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Long before Descartes famously declared, 'I think, therefore I am,'
几百年前，笛卡尔说了那句名言“我思故我在”
and long after that, scientists and philosophers alike have puzzled over what they call the mind-body problem.
很久之后，很多科学家和哲学家都在苦苦探索所谓的心身关系问题。
Is the mind some separate, non-material entity piloting a machine of flesh?
心灵是某种独立的非物质实体，在操控着肉体？
Or if it's just a particularly elusive part of our physical body,
还是说它实际是身体的一部分，只是非常深奥，
how can it translate the input of our animal senses into the seemingly non-physical experiences that we call thoughts?
那它如何把我们各种本能的感触觉转换成非物质性的经验，也就是我们所说的“想法”？
But though the answers have been debated endlessly,
尽管人们对这个问题的解答莫衷一是，
new research suggests that part of the problem lies in how we pose the question in the first place,
但有新研究发现，人们之所以观点不一，
assuming a distinction between our sensory perception and our ideas that may not really be there.
原因之一在于人们从一开始就假设感知与想法之间存在差别，但这两者可能并没有不同。
The traditional model of our mental function has been that the senses provide separate data to our brain
按照传统观点，我们的认知模式是这样的，各种感触觉向大脑输入不同的数据，
which are then translated into the appropriate mental phenomena:
这些数据继而被解读成相应的精神现象：
visual images into trees, auditory experiences into bird songs, and so on.
例如，树木以图像存储，鸟叫声以声音的形式存储等等。
But occasionally, we have come across people whose senses seem to mingle together, allowing them to hear colors, or taste sounds.
但有些人的认知模式并非如此，他们的感触觉似乎是混合交融的，他们能够听到颜色，尝到声音。
Until recently, the common understanding was that this phenomenon, called synesthesia,
近年来，人们将这种认知模式称为通感，
was a direct connection between the parts of the brain responsible for sensory stimuli
它连通了大脑中的各种感官刺激，
such as seeing the color yellow immediately upon hearing the tone of b flat.
比如看见黄色会立即听到降B音。
But newer studies have shown that
另有最新研究发现，
synesthesia is actually mediated through our understanding of the shapes, colors and sounds that our senses apprehend.
通感实际上是通过我们对形状、颜色、声音的理解来联通的。
In order for the cross-sensory experiences to occur,
为了实现跨感官现象，
the higher level ideas and concepts that our minds associate with the sensory input must be activated.
必须激活思想中跟感官输入有关的更高水平的思想与概念。
For example, this shape can be seen as either the letter 's' or the number '5,'
例如，这个形状可以是字母S或者数字5，
and synesthetes associate each with different colors or sounds based on how they interpret it
而不同的通感者则会将它跟不同的颜色或声音联系在一起，
despite the purely visual stimulus remaining identical.
尽管他们接受的是完全相同的视觉刺激。
In another study, synesthetes created novel color associations for unfamiliar letters after learning what the letters were.
另一个研究发现，通感者在认识了一个新字母后会为其建立新的颜色关联。
So because it relies on a connection between ideas and senses,
由于这一现象依靠的是心身连接，
this mental phenomenon underlying synesthesia is known as ideasthesia.
因此这种隐含于通感的心理现象被称为联觉。
Synesthesia only occurs in some people, although it may be more common than previously thought.
只有少部分人有通感，尽管他们的数量比我们预料得要多。
But ideasthesia itself is a fundamental part of our lives.
我们生活中离不开联觉的体验。
Virtually all of us recognize the color red as warm and blue as cold.
几乎所有人都认为红色代表温暖，蓝色代表寒冷。
Many would agree that bright colors, italic letters and thin lines are high-pitched, while earth tones are low-pitched.
许多人都认同明亮的颜色、斜体和细线是高频率的，而大地色系是低频率的。
And while many of these associations are acquired through cultural exposure,
尽管这些联系大部分与文化背景有关，
others have been demonstrated even in infants and apes, suggesting that at least some associations are inborn.
但有些联系也体现在婴儿和猩猩中，这说明有些联系是与生俱来的。
When asked to choose between two possible names for these shapes,
当让人们给这两个图形配对名称的时候，
people from entirely different cultural and language backgrounds overwhelmingly agree that 'kiki' is the spiky star,
来自不同文化和语言背景的人一致认为kiki是那个尖角星星，
while 'bouba' is the rounded blob, both because of the sounds themselves and the shapes our mouths make to produce them.
而bouba是那个圆润的水渍图，这是因为两个单词的发音嘴型跟两个图案很像。
And this leads to even more associations within a rich semantic network.
同时语义上的关联也有很多。
Kiki is described as nervous and clever, while bouba is perceived as lazy and slow.
大家都认为Kiki紧张、聪明，而bouba又懒又慢。
What all of this suggests is that our everyday experiences of colors, sounds and other stimuli do not live on separate sensory islands
这些都说明我们对颜色声音和其他刺激的经验不是分离的，
but are organized in a network of associations similar to our language network.
而是同处于一个关系网络中，就像我们的语言系统一样。
This is what enables us to understand metaphors even though they make no logical sense,
所以我们能理解比喻，尽管它们其实毫无逻辑，
such as the comparison of snow to a white blanket, based on the shared sensations of softness and lightness.
例如把雪比作白色的毯子，因为它们都很软很轻。
Ideasthesia may even be crucial to art, which relies on a synthesis of the conceptual and the emotional.
联觉甚至对艺术也至关重要，艺术依赖于概念与情感的通感。
In great art, idea and aesthesia enhance each other, whether it's song lyrics combining perfectly with a melody,
在伟大的艺术作品中，思想和美感总是互相作用、彼此增强，无论是歌词与旋律的结合，
the thematic content of a painting heightened by its use of colors and brushstrokes,
一副画作中颜色与笔法对主题思想的烘托，
or the well constructed plot of a novel conveyed through perfectly crafted sentences.
或是小说中遣词造句对故事情节的阐述效果。
Most importantly, the network of associations formed by ideasethesia may not only be similar to our linguistic network
最重要的是，由联觉构造的关系网络不仅类似于语言系统，
but may, in fact, be an integral part of it.
事实上可能是语言系统的中不可或缺的一部分。
Rather than the traditional view, where our senses first capture a collection of colors and shapes, or some vibrations in the air,
传统理论认为感官先接受到一系列颜色、形状，空气的震动，
and our mind then classifies them as a tree or a siren,
然后大脑才确认这是一棵树或海妖赛壬，
ideasthesia suggests that the two processes occur simultaneously.
而联觉则会同步感知这两个过程。
Our sensory perceptions are shaped by our conceptual understanding of the world.
感知能力的存在是基于我们对世界的概念理解。
And the two are so connected that one cannot exist without the other.
两者紧密相连、不可分割。
If this model suggested by ideasthesia is accurate,
如果联觉的模型是正确的，
it may have major implications for some of the biggest scientific and philosophical issues surrounding the study of mind.
可能对科学界、心理学界思想领域造成巨大的影响。
Without a preexisting concept of self, Descartes would not have had an 'I' to attribute the thinking to.
如果不存在个人概念，笛卡尔不可能把“我”作为思考的主体。
And without a preexisting network of interrelated and distinct concepts,
如果没有彼此相关又各有区别的概念组成的网络，
our sensory experience of the world would be an undifferentiated mass rather than the discrete objects we actually apprehend.
我们对于世界的感官体验将会变成无法分辨的一团混乱，而不是我们现在所感受到的多采多姿的世间万物。
For science, the task is to find where this network lies,
对科学而言，我们的任务是去发现这一概念网络在哪，
how it is formed, and how it interacts with external stimuli.
它是如何形成的，如何与外界刺激进行交互。
For philosophy, the challenge is to rethink what this new model of consciousness
对哲学而言，挑战之处在于重新思考这一全新的模型
means for our understanding of our selves and our relation to the world around us.
对我们自身、我们与世界的关系意味着什么。
