讀腦技術讓電腦讀懂你的心

Last week, engineers sniffing around the programming code for Google Glass found hidden examples of ways that people might interact with the wearable computers without having to say a word. Among them, a user could nod to turn the glasses on or off. A single wink might tell the glasses to take a picture.

上週，探查谷歌眼鏡程序源碼的工程師們發現了一些隱藏的功能，人們或許不用吭一聲，就能操作可穿戴式計算機。比如，用戶可以用點頭的方式開啓或關閉眼鏡。用眨眼示意的方式也許能給眼鏡下令，讓其拍照。

But don't expect these gestures to be necessary for long. Soon, we might interact with our smartphones and computers simply by using our minds. In a couple of years, we could be turning on the lights at home just by thinking about it, or sending an e-mail from our smartphone without even pulling the device from our pocket. Farther into the future, your robot assistant will appear by your side with a glass of lemonade simply because it knows you are thirsty.

但是，不要以爲這些示意動作的必要性會長久。很快，我們就可能用思維來操作智能手機和計算機。再過兩三年，我們可能只要一想開燈，家裏的燈就開了，或者不用從口袋裏掏出智能手機，就把電子郵件發出去了。再以後，你的機器人助手會把一杯檸檬水端到你身邊，因爲它知道你渴了。

Researchers in Samsung's Emerging Technology Lab are testing tablets that can be controlled by your brain, using a cap that resembles a ski hat studded with monitoring electrodes, the MIT Technology Review, the science and technology journal of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, reported this month.

麻省理工學院(Massachusetts Institute of Technology)的科技雜誌《MIT技術評論》(MIT Technology Review)本月報道稱，三星新興技術實驗室(Samsung's Emerging Technology Lab)的研究人員正在測試能用人腦控制的平板計算機，實現的方法是讓人帶上一頂像滑雪帽那樣的、佈滿了監控電極的帽子。

The technology, often called a brain computer interface, was conceived to enable people with paralysis and other disabilities to interact with computers or control robotic arms, all by simply thinking about such actions. Before long, these technologies could well be in consumer electronics, too.

這種通常被稱爲腦機接口的技術，原來的構想是爲了讓癱瘓或有其他殘疾的人，只需要用腦子想一些動作，就能操作計算機、或控制機械臂。過不了多久，這類技術也可能會被用到大衆化的電子產品上。

Some crude brain-reading products already exist, letting people play easy games or move a mouse around a screen. NeuroSky, a company based in San Jose, Calif., recently released a Bluetooth-enabled headset that can monitor slight changes in brain waves and allow people to play concentration-based games on computers and smartphones. These include a zombie-chasing game, archery and a game where you dodge bullets — all these apps use your mind as the joystick. Another company, Emotiv, sells a headset that looks like a large alien hand and can read brain waves associated with thoughts, feelings and expressions. The device can be used to play Tetris-like games or search through Flickr photos by thinking about an emotion the person is feeling — like happy, or excited — rather than searching by keywords. Muse, a lightweight, wireless headband, can engage with an app that "exercises the brain" by forcing people to concentrate on aspects of a screen, almost like taking your mind to the gym.

市場上已經有一些簡單的讀取腦信號的產品，人們能用它們來玩簡單遊戲、或者移動屏幕上的鼠標。最近，總部在加利福尼亞州聖何塞的神念科技(NeuroSky)推出了一款具有藍牙通訊能力的耳機，該耳機能通過監測腦電波的細微變化，讓人們在計算機和智能手機上玩基於注意力的遊戲，包括追殭屍的遊戲、射箭，以及躲子彈的遊戲，這些遊戲軟件都用你的大腦作爲操縱桿。另一家公司Emotiv正在上市一款看上去像一隻巨大的外星人手的耳機，它能讀取與思維、感覺和表情相關的腦電波。該設備能被用來玩像俄羅斯方塊這樣的遊戲，或者通過想一個自己正在感受的情感——比如開心或興奮——而不是通過關鍵詞，在Flickr照片裏搜索有關圖片。而名爲Muse的輕便無線頭箍，能與一個“鍛鍊大腦”的應用軟件互動，它會強迫人們將注意力集中於屏幕上的某些方面，就像是帶你的大腦去健身房。

Car manufacturers are exploring technologies packed into the back of the seat that detect when people fall asleep while driving and rattle the steering wheel to awaken them.

汽車製造商正在研發能夠裝入座位靠背的技術，這種技術能監測到人在開車時睡着，並通過震動方向盤來叫醒他們。

But the products commercially available today will soon look archaic. "The current brain technologies are like trying to listen to a conversation in a football stadium from a blimp," said John Donoghue, a neuroscientist and director of the Brown Institute for Brain Science. "To really be able to understand what is going on with the brain today you need to surgically implant an array of sensors into the brain." In other words, to gain access to the brain, for now you still need a chip in your head.

然而，現在市場上已有的這類產品很快將會過時。布朗大學腦科學研究所(Brown Institute for Brain Science)所長、神經科學家約翰·多諾霍(John Donoghue)說，“如今的腦技術，就像試圖從一架軟式飛艇上聽下面足球場中的談話。用如今的技術，要想真正瞭解大腦裏的活動，你需要用手術在大腦中植入一個傳感器陣列。”換句話說，至少在現在，想獲得大腦信息，你仍需在大腦中裝個芯片。

Last year, a project called BrainGate pioneered by Dr. Donoghue, enabled two people with full paralysis to use a robotic arm with a computer responding to their brain activity. One woman, who had not used her arms in 15 years, could grasp a bottle of coffee, serve herself a drink and then return the bottle to a table. All done by imagining the robotic arm's movements.

去年，由多諾霍牽頭的一個名爲“大腦之門”(BrainGate)的項目，讓兩位完全癱瘓的患者，通過能響應其大腦活動的計算機，來使用機械臂。其中一位15年來都不能用自己手臂的婦女，能端起裝有咖啡的瓶子，讓自己喝上一口，然後把瓶子放回桌上，這些都是通過想象機械臂如何動作來實現的。

But that chip inside the head could soon vanish as scientists say we are poised to gain a much greater understanding of the brain, and, in turn, technologies that empower brain computer interfaces. An initiative by the Obama administration this year called the Brain Activity Map project, a decade-long research project, aims to build a comprehensive map of the brain.

但是，那個裝入大腦的芯片可能很快就不需要了，因爲科學家稱，我們正在能夠更深入地瞭解大腦，這轉而將會提高腦機接口技術的能力。奧巴馬政府今年啓動了一項名爲“人腦活動圖”(Brain Activity Map)的計劃，這項爲期十年的計劃旨在繪製全面的腦活動圖。

Miyoung Chun, a molecular biologist and vice president for science programs at the Kavli Foundation, is working on the project and although she said it would take a decade to completely map the brain, companies would be able to build new kinds of brain computer interface products within two years.

卡弗裏基金會(Kavli Foundation)科學項目副總裁、分子生物學家全美永(Miyoung Chun)正在參與這一計劃。她表示，完成大腦活動圖的繪製雖然需要十年時間，但公司可以在兩年內製造出新型的腦機接口產品。

"The Brain Activity Map will give hardware companies a lot of new tools that will change how we use smartphones and tablets," Dr. Chun said. "It will revolutionize everything from robotic implants and neural prosthetics, to remote controls, which could be history in the foreseeable future when you can change your television channel by thinking about it."

全美永說，“人腦活動圖將給硬件公司提供大量新工具，這會改變我們使用智能手機和平板計算機的方式。這將帶來徹底的改變，從植入式機器肢到人工神經功能器官。還有遙控器，在可預見的將來遙控器會成爲歷史，到那時，只要你想換到哪個頻道，電視機就會換到那個頻道。”

There are some fears to be addressed. On the Muse Web site, an F.A.Q. is devoted to convincing customers that the device cannot siphon thoughts from people's minds.

我們現在還需緩解一些人們的擔憂。在Muse網站上有專門的問答頁，竭力讓顧客相信，其設備不會吸走人的思想。

These brain-reading technologies have been the stuff of science fiction for decades.

這類讀腦技術幾十年來一直都是科幻小說的內容。

In the 1982 movie "Firefox," Clint Eastwood plays a fighter pilot on a mission to the Soviet Union to steal a prototype fighter jet that can be controlled by a brain neurolink. But Mr. Eastwood has to think in Russian for the plane to work, and he almost dies when he cannot get the missiles to fire during a dogfight. (Don't worry, he survives.)

在1982年的電影《火狐》(Firefox)中，克林特·伊斯特伍德(Clint Eastwood)扮演的戰鬥機飛行員被派往俄羅斯，他的任務是偷取一架可以用大腦神經連接控制的戰鬥機原型。但伊斯特伍只能用俄語思考才能啓動戰鬥機，而他差點因爲不能在空戰中指揮飛機發射導彈而命喪黃泉。（別擔心，他活下來了。）

Although we won't be flying planes with our minds anytime soon, surfing the Web on our smartphones might be closer.

儘管我們不會很快就能靠思維來駕駛飛機，但靠思維用智能手機上網可能已爲時不遠。

Dr. Donoghue of Brown said one of the current techniques used to read people's brains is called P300, in which a computer can determine which letter of the alphabet someone is thinking about based on the area of the brain that is activated when she sees a screen full of letters. But even when advances in brain-reading technologies speed up, there will be new challenges, as scientists will have to determine if the person wants to search the Web for something in particular, or if he is just thinking about a random topic.

布朗大學的多諾霍稱，目前用來讀人腦的技術之一，是被稱爲P300的方法，當一個人看到滿屏幕的字母時，計算機可根據被激活的腦部區域來識別這個人在想哪個字母。但是，就算讀腦技術發展的速度加快了，科學家仍會面臨新的挑戰，比如他們需確定人們是在想上網絡搜索某個特定的東西呢，還是在想着某個隨意的話題。

"Just because I'm thinking about a steak medium-rare at a restaurant doesn't mean I actually want that for dinner," Dr. Donoghue said. "Just like Google glasses, which will have to know if you're blinking because there is something in your eye or if you actually want to take a picture," brain computer interfaces will need to know if you're just thinking about that steak or really want to order it.

多諾霍說，“僅僅因爲我在想餐館裏的一份三分熟的牛排，並不意味着我真想把牛排當晚餐。就像谷歌眼鏡需要知道，你是因爲眼睛裏有東西而眨眼呢，還是因爲你確實想拍張照片。”腦機接口需要知道，你只是在想牛排呢，還是確實想點一份。