Professor Blake, um, did he happen to look at people who sign? I mean deaf people?
布莱克教授,额,他有没有观察过耳聋的人?
Uh, he did indeed, um, and to jump ahead,
额,他确实观察过,跳到前面,
what one finds in deaf individuals who use sign language when they’re given problems of various kinds,
他发现那些用标志语言的耳聋个体,给他们各种问题,
they have muscular changes in their hands when they are trying to solve a problem...
在试图解决问题时,他们的手部会有肌肉改变,
muscle changes in the hand, just like the muscular changes going on in the throat region for speaking individuals.
手部的肌肉变化,就像那些能说话的个体发生在喉部的肌肉变化一样。
So, for Watson, thinking is identical with the activity of muscles.
所以,沃森认为思考就是肌肉的活动。
A related concept of thinking was developed by William James. It’s called ideomotor action.
一个相关的思考理念是威廉姆詹姆斯提出来的。叫做动念动作。
Ideomotor action is an activity that occurs without our noticing it, without our being aware of it.
动念动作就是在我们没有注意到且无意识的情况下产生的活动。
I’ll give you one simple example.
我给你们举个简单的例子。
If you think of locations, there tends to be eye movement that occurs with your thinking about that location.
你在思考方向的时候,思考的同时会有眼部运动发生。
In particular, from where we’re sitting, imagine that you’re asked to think of our university library.
特别是,从我们坐的地方,想象有人让你想一下我们大学图书馆。
Well, if you close your eyes and think of the library,
如果你闭上眼睛思考图书馆的位置,
and if you’re sitting directly facing me,
再假设你直接坐在我对面,
then according to this notion, your eyeballs will move slightly to the left, to your left,
然后根据这个看法,你的眼球会稍微往左移动,往你的左边,
‘cause the library’s in that general direction.
因为图书馆就在大概的方向。
James and others said that this is an idea leading to a motor action,
詹姆斯和其他人认为,这个想法引出运动动作,
and that’s why it’s called “ideomotor action” —an idea leads to motor activity.
所以它被称为“动念动作”——一个引出运动活动的主意。
If you wish to impress your friends and relatives, you can change this simple process into a magic trick.
如果你想给你的朋友或者亲属留下深刻的印象,你可以把这个简单的过程变成魔术。
Ask people to do something such as I’ve just described: think of something on their left;
让人们做一些事情,比如我刚刚描述过的:想起一件在他们左边的东西;
think of something on their right.
或者想起一件在他们右边的东西。
You get them to think about two things on either side with their eyes closed, and you watch their eyes very carefully.
你让他们闭上眼睛思考他们分别位于两侧的两件东西,然后仔细观察他们的眼睛。
And if you do that, you’ll discover that you can see rather clearly the eye movement—
然后你会发现你可以很清楚地看见眼睛的运动,
that is, you can see the movement of the eyeballs.
也就是说,你能看见眼球的运动。
Now, then you say, think of either one and I’ll tell which you’re thinking of.
然后你说,随便想一个东西,我可以知道你在想什么。
OK.Well, Watson makes the assumption that muscular activity is equivalent to thinking.
好了。沃森假设肌肉运动等同于思考。
But given everything we’ve been talking about here, one has to ask:
但是考虑到我们讲的内容,有人要问了:
are there alternatives to this motor theory—this claim that muscular activities are equivalent to thinking?
这个主张肌肉运动等同于思考的肌动理论有没有可选项?
Is there anything else that might account for this change in muscular activity, other than saying that it is thinking?
有没有其他的东西会引起这个肌肉运动,除了说那是在思考?
And the answer is clearly yes.
答案明显是肯定的。
Is there any way to answer the question definitively? I think the answer is no.
有没有方法确定地回答这个问题?我想答案是否定的。