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美国犹他州立大学的研究人员近期在一份研究报告中宣布，他们可以通过电脑将人类脑电波翻译成文字，且准确率最高可达90%。这一突破性进展有望能帮助那些因中风或脑部伤害而无法用语言交流的病人以及患有“闭锁综合征”的病人自如地与人交流，而不仅限于通过眨眼或轻微手势等原始的方式表达想法。如果发展成熟，这样的“读脑器”将能够读懂任何人的心思。据研究人员介绍，“读脑器”是将两套电极固定在患者的大脑表面，一套位于大脑左侧控制脸部肌肉运动的运动皮质区，另一套位于左耳上方负责翻译语言的韦尼克氏区；全部操作均在大脑表面完成，不会像目前的脑电波勘测技术那样要穿过大脑皮层，因此相对比较安全。
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Researchers have been able to translate brain signals into speech using sensors attached to the surface of the brain for the first time. |
Researchers have been able to translate brain signals into speech using sensors attached to the surface of the brain for the first time.
The breakthrough, which is up to 90 percent accurate, offers a way to communicate for paralyzed patients who cannot speak and could eventually lead to being able to read anyone thoughts.
"We were beside ourselves with excitement when it started working," said Professor Bradley Greger, a bioengineer at Utah University who led the team of researchers.
"I would call it brain reading and we hope that in two or three years it will be available for use for paralyzed patients."
The experimental breakthrough came when the team attached two button sized grids of 16 tiny electrodes to the speech centers of the brain of an epileptic patient. The sensors were attached to the surface of the brain. The patient had had part of his skull removed for another operation to treat his condition.
Using the electrodes, the scientists recorded brain signals in a computer as the patient repeatedly read each of 10 words that might be useful to a paralyzed person: yes, no, hot, cold, hungry, thirsty, hello, goodbye, more and less.
Then they got him to repeat the words to the computer and it was able to match the brain signals for each word 76 percent to 90 percent of the time. The computer picked up the patient’s brain waves as he talked and did not use any voice recognition software.
Because just thinking a word – and not saying it – is thought to produce the same brain signals, Prof Greger and his team believe that soon they will be able to have translation device and voice box that repeats the word you are thinking.
What is more, the brains of people who are paralyzed are often healthy and produce the same signals as those in able bodied people – it is just they are blocked by injury from reaching the muscle.
The researchers said the method needs improvement, but could lead in a few years to clinical trials on paralyzed people who cannot speak due to so-called "locked-in" syndrome.
People who eventually could benefit from a wireless device that converts thoughts into computer-spoken words include those paralyzed by stroke, disease and injury, Prof Greger said.
People who are now “locked in” often communicate with any movement they can make – blinking an eye or moving a hand slightly – to arduously pick letters or words from a list.
The new device would allow them freedom to speak on their own.
The study, published in the journal of Neural Engineering, used a new kind of non-penetrating microelectrodes that sit on the brain without poking into it.
The first was attached to the face motor cortex, which controls facial movement and is on the top left hand side of the brain.
The second was attached to the Wernicke's area, an area just above the left ear that acts as a sort of language translator for the brain.
Because the microelectrodes do not penetrate brain matter, they are considered safe to place on speech areas of the brain – something that cannot be done with penetrating electrodes that have been used in experimental devices to help paralyzed people control a computer cursor or an artificial arm.
The researchers were most accurate – 85 percent – in distinguishing brain signals for one word from those for another when they used signals recorded from the facial motor cortex.
They were less accurate – 76 percent – when using signals from Wernicke’s area.
相关阅读
(Agencies)
Vocabulary:
"locked-in" syndrome: 闭锁综合征，指患者虽然意识清楚，但却不能说话，不能活动的一种特殊表现。因患者不说不动，貌似昏迷，所以又叫假性昏迷。这种综合征多因桥脑基底部血栓所致。
（中国日报网英语点津 Helen 编辑）
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