Vliet was asked to investigate the biology behind the “crocodilian metaphor” by Malcolm Shaner, a UCLA neurologist researching a phenomenon in which some facial palsy sufferers cry when they chew. Doctors often refer to this eye-watering condition as “crocodile tears,” and a 1920s Russian scientist once suggested that such weakened facial muscles allowed "older, possibly crocodilian neurological pathways to emerge" in humans.
弗利特是受加州大学洛杉矶分校的神经学家马尔科姆·沙纳之托来研究“鳄鱼比喻”背后的生物学原理。沙纳正在研究某些面瘫患者在咀嚼时会流泪的现象。医生们通常把这种流泪症状称为“鳄鱼的眼泪”。20世纪20年代的一位俄罗斯科学家曾指出,这种面部肌肉衰弱可能导致人体起用“更古老的或许是鳄鱼式的神经通路”。
由此看来,鳄鱼流泪只是进食时身体产生的一种自然生理现象,和同情悔过毫无关系,难怪人们会将虚伪的哭泣比作鳄鱼的眼泪了。
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