TED Talk >> Rebecca Saxe: How we read each other's minds
So that's good, but of course what we'd rather is have a way to interfere with function in this brain region, and see if we could change people's moral judgment. And we do have such a tool. It's called Trans-Cranial Magnetic Stimulation, or TMS. This is a tool that lets us pass a magnetic pulse through somebody's skull, into a small region of their brain, and temporarily disorganize the function of the neurons in that region.
这很好，但是当然，我们期望有某种方法，能够干扰这个大脑区域的功能，看看我们是否可以改变人们的道德判断。我们实现了这样一种工具，它被称为跨颅磁刺激或TMS。它可以让我们将磁脉冲通过人的头骨，进入他们大脑的一个小区域，并暂时破坏该区域神经元的功能。
So I'm going to show you a demo of this. First, I'm going to show you that this is a magnetic pulse. I'm going to show you what happens when you put a quarter on the machine. When you hear clicks, we're turning the machine on. So now I'm going to apply that same pulse to my brain, to the part of my brain that controls my hand. So there is no physical force, just a magnetic pulse.
下来给大家播放下这个东西的演示视频。第一个演示的是一个磁感脉冲，给大家看下当你放入一个硬币时会有什么发生，当你听到咔哒声时，我们正在打开机器。所以现在我要将同样的脉冲应用到我的大脑，控制我的手的那大脑部分。 所以没有物理力量，只有磁脉冲。
Okay, so it causes a small involuntary contraction in my hand by putting a magnetic pulse in my brain. And we can use that same pulse, now applied to the RTPJ, to ask if we can change people's moral judgments. So these are the judgments I showed you before, people's normal moral judgments. And then we can apply TMS to the RTPJ and ask how people's judgments change. And the first thing is, people can still do this task overall.
好的，所以它通过在我的大脑中放置一个磁脉冲导致我的手有一个小的不自主的收缩。我们可以使用同样的脉冲，现在应用于RTPJ，看看我们是否可以改变人们的道德判断。这些是我之前向你展示的判断，是人们正常的道德判断。 然后我们可以将TMS应用于RTPJ并询问人们的判断如何变化。首先，人们仍然可以完成这项任务。
So their judgments of the case when everything was fine remain the same. They say she deserves no blame. But in the case of a failed attempt to harm, where Grace thought that it was poison, although it was really sugar, people now say it was more okay, she deserves less blame for putting the powder in the coffee.
因此，当一切都很好时，他们对案件的判断仍然是一样的。 他们说她不应该受到指责。但是在故意伤害失败的情况下，Grace认为它是毒药，虽然它真的是糖。现在人们觉得这种情况还行，她把粉末放入咖啡中，收到的指责比之前少了。
And in the case of the accident, where she thought that it was sugar, but it was really poison and so she caused a death, people say that it was less okay, she deserves more blame. So what I've told you today is that people come, actually, especially well equipped to think about other people's thoughts.
在事故的情况下，她认为它是糖，但它真的是毒药，所以她造成了死亡。人们说它不太好，她应该得到更多的责备。那么我今天要告诉大家的是，人类真正的拥有一个设备，去思考其他人的想法。
We have a special brain system that lets us think about what other people are thinking. This system takes a long time to develop, slowly throughout the course of childhood and into early adolescence. And even in adulthood, differences in this brain region can explain differences among adults in how we think about and judge other people.
我们有一个特殊的大脑系统，可以让我们思考其他人的想法。 这个系统需要很长时间才能在儿童期和青春期早期慢慢发展。 甚至在成年期，这个大脑区域的差异可以解释成年人在如何思考和判断其他人方面的差异。
But I want to give the last word back to the novelists, and to Philip Roth, who ended by saying, "The fact remains that getting people right is not what living is all about anyway. It's getting them wrong that is living. Getting them wrong and wrong and wrong, and then on careful reconsideration, getting them wrong again." Thank you.
我想在最后结束前引用前面提到的小说家，也就是Philip Roth说过的话作为结束。“事实上，让人们正确并不是生活全部。错误的才是。 错误，错误，再错误，然后经过仔细的重新考虑，让他们再次犯错。“ 谢谢。
Question
- Why did Saxe apply a magnetic pulse to the RTPJ?
> to see if it's possible to change people's moral judgments. - To interfere with something means
> to get in the way of it. - Why did Saxe quote Philip Roth's remarks again at the end of this speech?
> to tie the ending of the speech to the beginning. - In the demonstration Trans-Cranial Magnetic Stimulation is a tool to
> disorganize the function of neurons in the RTPJ.
Listen and repeat
- Both the beginning and the ending of the speech include a quote by Philip Roth.
- To interfere with something means to get in the way of it and prevent it from happening.
- She conducts the experiment to see if it's possible to change people's moral judgements.
