoni和Russ Poldrack已经证明，几乎三分之一已发表的脑成像研究都与脑岛有关。

So chances are really, really good that your insula is going off right now, but I won't kid myself to think this means you love me.

很有可能你们的脑岛现在正在活动，不过，我不会骗自己说这意味着你们爱我。

So speaking of love and the brain, there's a researcher, known to some as Dr. Love, 

所以说到爱与大脑，有个研究者，被某些人称为“爱博士”。

who claims that scientists have found the glue that holds society together, the source of love and prosperity.

他声称科学家已经找到一种粘合剂能够将社会融为一体，是爱与繁荣之源。

This time it's not a cheese sandwich.

这一次不是奶酪三明治。

No, it's a hormone called oxytocin.

是的，这次是一种叫做催产素的激素。

You've probably heard of it.

你可能听说过它。

So, Dr. Love bases his argument on studies showing that when you boost people's oxytocin, 

爱博士的论证是基于如下研究，当人体内催产素水平得到提升后，

this increases their trust, empathy and cooperation.

人们的互信，共感，和合作也会增强。

So he's calling oxytocin "the moral molecule."

所以他称催产素为“道德分子”。

Now these studies are scientifically valid, and they've been replicated, but they're not the whole story.

现在这些研究是科学有效的，而且已经得到推广，但这并不是故事的全部。

Other studies have shown that boosting oxytocin increases envy.

其他研究已经表明，增加催产素也会增加嫉妒心。

It increases gloating.

它还会增加幸灾乐祸感。

Oxytocin can bias people to favor their own group at the expense of other groups.

催产素会导致人们为了自身群体的利益损害其他群体的利益。

And in some cases, oxytocin can even decrease cooperation.

在某些情况下，催产素甚至会导致合作减少。

So based on these studies, I could say oxytocin is an immoral molecule, and call myself Dr. Strangelove.

所以基于这些研究，我可以说催产素是“不道德分子”，并自称为“奇爱博士"。

So we've seen neuro-flapdoodle all over the headlines.

所以我们看到新闻标题里充斥着“神经胡说”。

We see it in supermarkets, on book covers.

我们在超市里，在书的封面上都能看到这些。

What about the clinic?

那诊所呢？

SPECT imaging is a brain-scanning technology that uses a radioactive tracer to track blood flow in the brain.

SPECT成像是一种脑扫描技术，它使用放射性示踪剂来跟踪大脑中的血液流动。

For the bargain price of a few thousand dollars, 

价格是几千美元，

there are clinics in the U.S. that will give you one of these SPECT scans and use the image to help diagnose your problems.

在美国有些诊所给您做SPECT扫描，利用成像结果帮助诊断您的问题。

These scans, the clinics say, can help prevent Alzheimer's disease, solve weight and addiction issues, overcome marital conflicts, and treat,

诊所声称这些扫描能够帮助防止老年痴呆症，解决体重和上瘾问题，解决婚姻冲突，

of course, a variety of mental illnesses ranging from depression to anxiety to ADHD.

当然，还有各种各样的精神疾病，从抑郁到焦虑再到多动症。

This sounds great.

这听起来很棒。

A lot of people agree.

很多人都同意这一点。

Some of these clinics are pulling in tens of millions of dollars a year in business.

其中一些诊所每年的业务收入高达数千万美元。

There's just one problem.

只有一个问题。

The broad consensus in neuroscience is that we can't yet diagnose mental illness from a single brain scan.

神经科学的广泛共识是，我们还不能通过单一的大脑扫描来诊断精神疾病。

But these clinics have treated tens of thousands of patients to date, many of them children, and SPECT imaging involves a radioactive injection,

但到目前为止，这些诊所已经治疗了数万名患者，其中许多是儿童，SPECT成像涉及到放射性注射，

so exposing people to radiation, potentially harmful.

把人们暴露在放射性物质之下，这会有潜在危害。

I am more excited than most people, as a neuroscientist,

作为一名神经科学家，我对此更为兴奋，

about the potential for neuroscience to treat mental illness and even maybe to make us better and smarter.

神经科学治疗精神疾病具有很大潜力，甚至可能把我们变得更好更聪明。

And if one day we can say that cheese and chocolate help us make better decisions, count me in.

如果某一天，我们可以说奶酪和巧克力能够帮助我们更好地决策，我也会这么说。

But we're not there yet.

但我们目前还未能取得这样的成果。

We haven't found a "buy" button inside the brain, we can't tell whether someone is lying or in love just by looking at their brain scans,

对于商品，从脑扫描我们还没有找到“购买”按钮，对于爱情，还不能单单从脑扫描作出判断区分爱与不爱，

and we can't turn sinners into saints with hormones.

也不能通过激素让罪人变成圣人。

Maybe someday we will, but until then,

也许，将来有可能，但在此之前，

we have to be careful that we don't let overblown claims detract resources and attention away from the real science that's playing a much longer game.

我们必须要小心，不能让夸大吹牛减损对真正的科学的资源和注意力，只有科学能够经久不衰。

So here's where you come in.

所以这是你们需要做的。

If someone tries to sell you something with a brain on it, don't just take them at their word.

如果有人兜售有大脑图案的东西时，不要只听他们说的。

Ask the tough questions.

问些棘手的问题。

Ask to see the evidence.

要求看证据。

Ask for the part of the story that's not being told.

问出事情隐藏的细节。

The answers shouldn't be simple, because the brain isn't simple.

答案不应该是简单的，因为大脑并不简单。

But that's not stopping us from trying to figure it out anyway.

但不管怎样，这并未阻止我们对它的探索。

Thank you.

谢谢。