美婦女大腦扁桃核損傷 不知害怕爲何物

According to the AP on December 16, US scientists have discovered a woman, SM, with a rare brain disease that makes her afraid of nothing -- not a huge snake lurking near her children, not a knife to her throat, and certainly not a horror movie。

SM isn't some cold-blooded psychopath or a hero with a tight rein on her emotions. She's an ordinary mother of three with a specific psychological impairment, the result of a very rare genetic disease that damaged a brain structure called the amygdale。

Her case shows that the amygdale plays a key role in making people feel afraid in threatening situations, researchers say。

Other research shows SM scores normally on tests of intelligence, memory and language, and she experiences emotions other than fear. She lives independently。

據美聯社12月16日報道，美國科學家近日發現美國一名婦女SM得來一種罕見的大腦疾病，導致她不會產生恐懼情緒。她不害怕靠近她孩子的巨蛇，也不怕架在她脖子上的匕首，更不害怕恐怖電影。

專家通過研究發現，SM並非冷血的精神病患者，也不是無畏的英雄。她是一位有三個小孩的普通母親，患有特殊心理障礙疾病。專家研究結果表明這種疾病是一種罕見的遺傳病，導致她的大腦組織扁桃體受到了破壞。

專家稱，SM的病例說明，扁桃核在恐怖的環境裏對產生恐懼情緒起着關鍵的作用。

其他研究顯示，SM在智力、記憶力和語言測試等方面表現很正常。除了恐懼情緒外，其他情緒跟常人一樣，另外，她的生活也很獨立。