任者：Benjamin Radford
Do you believe in life after death?
你相信死后有來(lái)生嗎？
Many people believe in ghosts and heaven, and about three in 100 Americans report actually having near-death experiences. These typically include an awareness of being dead, out-of-body experiences, meeting dead people, entering tunnels of light, and so on.
許多人深信這個(gè)世界上存在鬼魂和上帝。100個(gè)美國(guó)人中約有3個(gè)人說(shuō)自己曾經(jīng)有瀕死的經(jīng)歷。典型特征包括意識(shí)到自己即將離世、魂不附體、遇見(jiàn)了已故之人、穿梭于時(shí)光隧道等等。
But these are stories and anecdotes; what does science have to say?
但這些只是一些故事和傳聞，從科學(xué)角度是如何解釋的呢？
A new article published in Trends in Cognitive Sciences by neuroscientist Dean Mobbs, of the University of Cambridge's Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, and Caroline Watt, of the University of Edinburgh, finds that "contrary to popular belief, research suggests that there is nothing paranormal about these experiences. Instead, near-death experiences are the manifestation of normal brain function gone awry, during a traumatic, and sometimes harmless, event."
最近發(fā)表在《認(rèn)知科學(xué)進(jìn)展》上的一項(xiàng)研究表明“與現(xiàn)今流行的超自然觀相悖的是，瀕死經(jīng)歷可以被科學(xué)解釋。當(dāng)人們精神上受到非常不愉快的打擊并且又不致?lián)p傷時(shí)，瀕死經(jīng)歷往往是正常大腦工作出錯(cuò)的表現(xiàn)。”這項(xiàng)研究由劍橋大學(xué)醫(yī)學(xué)研究所認(rèn)知和腦科學(xué)中心神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)科學(xué)家Mobbs和愛(ài)丁堡大學(xué)的Caroline Watt合作而成。
Mobbs and Watt noted that many classic NDE symptoms are actually reported by people who were never in danger of dying in the first place. This suggests that the perception that one is near death is traumatic and disturbing enough to cause some of the experiences.
Mobbs和Watt指出事實(shí)上許多典型瀕死經(jīng)歷的癥狀是來(lái)自于那些從未有過(guò)瀕死經(jīng)歷的人們的描述。這意味著人在面臨死亡時(shí)自身造成的恐懼與不安就有可能產(chǎn)生類(lèi)似的幻想。
Researcher Susan Blackmore, author of Dying to Live: Near-Death Experiences (Prometheus Books, 1993), notes that many NDEs (such as euphoria and the feeling of moving toward a tunnel of white light) are common symptoms of oxygen deprivation in the brain.
《垂死的掙扎：瀕死經(jīng)歷》的作者Susan Blackmore在書(shū)中指出許多瀕死經(jīng)歷（諸如過(guò)度興奮，感到自己穿梭于時(shí)光隧道等）都是大腦缺氧的普遍征兆。
The new paper also discussed something called "walking corpse" syndrome, named after French neurologist Jules Cotard. Co-author Watt told Discovery News, "The sufferer feels that he or she is dead, even though not actually near death. It can be associated with trauma and some illnesses. It's not fully understood why individuals suffer from Cotard syndrome, but one possibility is that it's the brain's attempt to make sense of the strange experiences that the patient is having.
這篇文章還探論了“靈魂出竅”癥狀，以法國(guó)神經(jīng)病學(xué)家Jules Cotard的名字命名。作者Watt告訴記者說(shuō)“產(chǎn)生這種癥狀的人感覺(jué)到自己已經(jīng)死了，而事實(shí)上還未到死亡邊緣。這可能與創(chuàng)傷或某些疾病相關(guān)。目前還不清楚為什么人們會(huì)產(chǎn)生這樣的癥狀，但是有一種解釋是大腦在試圖去了解病人的這些奇特經(jīng)歷。”
"This is relevant to NDEs because the near-death experience may also arise out of an attempt to interpret unusual physiological and psychological experiences, and the NDE includes the perception that one is not alive in the normal sense of the word."
“這也適用于解釋瀕死經(jīng)歷，因?yàn)樵噲D去理解非正常的生理和心靈現(xiàn)象也會(huì)產(chǎn)生瀕死經(jīng)歷；并且瀕死經(jīng)歷包含著從一般意義上來(lái)說(shuō)，人并不是存活的觀念”。
Watt's research also busts another myth: that people have "returned from the dead" -- if by dead you mean clinical brain death.
Watt的研究還打破了人類(lèi)會(huì)“起死回生”的說(shuō)法。 沒(méi)有人會(huì)在臨床死亡（從身體狀況判斷為死亡的）后還能存活下來(lái)的（這就是為什么我們稱(chēng)之為瀕死經(jīng)歷）。雖然有人在心跳停止大約20分鐘左右后還會(huì)復(fù)蘇，但對(duì)于經(jīng)歷了大腦死亡后又存活過(guò)來(lái)的人們來(lái)說(shuō)，他們的大腦已經(jīng)遭到了無(wú)法彌補(bǔ)的傷害，因而也很難描述自己的經(jīng)歷。 “臨床大腦死亡后仍繼續(xù)存活的想法是無(wú)法實(shí)現(xiàn)的，”Watt說(shuō)。“瀕死經(jīng)歷有時(shí)是由人們經(jīng)歷了一些所謂的“死亡前期征兆”后才作出的描述，例如，當(dāng)某人心跳停止跳動(dòng)了一會(huì)兒后又復(fù)蘇了。但一項(xiàng)調(diào)查顯示，82%的曾經(jīng)臨近死亡的而繼續(xù)存活的人們沒(méi)有過(guò)上述的瀕死經(jīng)歷。這似乎會(huì)徹底打消死后還會(huì)產(chǎn)生一些奇特經(jīng)歷的觀點(diǎn)。” 他堅(jiān)信這些瀕死經(jīng)歷對(duì)人們有持久的吸引力，因?yàn)槿藗兘蚪驑?lè)道于人類(lèi)死后靈魂不滅之說(shuō)。 “這個(gè)觀點(diǎn)會(huì)讓人們感到欣慰”，Watt說(shuō)道，“它意味著人類(lèi)沒(méi)有像其他物種一樣只是簡(jiǎn)單 的生活在這個(gè)地球上。” 瀕死經(jīng)歷可能由化學(xué)引起，并且可以從神經(jīng)病學(xué)理論來(lái)解釋。由此看來(lái)這只是一個(gè)自然的緣故，而非超自然的現(xiàn)象。No one has survived true clinical death (which is why the experiences are called near-death). Many people have been revived after their heart stopped for short periods of time -- around 20 minutes or more -- but anyone revived from brain death would be permanently and irreparably brain damaged and certainly unable to report their experiences.
"The idea of surviving clinical brain death is mythical," Watt said. "NDEs are sometimes reported after a person experiences some of the preliminary 'stages' of death -- for instance, when the heart stops beating for a while and the person is then revived. I think it's curious, however, that a survey has shown that 82 percent of individuals who have survived being actually near death do not report a near-death experience. That would seem to undermine the idea that these experiences give a glimpse into life after death."
Watt believes that near-death experiences hold an enduring fascination for people because they like the idea that humans survive bodily death.
"Some people find this a comforting idea," Watt said, "because it suggests we are not simply like other biological organisms on our planet."
The fact that near-death experiences can be chemically induced and explained by neurological mechanisms suggests a natural -- instead of supernatural -- cause.
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