读脑技术让电脑读懂你的心

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.

上周，探查谷歌眼镜程序源码的工程师们发现了一些隐藏的功能，人们或许不用吭一声，就能操作可穿戴式计算机。比如，用户可以用点头的方式开启或关闭眼镜。用眨眼示意的方式也许能给眼镜下令，让其拍照。

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，不要以为这些示意动作的必要性会长久。很快，我们就可能用思维来操作智能手机和计算机。再过两三年，我们可能只要一想开灯，家里的灯就开了，或者不用从口袋里掏出智能手机，就把电子邮件发出去了。再以后，你的机器人助手会把一杯柠檬水端到你身边，因为它知道你渴了。

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.

麻省理工学院(Massachusetts Institute of Technology)的科技杂志《MIT技术评论》(MIT Technology Review)本月报道称，三星新兴技术实验室(Samsung's Emerging Technology Lab)的研究人员正在测试能用人脑控制的平板计算机，实现的方法是让人带上一顶像滑雪帽那样的、布满了监控电极的帽子。

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.

这种通常被称为脑机接口的技术，原来的构想是为了让瘫痪或有其他残疾的人，只需要用脑子想一些动作，就能操作计算机、或控制机械臂。过不了多久，这类技术也可能会被用到大众化的电子产品上。

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.

市场上已经有一些简单的读取脑信号的产品，人们能用它们来玩简单游戏、或者移动屏幕上的鼠标。最近，总部在加利福尼亚州圣何塞的神念科技(NeuroSky)推出了一款具有蓝牙通讯能力的耳机，该耳机能通过监测脑电波的细微变化，让人们在计算机和智能手机上玩基于注意力的游戏，包括追僵尸的游戏、射箭，以及躲子弹的游戏，这些游戏软件都用你的大脑作为操纵杆。另一家公司Emotiv正在上市一款看上去像一只巨大的外星人手的耳机，它能读取与思维、感觉和表情相关的脑电波。该设备能被用来玩像俄罗斯方块这样的游戏，或者通过想一个自己正在感受的情感——比如开心或兴奋——而不是通过关键词，在Flickr照片里搜索有关图片。而名为Muse的轻便无线头箍，能与一个“锻炼大脑”的应用软件互动，它会强迫人们将注意力集中于屏幕上的某些方面，就像是带你的大脑去健身房。

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.

汽车制造商正在研发能够装入座位靠背的技术，这种技术能监测到人在开车时睡着，并通过震动方向盘来叫醒他们。

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，现在市场上已有的这类产品很快将会过时。布朗大学脑科学研究所(Brown Institute for Brain Science)所长、神经科学家约翰·多诺霍(John Donoghue)说，“如今的脑技术，就像试图从一架软式飞艇上听下面足球场中的谈话。用如今的技术，要想真正了解大脑里的活动，你需要用手术在大脑中植入一个传感器阵列。”换句话说，至少在现在，想获得大脑信息，你仍需在大脑中装个芯片。

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，由多诺霍牵头的一个名为“大脑之门”(BrainGate)的项目，让两位完全瘫痪的患者，通过能响应其大脑活动的计算机，来使用机械臂。其中一位15年来都不能用自己手臂的妇女，能端起装有咖啡的瓶子，让自己喝上一口，然后把瓶子放回桌上，这些都是通过想象机械臂如何动作来实现的。

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，那个装入大脑的芯片可能很快就不需要了，因为科学家称，我们正在能够更深入地了解大脑，这转而将会提高脑机接口技术的能力。奥巴马政府今年启动了一项名为“人脑活动图”(Brain Activity Map)的计划，这项为期十年的计划旨在绘制全面的脑活动图。

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.

卡弗里基金会(Kavli Foundation)科学项目副总裁、分子生物学家全美永(Miyoung Chun)正在参与这一计划。她表示，完成大脑活动图的绘制虽然需要十年时间，但公司可以在两年内制造出新型的脑机接口产品。

"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."

全美永说，“人脑活动图将给硬件公司提供大量新工具，这会改变我们使用智能手机和平板计算机的方式。这将带来彻底的改变，从植入式机器肢到人工神经功能器官。还有遥控器，在可预见的将来遥控器会成为历史，到那时，只要你想换到哪个频道，电视机就会换到那个频道。”

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.

我们现在还需缓解一些人们的担忧。在Muse网站上有专门的问答页，竭力让顾客相信，其设备不会吸走人的思想。

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

这类读脑技术几十年来一直都是科幻小说的内容。

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年的电影《火狐》(Firefox)中，克林特·伊斯特伍德(Clint Eastwood)扮演的战斗机飞行员被派往俄罗斯，他的任务是偷取一架可以用大脑神经连接控制的战斗机原型。但伊斯特伍只能用俄语思考才能启动战斗机，而他差点因为不能在空战中指挥飞机发射导弹而命丧黄泉。（别担心，他活下来了。）

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

尽管我们不会很快就能靠思维来驾驶飞机，但靠思维用智能手机上网可能已为时不远。

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.

布朗大学的多诺霍称，目前用来读人脑的技术之一，是被称为P300的方法，当一个人看到满屏幕的字母时，计算机可根据被激活的脑部区域来识别这个人在想哪个字母。但是，就算读脑技术发展的速度加快了，科学家仍会面临新的挑战，比如他们需确定人们是在想上网络搜索某个特定的东西呢，还是在想着某个随意的话题。

"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.

多诺霍说，“仅仅因为我在想餐馆里的一份三分熟的牛排，并不意味着我真想把牛排当晚餐。就像谷歌眼镜需要知道，你是因为眼睛里有东西而眨眼呢，还是因为你确实想拍张照片。”脑机接口需要知道，你只是在想牛排呢，还是确实想点一份。