我给你们讲个我以前经手过的一个案子。
I’d like to tell you about a legal case that I worked on
这个案子里有一个人叫斯蒂夫·提塔斯。
involving a man named Steve Titus.
提塔斯以前是饭店经理。
Titus was a restaurant manager.
他31岁，住在华盛顿州的西雅图，
He was 31 years old, he lived in Seattle, Washington,
和一个叫格雷琴的姑娘订了婚，
he was engaged to Gretchen,
马上就要结婚了，她就是他一生的挚爱。
about to be married, she was the love of his life.
一天晚上，这对情侣外出
And one night, the couple went out
去饭店吃一顿浪漫晚餐
for a romantic restaurant meal.
回来的时候，
They were on their way home,
他们被警车拦下了。
and they were pulled over by a police officer.
知道吗？提塔斯的车有点类似
You see, Titus’ car sort of resembled
当天晚上
a car that was driven earlier in the evening
强奸了一位搭便车的女性的罪犯开的车。
by a man who raped a female hitchhiker,
而提塔斯有点像那个罪犯。
and Titus kind of resembled that rapist.
所以警察给提塔斯拍了照，
So the police took a picture of Titus,
放到了罪犯相册里。
they put it in a photo lineup,
警察后来把他的照片给那个受害者看。
they later showed it to the victim,
她指着提塔斯的照片，
and she pointed to Titus’ photo.
说：“他最像。”
She said, “That one’s the closest.”
警察和检察官继续进行审问，
The police and the prosecution proceeded with a trial,
斯蒂夫·提塔斯被当成强奸犯告上法庭，
and when Steve Titus was put on trial for rape,
受害者站在法庭上
the rape victim got on the stand
说，“我绝对肯定就是他。”
and said, “I’m absolutely positive that’s the man.”
提塔斯就这样被宣告有罪。
And Titus was convicted.
他申明自己是无辜的，
He proclaimed his innocence,
他的家庭对着陪审团声嘶力竭，
his family screamed at the jury,
他的未婚妻倒在地上痛哭，
his fiancée collapsed on the floor sobbing,
提塔斯被带进了监狱。
and Titus is taken away to jail.
那么这样的时候你能做什么？
So what would you do at this point?
你能做什么？
What would you do?
所以，提塔斯从此完全失去对法律体系的信任。
Well, Titus lost complete faith in the legal system,
可是他有了个想法。
and yet he got an idea.
他联系当地的报纸，
He called up the local newspaper,
一个搞调查的杂志对他的案子很有兴趣，
he got the interest of an investigative journalist,
而且这个杂志实际上找到了真的罪犯，
and that journalist actually found the real rapist,
这人最终供认自己的犯罪事实，
a man who ultimately confessed to this rape,
而且他还和其他的50起强奸案有关。
a man who was thought to have committed 50 rapes
案件都发生在那个地区。
in that area,
法官得知这个消息以后，
and when this information was given to the judge,
释放了提塔斯。
the judge set Titus free.
好吧，这个案子到这里就该结束了吧？
And really, that’s where this case should have ended.
真的是应该结束了。
It should have been over.
提塔斯应该觉得这是多么糟糕的一年呀。
Titus should have thought of this as a horrible year,
一年的指控、提审，但是都结束了。
a year of accusation and trial, but over.
但是事情没有就此结束。
It didn’t end that way.
提塔斯的生活变得更加苦涩。
Titus was so bitter.
他失业了，无法重新回去上班。
He’d lost his job. He couldn’t get it back.
他失去了未婚妻。
He lost his fiancée.
她无法忍受他一直以来的愤怒。
She couldn’t put up with his persistent anger.
他失去了所有存款。
He lost his entire savings,
所以他决定提起诉讼，
and so he decided to file a lawsuit
状告那些警察和对那些
against the police and others whom he felt
需要对他的遭遇负责的人。
were responsible for his suffering.
我是从那时开始介入这个案子的，
And that’s when I really started working on this case,
想搞清楚
trying to figure out
受害人怎么会那么坚定地从
how did that victim go from
“这个人最象”
“That one’s the closest”
到“我绝对确信就是他。”
to “I’m absolutely positive that’s the guy.”
那么提塔斯呢 ，把时间都花在他的案子上，
Well, Titus was consumed with his civil case.
他只要醒着就想这事儿。
He spent every waking moment thinking about it,
就在要开庭的前几天，
and just days before he was to have his day in court,
他早上醒来，
he woke up in the morning,
突然疼痛不已，
doubled over in pain,
结果死于精神压力引起的心肌梗死。
and died of a stress-related heart attack.
那时他才35岁。
He was 35 years old.
我之所以介入提塔斯的案子，
So I was asked to work on Titus’ case
是因为我是个研究心理学的科学家。
because I’m a psychological scientist.
我研究记忆，已经研究有几十年了。
I study memory. I’ve studied memory for decades.
如果我在飞机上遇到谁－
And if I meet somebody on an airplane —
恰巧是去苏格兰的－
this happened on the way over to Scotland —
如果我在飞机上遇到谁－
if I meet somebody on an airplane,
我们会互相打招呼，“你是做什么的？做什么的？”
and we ask each other, “What do you do? What do you do?”
我就说，“我是研究记忆的。”
and I say “I study memory,”
他们一般都会告诉我，他们很难记住别人的名字呀，
they usually want to tell me how they have trouble remembering names,
他们有个亲戚得了痴呆症呀，
or they’ve got a relative who’s got Alzheimer’s
或者一些和记忆有关的问题。
or some kind of memory problem,
然后我就告诉他们，
but I have to tell them
我不研究人的遗忘。
I don’t study when people forget.
正相反，我研究的是人的记忆。
I study the opposite: when they remember,
当他们记着根本没有发生的事儿，
when they remember things that didn’t happen
或者记着与他们做的
or remember things that were different
根本不同的事儿。
from the way they really were.
我研究的就是错误记忆。
I study false memories.
不幸的是，斯蒂夫·提塔斯不是唯一一个
Unhappily, Steve Titus is not the only person
被别人的错误记忆所害的人。
to be convicted based on somebody’s false memory.
在美国的一项课题中，
In one project in the United States,
这个课题集中了
information has been gathered
300个无辜的人们，
on 300 innocent people,
300个被宣判有罪的无辜者。
300 defendants who were convicted of crimes they didn’t do.
他们因此而在监狱度过了10年，20年，30年
They spent 10, 20, 30 years in prison for these crimes,
现在的DNA检测证明
and now DNA testing has proven
他们是无辜的。
that they are actually innocent.
当对这些案子进行分析后，
And when those cases have been analyzed,
其中四分之三的案子
three quarters of them
归结于错误的记忆，目击者的错误记忆。
are due to faulty memory, faulty eyewitness memory.
那么，这是为什么呢？
Well, why?
给无辜者定罪的那些陪审团成员，
Like the jurors who convicted those innocent people
给提塔斯定罪的那些陪审团成员，
and the jurors who convicted Titus,
他们都相信记忆
many people believe that memory
可以作为记录装置。
works like a recording device.
就是人记住了一些信息，
You just record the information,
然后唤起这些信息，重放这些信息
then you call it up and play it back
来回答警察的提问和鉴别嫌犯照片。
when you want to answer questions or identify images.
数十年的心理学研究
But decades of work in psychology
显示这不一定是对的。
has shown that this just isn’t true.
我们的记忆具有可塑性的，
Our memories are constructive.
也是可重塑的。
They’re reconstructive.
记忆有点像维基百科页面：
Memory works a little bit more like a Wikipedia page:
你可以登录编辑它，但是别人也可以这样做。
You can go in there and change it, but so can other people.
我刚开始研究这个可塑性记忆
I first started studying this constructive memory process
是在70年代。
in the 1970s.
我做了实验，向受试者展示
I did my experiments that involved showing people
模拟的犯罪事件和事故。
simulated crimes and accidents
我然后问他们都记住了什么。
and asking them questions about what they remember.
在一项研究中，我们给受试者展示模拟的事故
In one study, we showed people a simulated accident
然后我们问他们
and we asked people,
他们相撞的时候，车速有多快。
how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?
然后我们问其他的人
And we asked other people,
如果他们重撞在一起时，车速有多快。
how fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?
如果我们用”重撞“这个词儿来引导他们时，
And if we asked the leading “smashed” question,
受试者更倾向于告诉我们车速是非常快的。
the witnesses told us the cars were going faster,
不仅如此，用”重撞“来诱导问题时，
and moreover, that leading “smashed” question
人们更倾向于告诉我们，
caused people to be more likely to tell us
他们在事故现场看到了破碎的玻璃。
that they saw broken glass in the accident scene
其实，根本就没有什么破碎的玻璃。
when there wasn’t any broken glass at all.
在另一项研究中，我们展示的是一个模拟事故，
In another study, we showed a simulated accident
一辆车正经过一个有”停车”牌的十字路口。
where a car went through an intersection with a stop sign,
如果我们暗示受试者那是个“让路”牌的时候，
and if we asked a question that insinuated it was a yield sign,
很多受试者会说他们记得十字路口有“让路”牌，
many witnesses told us they remember seeing a yield sign
而不是“停车”牌。
at the intersection, not a stop sign.
你会说，嗯，
And you might be thinking, well, you know,
这只是拍摄下来的模拟现场，
these are filmed events,
受试者没有什么精神压力。
they are not particularly stressful.
如果在真实的现场会有同样的错误吗？
Would the same kind of mistakes be made
那可是真正紧张的时刻。
with a really stressful event?
我们最近发表了一个几个月前的研究课题。
In a study we published just a few months ago,
正好可以回答你的这个问题。
we have an answer to this question,
这项研究不同以往的地方在于
because what was unusual about this study
我们见了有过紧张压力体验的受试者。
is we arranged for people to have a very stressful experience.
这项研究的受试者
The subjects in this study
是美军军方人士。
were members of the U.S. military
他们经历了残酷的训练
who were undergoing a harrowing training exercise
来体验
to teach them what it’s going to be like for them
被活捉成为战犯的场面。
if they are ever captured as prisoners of war.
这个训练的其中一部分就是
And as part of this training exercise,
这些士兵遭到长达30分钟的刑讯逼供和
these soldiers are interrogated in an aggressive,
严刑拷打。
hostile, physically abusive fashion for 30 minutes
后来他们必须努力辨别出
and later on they have to try to identify
是谁对他们施加了暴行。
the person who conducted that interrogation.
当我们向他们建议
And when we feed them suggestive information
审讯人可能另有其人时，
that insinuates it’s a different person,
他们中的很多人认不出真正的审讯人。
many of them misidentify their interrogator,
他们经常指认出
often identifying someone who doesn’t even remotely
完全不相近的人。
resemble the real interrogator.
这些研究结果表明
And so what these studies are showing
当你向人们提供错误信息
is that when you feed people misinformation
误导他们经历过的事情时
about some experience that they may have had,
你完全可以破坏、搅乱甚至改变他们的记忆。
you can distort or contaminate or change their memory.
大千世界，
Well out there in the real world,
错误的信息无处不在。
misinformation is everywhere.
我们得到错误的信息，
We get misinformation
不仅是因为我们遇到误导性提问，
not only if we’re questioned in a leading way,
而且也可能是我们与其他人交谈时
but if we talk to other witnesses
被有意无意地
who might consciously or inadvertently feed us
灌输了错误信息。
some erroneous information,
也可能是我们看到了与我们经历有关的媒体报道。
or if we see media coverage about some event we might have experienced,
这一切都有可能
all of these provide the opportunity
扭曲我们的记忆。
for this kind of contamination of our memory.
90年代，我们观察到
In the 1990s, we began to see
一个更为极端的记忆问题。
an even more extreme kind of memory problem.
一些患者因为一个单纯的问题去看医生，
Some patients were going into therapy with one problem —
也许是因为抑郁，或者饮食失调。
maybe they had depression, an eating disorder —
但当他们结束治疗时，
and they were coming out of therapy
往往会产生完全不同的问题。
with a different problem.
那些关于残酷暴行的极端记忆，
Extreme memories for horrific brutalizations,
有些象是邪教仪式
sometimes in satanic rituals,
有些带有非常奇怪、非常特殊的成分。
sometimes involving really bizarre and unusual elements.
一个结束了心理治疗的妇女
One woman came out of psychotherapy
坚信自己经受了数年的
believing that she’d endured years
残忍的性侵害，使她不幸怀孕。
of ritualistic abuse, where she was forced into a pregnancy
孩子从她的肚子里被夺走。
and that the baby was cut from her belly.
可是她身上根本就没有任何伤疤
But there were no physical scars
也没有任何体征
or any kind of physical evidence
来支持她的观点。
that could have supported her story.
当我研究这些案例时，
And when I began looking into these cases,
我想知道
I was wondering,
这些奇特的记忆是从何而来呢？
where do these bizarre memories come from?
我发现很多这样奇怪的情况
And what I found is that most of these situations
都源于患者的一些心理治疗。
involved some particular form of psychotherapy.
我不禁想到
And so I asked,
这些问题可能跟他们所进行的心理治疗有关-
were some of the things going on in this psychotherapy —
比如想象力训练，
like the imagination exercises
比如解梦，
or dream interpretation,
比如催眠疗法，
or in some cases hypnosis,
或者无意接触到的错误信息。
or in some cases exposure to false information —
这些是不是都会使患者
were these leading these patients
产生一些非常奇怪的
to develop these very bizarre,
不正确的记忆呢？
unlikely memories?
因此我设计了一些实验，
And I designed some experiments
使用心理治疗中会采用的步骤
to try to study the processes that were being used
来研究这些丰富的错误记忆是如何产生的。
in this psychotherapy so I could study
来研究这些丰富的错误记忆是如何产生的。
the development of these very rich false memories.
我们最初的一个研究是，
In one of the first studies we did,
我们对受试者提出建议，
we used suggestion,
这个方法借鉴了我们在案例里看到的一些心理治疗法。
a method inspired by the psychotherapy we saw in these cases,
我们用我们的建议
we used this kind of suggestion
植入一个错误的记忆。
and planted a false memory
那就是：当你还五六岁的时候，
that when you were a kid, five or six years old,
你在一个购物中心走丢了，
you were lost in a shopping mall.
你害怕得哭了，
You were frightened. You were crying.
最终，你在一个长者的帮助下
You were ultimately rescued by an elderly person
找到了家人。
and reunited with the family.
我们成功地
And we succeeded in planting this memory
给大约四分之一的受试者植入了这个错误记忆。
in the minds of about a quarter of our subjects.
你会说，好吧，
And you might be thinking, well,
可是这个不是在心理压力下的测试呀。
that’s not particularly stressful.
我们以及其他的研究人员成功地植入过
But we and other investigators have planted
一些错误的记忆，
rich false memories of things that were
错误得非常离谱，也非常纠结的记忆。
much more unusual and much more stressful.
在田纳西的一项研究中，
So in a study done in Tennessee,
科研人员植入的错误记忆是
researchers planted the false memory
你小的时候，差点淹死过，
that when you were a kid, you nearly drowned
是一个救生员救了你。
and had to be rescued by a life guard.
加拿大的一项研究中，
And in a study done in Canada,
研究人员植入的错误记忆是
researchers planted the false memory
你小的时候
that when you were a kid,
曾经被凶恶的动物
something as awful as being attacked by a vicious animal
攻击过。
happened to you,
近一半的受试者之后有了这样的错误记忆。
succeeding with about half of their subjects.
在意大利的一项研究中，
And in a study done in Italy,
研究者植入的错误记忆是
researchers planted the false memory,
你小时候目睹过恶魔附身
when you were a kid, you witnessed demonic possession.
在这里我想说
I do want to add that it might seem
看起来我们是在伤害受试者
like we are traumatizing these experimental subjects
却打着科学的旗号。
in the name of science,
其实，我们的研究都要经过
but our studies have gone through thorough evaluation
科研道德委员会的层层审批的。
by research ethics boards
经审批，委员会认为，
that have made the decision
对那些会有短暂不适感的
that the temporary discomfort that some
受试者的研究工作
of these subjects might experience in these studies
可以帮助我们更好地
is outweighed by the importance of this problem
理解记忆的过程
for understanding memory processes
和记忆的破坏，那些发生
and the abuse of memory that is going on
在世界各地的问题。
in some places in the world.
令我惊奇的是，
Well, to my surprise,
我发表的研究开始引起了
when I published this work and began to speak out
一些著名理疗师的反对。
against this particular brand of psychotherapy,
他们给我制造了很多麻烦，
it created some pretty bad problems for me:
敌对主要来自于一些心情压抑的记忆治疗师。
hostilities, primarily from the repressed memory therapists,
他们觉得自己受到了攻击。
who felt under attack,
敌对也来自那些认为自己被无端牵扯进来的患者。
and by the patients whom they had influenced.
我有的时候不得不带着保镖
I had sometimes armed guards at speeches
去做演讲嘉宾。
that I was invited to give,
人们写信投诉，要勒令我辞职。
people trying to drum up letter-writing campaigns to get me fired.
可能最糟糕的还有
But probably the worst
我曾经认为一位妇女
was I suspected that a woman
根本就是无辜的。
was innocent of abuse
可是她长大的女儿偏认为
that was being claimed by her grown daughter.
她的妈妈曾经性侵过她，
She accused her mother of sexual abuse
仅仅凭着那些压抑的记忆。
based on a repressed memory.
这个女儿甚至把她的所谓的故事
And this accusing daughter had actually allowed her story
搬上了银幕，曝光给公众。
to be filmed and presented in public places.
我非常怀疑这个故事的真实性。
I was suspicious of this story,
所以我开始了调查，
and so I started to investigate,
最终的调查结果让我相信
and eventually found information that convinced me
这位妈妈是无辜的。
that this mother was innocent.
我发表文章来揭露真相，
I published an exposé on the case,
后来那位女儿
and a little while later, the accusing daughter
把我告上法庭。
filed a lawsuit.
即使我没有提及她的姓名，
Even though I’d never mentioned her name,
她仍然状告我诽谤和侵犯隐私。
she sued me for defamation and invasion of privacy.
这个案子经过了五年的时间。
And I went through nearly five years
我不得不经历大量的令人厌恶的诉讼。
of dealing with this messy, unpleasant litigation,
最终，最终，案子终于结束了，我得以
but finally, finally, it was over and I could really
回到我的工作岗位。
get back to my work.
然而，在这个过程中，我成为
In the process, however, I became part
一直令人不安的趋势的一部分。
of a disturbing trend in America
那就是科学家仅仅因为
where scientists are being sued
在有争议的公共事务中提出自己的观点而遭诉讼。
for simply speaking out on matters of great public controversy.
我回到工作岗位时，我提出这样一个问题，
When I got back to my work, I asked this question:
当我给你植入一个错误记忆后，
if I plant a false memory in your mind,
它会有后续影响吗？
does it have repercussions?
它会改变你将来的想法和
Does it affect your later thoughts,
将来的行为吗？
your later behaviors?
我们给你植入错误记忆
Our first study planted a false memory
你因此就像孩子吃错了东西一样生病。
that you got sick as a child eating certain foods:
就象吃错了坏鸡蛋、腌菜、草莓冰激凌一样生病。
hard-boiled eggs, dill pickles, strawberry ice cream.
我们发现一旦我们植入了错误记忆，
And we found that once we planted this false memory,
人们就不那么喜欢在野餐的时候吃那些食物了
people didn’t want to eat the foods as much
人们就不那么喜欢在野餐的时候吃那些食物了
at an outdoor picnic.
错误记忆不一定就是不好的，不愉快的。
The false memories aren’t necessarily bad or unpleasant.
如果我们植入一个温暖、温馨的记忆，
If we planted a warm, fuzzy memory
记忆里面有美味的芦笋的话，
involving a healthy food like asparagus,
我们就会让人们更喜欢吃芦笋。
we could get people to want to eat asparagus more.
所以这些研究表明，
And so what these studies are showing
你可以植入错误记忆，
is that you can plant false memories
而记忆有后续反应。
and they have repercussions
一旦形成了这个记忆，它会长久地影响你的行为。
that affect behavior long after the memories take hold.
那么，
Well, along with this ability
通过植入记忆来影响行为的这种能力
to plant memories and control behavior
很明显会带来一些严肃的道德问题。
obviously come some important ethical issues,
比如，我们什么情况下可以使用这样的意识技术？
like, when should we use this mind technology?
我们应该不应该禁止它的使用？
And should we ever ban its use?
在伦理上，治疗师不能
Therapists can’t ethically plant false memories
给患者植入错误的记忆，
in the mind of their patients
即使这有助于帮助患者。
even if it would help the patient,
但是这不能阻止一些家长为了
but there’s nothing to stop a parent
他们超重和肥胖的孩子去尝试这种治疗。
from trying this out on their overweight or obese teenager.
我建议公开使用这种疗法时，
And when I suggested this publicly,
又引起了舆论大哗。
it created an outcry again.
“看看她，她主张让父母跟孩子撒谎。”
“There she goes. She’s advocating that parents lie to their children.”
你好，圣诞老人。（笑声）
Hello, Santa Claus. (Laughter)
我的意思是，从另一个角度想这个问题，
I mean, another way to think about this is,
你是宁可
which would you rather have,
有一个肥胖的，有糖尿病的，短命的
a kid with obesity, diabetes, shortened lifespan,
问题众多的孩子，
all the things that go with it,
还是想要一个有一点小小错误记忆的孩子？
or a kid with one little extra bit of false memory?
我知道我会怎么给我的孩子选，
I know what I would choose for a kid of mine.
也许是我的工作让我和别人不大一样。
But maybe my work has made me different from most people.
很多人珍视他们的记忆，
Most people cherish their memories,
知道那些代表他的身份，
know that they represent their identity,
代表他们是谁，从哪儿来。
who they are, where they came from.
我明白这些。我也是那么认为的。
And I appreciate that. I feel that way too.
但从我的工作中我知道，
But I know from my work
一个人的记忆中到底有多少是虚构的。
how much fiction is already in there.
这么几十年的工作确实让我
If I’ve learned anything from these decades
学到些东西，那就是：
of working on these problems, it’s this:
即使有人告诉过你，
just because somebody tells you something
而且是胸有成竹地告诉你，
and they say it with confidence,
即使他们描述了很多细节，
just because they say it with lots of detail,
即使他们满怀激情地描述，
just because they express emotion when they say it,
那也不等于它真的就发生过。
it doesn’t mean that it really happened.
我们无法从真实的记忆中识别错误记忆。
We can’t reliably distinguish true memories from false memories.
我们需要独立的佐证。
We need independent corroboration.
这样的发现使我能够忍受
Such a discovery has made me more tolerant
每天发生的记忆错误，
of the everyday memory mistakes
那些来自朋友家人的记忆错误。
that my friends and family members make.
这样的发现本来可以挽救斯蒂夫•塔提斯，
Such a discovery might have saved Steve Titus,
那个被无端夺走生命的人。
the man whose whole future was snatched away
这一切仅仅源于一个错误的记忆。
by a false memory.
但同时，我们需要记住，
But meanwhile, we should all keep in mind,
我们需要做好事。
we’d do well to,
那些记忆就像自由一样，
that memory, like liberty,
是很脆弱的。
is a fragile thing.
谢谢，谢谢！
Thank you. Thank you.
非常感谢！（掌声）
Thank you. (Applause)
非常感谢！（掌声）
Thanks very much. (Applause)