(과학) 귀신체험 실험실에서 재현

출처: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-29939672

7 November 2014 Last updated at 01:35

'Ghostly presence' created in lab '귀신체험' 실험실에서 재현

By Rebecca MorelleScience Correspondent, BBC News

The researchers created an experiment that made some participants feel a ghost was present in the room 연구자들이 참가자로 하여금 실험실에서 귀신이 있는 것같은 느낌을 체험하게 하는 실험을 했다

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Feelings of a ghostly presence - the sense that someone is close-by when no-one is there - lie in the mind, a study has concluded. 귀신이 있는 것 같은 느낌(아무도 없는데도 누군가 옆에 있는 것같은 느낌)은 머리 속에 있다고 연구서는 결론을 내린다.

Scientists say that they have identified the parts of the brain that are responsible for generating these spooky sensations. 과학자들은 우리 뇌의 어느 부분이 이와 같이 으시시한(귀신 있을 거 같은) 느낌을 책임지는지 밝혀냈다.

They have also created an experiment that makes some people feel like there is a ghost nearby. 과학자들은 사람들이 귀신이 근처에 있는 것 같은 느낌을 느끼도록 하는 실험을 했다.

The research is published in the journal Current Biology. 연구결과는 <현재 생물학 Current Biology> 저널에 실렸다.

There are many tales of the paranormal, but an often-reported phenomenon is that of the invisible apparition. 초자연적 현상에 대한 이야기들이 많이 있으나, 흔히 보고되는 현상들은 눈에 안 보이는 발현에 대한 이야기이다.

Dr Giulio Rognini, from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), says: "The sensation is very vivid. They feel somebody but they cannot see it. It is always a felt presence." 스위스 연방 테크놀로지 연구소의 기유리오 박사는 "느낌이 너무 생생하다. 사람들은 누군가 있다고 느끼지만 그 사람을 볼 수 없다. 이는 항상 뭔가 있다는 느낌이다."고 말한다.

He said it was common in those who experience extreme conditions, such as mountaineers and explorers, and people with some neurological conditions, among others. 그는 극단적 상황들을 경험하는 사람들 - 산악인, 탐험가, 신경질환을 앓고 있는 사람들 - 에게 흔히 나타나는 현상이다고 말한다.

"What is astonishing is that they frequently report that the movements they are doing or the posture they are assuming at that specific moment is replicated by the presence. So if the patient is sitting, they feel the presence is sitting. If they are standing, the presence is standing, and so on," he explained. 놀라운 건 그들이 현재 하고 있는 움직임들이나 어떤 순간에 취하고 있는 자세가 그 발현에 의해 복제되고 있는 것이라고, 그는 설명한다.

Some of the participants asked for the experiments to stop because the sensation was so odd 참가자들 가운데 일부는 느낌이 너무 이상해서 실험을 중단하고 싶다고 요청했다.

To investigate, the researchers scanned the brains of 12 people with neurological disorders, who had reported experiencing a ghostly presence. 조사를 하기 위해, 연구자들은 귀신체험을 했다고 얘기한 12명의 신경질환을 앓고 있는 사람들의 뇌를 스캔하였다.

They found that all of these patients had some kind of damage in the parts of the brain associated with self-awareness, movement and the body's position in space. 연구자들은 모든 사람들의 뇌에서 자각, 운동, 공간에서 몸의 위치와 연관된 부분들이 손상을 입었음을 발견했다.

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Our brain possesses several representations of our body in space”

Dr Giulio RogniniEPFL

In further tests, the scientists turned to 48 healthy volunteers, who had not previously experienced the paranormal, and devised an experiment to alter the neural signals in these regions of the brain. 후속 테스트에서, 과학자들은 과거에 초자연현상을 전혀 경험해본 적 없는 48명의 건강한 실험 지원자들을 대상으로 하여, 이 지역의 뇌에 있는  신경신호를 바꾸는 실험을 처음으로 시도(창안)하였다.

They blindfolded the participants, and asked them to manipulate a robot with their hands. As they did this, another robot traced these exact movements on the volunteers' backs.

When the movements at the front and back of the volunteer's body took place at exactly the same time, they reported nothing strange.

But when there was a delay between the timing of the movements, one third of the participants reported feeling that there was a ghostly presence in the room, and some reported feeling up to four apparitions were there.

Two of the participants found the sensation so strange, they asked for the experiments to stop.

The researchers say that these strange interactions with the robot are temporarily changing brain function in the regions associated with self-awareness and perception of the body's position.

The team believes when people sense a ghostly presence, the brain is getting confused: it's miscalculating the body's position and identifying it as belonging to someone else.

Dr Rognini said: "Our brain possesses several representations of our body in space. 우리의 뇌에는 공간에 있는 몸에 대한 여러 가지 모습들이 있는 거라고, 로그니니 박사는 말한다.

"Under normal conditions, it is able to assemble a unified self-perception of the self from these representations.

"But when the system malfunctions because of disease - or, in this case, a robot - this can sometimes create a second representation of one's own body, which is no longer perceived as 'me' but as someone else, a 'presence'."

The researchers said that their findings could help to better understand neurological conditions such as schizophrenia. 과학자들은 이번 연구에서 발견한 것들은 앞으로 정신분열증처럼 신경질환을 더 잘 이해하는데 도움이 될 것이라고 말한다.