The ideas behind the popular movie Inception—stealing thoughts and dreams, knowing that you are in a dream—seem like science fiction, but a number of real-life technologies show how actual science enables some of these fantastic ideas. Here are 10 real-life mind-reading or dream-reading technologies that exist now.
热映大片《盗梦空间》体现的一些理念——知道你正在做梦,于是来偷盗你的思想和梦境——看起来像科学幻想,但是现实生活中的许多技术表明,真正的科学能够让这些奇异的想法成为现实。以下便是真实存在于现实生活中的十种读心术或读梦术。
Stealing Images from Your Brain
从你的大脑中盗取影像
Scientists can’t “steal” coherent1) thoughts from the brain like Leonardo DiCaprio’s character does in Inception, but they can use technology to nab2) the images your mind sees. University of California, Berkeley, neuroscientist3) Jack Gallant uses brain-pattern analysis with fMRI4) scans and algorithms5) to model the visual system of a subject’s brain. He then shows the subject a movie, and can reconstruct fairly accurate images of the movie based on the subject’s brain scans. Gallant says it should be possible to reproduce dream images using this method. The problem, however: Only the dreamer knows if the reproductions are accurate.
科学家无法像《盗梦空间》中莱昂纳多·迪卡普里奥所饰演的角色那样从大脑中窃取连贯的思想,但是他们能够利用技术来攫取你头脑中出现的影像。加州大学伯克利分校的神经系统科学家杰克·加兰特利用功能性磁共振成像扫描技术和算法对一个实验对象的大脑模式进行分析,借此模拟出该实验对象的大脑的视觉系统。随后,他为这位实验对象放映了一部电影,而根据之后对该实验对象的大脑进行的扫描,他能相当准确地重构出那部电影的影像。加兰特称,利用这个方法重现梦中的情景应该是可以实现的。然而,问题在于:只有做梦的人自己才知道重现的情景是否准确。
Stealing Your Dreams
窃取你的梦境
Advanced Telecommunications Research (ATR) Computational Neuroscience Laboratories in Japan has a different technique for image-stealing. Instead of building a model of the visual system, ATR feeds fMRI scans into a computer, which “learns” how to associate changes in brain activity with different images. Lab scientists can reconstruct simple black-and-white images the subject is viewing by analyzing the blood flow in the brain’s visual cortex6). ATR says reconstructing dreams is harder because the brain signals during sleep may be “noisier”, and is now researching how to get more meaningful information from a sleeper’s brain.
日本高级电信研究所(ATR)的计算神经系统科学实验室拥有另一种不同的影像窃取技巧。该研究所并没有建立视觉系统模型,而是将功能性磁共振成像的扫描情况输入电脑,让电脑“学习”如何将大脑活动的变化与不同的影像联系起来。实验室的科学家可以通过分析实验对象的大脑视觉皮质的血液流动,来重构其正在观看的简单黑白影像。该研究所认为重构梦境更难,因为睡眠期间大脑信号会变得“更加嘈杂”。该研究所目前正在研究如何从睡眠者的大脑中获取更有意义的信息。
Re-enacting Your Dreams Using a Robot
利用机器人重现你的梦境
Two researchers, Fernando Orellana and Brendan Burns, from Union College in Schenectady7), N.Y., created a “Sleep Waking Robot” that replays the actions and gestures in your dreams. The researchers tracked various bits of data about a dreamer, like rapid eye movement electroencephalogram8) (EEG) readings9). They then fed this data into the robot. For instance, if the dreamer’s eyes looked left, so did the robot’s. Certain EEG patterns were also associated with certain preprogrammed robot behaviors as well. For example, high-activity REM10) sleep could trigger the robot to move as though it was flying.
费尔南多·奥雷利亚纳和布伦丹·伯恩斯是位于纽约斯克内克塔迪联合学院的两名研究人员,他们发明了一种“清醒睡眠机器人”,这种机器人可回放你在睡梦中的行为和姿态。研究人员跟踪了有关做梦人的各种数据,例如眼睛快速眨动时的脑电图(EEG)读数等,然后他们将这些数据传输给机器人。举个例子,如果做梦人的眼睛向左看,机器人的眼睛也会向左看。他们还将某些特定的脑电图模式与一些预先设定的机器人行为绑定在一起。例如,高度活跃的眼球快速转动时的睡眠可能会引发机器人高频率运动,看起来就像要飞起来似的。
Technology That Lets You “Enter” Your Dream
能让你“进入”自己梦境的技术
Inception director Christopher Nolan based some of the ideas in the movie on “lucid11) dreaming”, a type of dreaming where the sleeper is aware they are dreaming and can even exert some control over the dream. Some lucid dreamers can do so naturally, others are able to learn it. Stephen LaBerge, a psychophysiologist12) who popularized the concept while teaching at Stanford University for 25 years, also developed a lucid dream-inducing device. Called NovaDreamer, the device is a sleep mask that knows when to give cues—flashing lights—to the dreamer to stimulate awareness, but not wake him.
《盗梦空间》的导演克里斯托弗·诺兰在电影中的一些理念是建立在“清醒梦”的基础上的。在这种梦境中,睡眠者能够意识到自己在做梦,甚至还能控制自己的梦境。有些做清醒梦的人生来就能做到这一点,有些则能够通过学习做到这一点。生理心理学家斯蒂芬·拉伯奇在斯坦福大学任教的25年间推广了这一概念,而且他还开发出一种清醒梦的引发装置。该装置名为“新星梦仪”,是一种睡眠面具,它会在合适的时候给睡眠者以提示(运用闪光灯)来刺激他的意识,但却不会把他弄醒。
Spotting Lies
测谎
Recent technologies have gone beyond standard lie-detector tests to use brain information to determine if a person is lying. One technique, Brain Signature Profiling13), involves the subject remembering a scenario14) while wearing an EEG cap. The theory is that a different EEG reading comes from a subject remembering rather than merely knowing an event. The technique has already been used in countries like India, where profiling has been used in murder trials. Another new form of lie detection is fMRI-based, on the theory that we use different parts of our brains when lying.
最新的技术已经超越了标准测谎实验,开始利用大脑信息来确定一个人是否撒谎。其中的一种技术是“大脑信号成像技术”,在使用这项技术时,被测对象要戴着脑电图帽子回忆某个场景。这一技术依据的原理是,如果被测对象是在回忆而不仅仅是知道某个事件时,其脑电图读数是不一样的。该技术已经在印度等国家得以应用,他们将这种成像技术用于谋杀案的审讯中。还有一种新的测谎方式是基于功能性磁共振成像技术,其依据的原理是我们撒谎时使用大脑的不同区域。
Detecting Terrorist Threats
探测恐怖威胁
This isn’t strictly a technology that hooks into the mind directly, and it’s more similar to something out of the movie Minority Report15), but it’s still scary enough to be Orwellian16). The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is working on a system called MALINTENT. It reads blood pressure, heart and breath rate, non-verbal cues and facial expressions to determine intent to commit an attack or a crime. Development of the system has reportedly cost $20 million so far.
严格说来,该技术并不直接同大脑相关,倒是同影片《少数派报告》中出现的技术更为相似。但即便如此,它还是很可怕,足以形成一个像奥威尔所描述的那样统治严酷从而失去人性的社会。美国国土安全部正致力于玛林腾特系统的研究。该系统能够探测血压、心率、呼吸频率、非语言线索以及面部表情,并由此来确定攻击或犯罪的意图。据报道,该系统的开发目前已经耗资两千万美元。
Predicting Behavior
预测行为
Imagine the possibilities when you can predict what someone will do better than they can. Dr. John-Dylan Hanes of the Max Planck17) Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences has been researching how unique brain activation patterns found in fMRI scans can predict behavior. In one study, Hanes showed that he could predict accurately whether subjects would press a button with their left or right hand seven seconds before they actually pressed it.
试想一下这种可能性:你能够预测别人接下来要做什么,甚至比他们自己预测得都准确。马克斯·普朗克人类认知和大脑科学协会的约翰-狄伦·哈内斯博士一直在做一项研究,研究功能性磁共振成像扫描中发现的独特的大脑活动模式如何能够预测人的行为。哈内斯在一项研究中表明,他就能够在实验对象按动按钮的七秒钟前,准确地预测出他们会用左手还是右手来按。
Injecting Signals into the Brain
将信号植入大脑
Gallant says that planting ideas into people’s dreams is impossible, at least given existing technology. However, a device called a brain pacemaker18) implanted in the brain stem can send electrical impulses to specific parts of the brain, like a regular pacemaker does in the heart. It doesn’t change thoughts, but it does have medical applications. This treatment is called deep brain stimulation, which is used to mitigate symptoms of diseases like Parkinson’s19) with pulses that affect the neurons.
加兰特认为将观念植入人的梦境是无法实现的,至少就目前的技术来看是无法实现的。但是,将一种名为大脑起搏器的装置植入脑干,它就能像常规的心脏起搏器那样向大脑的特定区域发送电子脉冲。该装置不会改变人的想法,但的确可以应用于医学领域。这种疗法被称为脑深层刺激术,利用能够影响神经元的脉冲来缓解诸如帕金森之类的疾病的症状。
Controlling Prosthetics20)
控制假肢
Grabbing information from the mind doesn’t always have to be nefarious21). Much research in past years has focused on reading the mind as a way to operate prosthetics. A team of scientists at Johns Hopkins University, backed by the Pentagon22)’s R&D agency DARPA23), is getting ready to test a “modular prosthetic limb” in which an arm and fingers will be capable of movement. The team will hook up24) a series of microarrays25) implanted in the brain to record and transmit signals to the artificial limb.
从大脑攫取信息不一定总是邪恶之举。过去的许多研究都专注于将解读大脑作为操作假肢的一种方法。在五角大楼的研发机构——美国国防部高级研究计划局的支持下,约翰斯·霍普金斯大学的一个科学家团队正准备试验一个“组合式假肢”。该假肢的手臂和手指能够活动。该团队将把一系列植入大脑的生物芯片连接起来,用以记录并向假肢传输信号。
Restoring Sight to the Blind
让盲人重见光明
Another type of neural prosthetic is a visual prosthetic that allows the blind to gain some vision. In one such effort, Dr. Richard Normann of the University of Utah is developing an approach where an array of electrodes26) is implanted into the brain’s visual cortex. Video signals from a tiny camera inside a pair of eyeglasses are passed into the electrodes, stimulating specific neurons to produce images. Another approach by Dr. Joseph Rizzo of the Boston Retinal27) Implant Project works similarly, but electrodes are instead planted within the retina.
视觉修复术也是神经修复术的一种,它能够使盲人重获部分视力。犹他大学的理查德·诺曼博士就参与了这方面的研究,他正在研究一种方法,将电极阵列植入大脑的视觉皮层。视频信号从眼镜中的微型摄像机传送到电极之中,刺激特定的神经元,从而生成影像。参与波士顿视网膜植入项目的约瑟夫·里佐博士采用的是另一种办法,工作原理与上述大致相似,但他是将电极植入了视网膜。
1. coherent [kEu5hIErEnt] adj. 一致的,连贯的
2. nab [nAb] vt.〈口〉捉住,逮捕
3. neuroscientist [7njuErEu5saIEntIst] n. 神经系统科学家
4. fMRI:功能性磁共振成像(functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging),一种新兴的神经影像学方式,其原理是利用磁振造影来测量神经元活动所引发的血液动力的改变。该方式目前主要用于研究人及动物的脑或脊髓。
5. algorithm [5Al^ErITEm] n. [数] 运算法则,算法
6. visual cortex:视皮层,视觉皮层;cortex [5kC:teks] n. (脑或肾的)皮层,皮质
7. Schenectady [skI5nektEdI] n. 斯克内克塔迪(美国纽约州东部城市)
8. electroencephalogram
[I5lektrEJen7sefE5lEJ^rAm]
n. [医] 脑电图,脑动电流图
9. reading [5ri:dIN] n. 读数
10. REM:眼球速动期(Rapid Eye Movement)。这是在睡眠周期的某个时期做梦时发生的痉挛性的眼睛的运动,快速并具有周期性。
11. lucid [5lju:sId] adj. 头脑清楚的,清醒的
12. psychophysiologist
[5saIkEu7fIzI5ClEdVIst]
n. 生理心理学家
13. profile [5prEufaIl] vt. 描(或显出)……的轮廓
14. scenario [sI5nB:rIEu] n. 某一特定情节
15. Minority Report:《少数派报告》,2002年在美国上映的科幻电影。影片的背景设定在2054年的华盛顿,那时人类的司法审判制度已经“进化”到在犯罪发生之前已能预知犯罪并逮捕将要犯罪的罪犯的地步。
16. Orwellian:指英国作家乔治·奥威尔(George Orwell)笔下所描述的一个处在严酷的极权统治下而失去人性的社会。他在传世之作《1984》中便呈现了这样一种社会状态。
17. Max Planck:马克斯·普朗克(1858～1947),近代伟大的德国物理学家,量子论的奠基人
18. pacemaker [5peIs7meIkE] n. 起搏器
19. Parkinson’s:帕金森病,又称“震颤麻痹”。该病是一种常见于中老年的神经系统变性疾病。
20. prosthetics [prCs5WetIks] n. [医] (假肢等的)修复学
21. nefarious [nI5feErIEs] adj. 邪恶的,穷凶极恶的
22. the Pentagon:五角大楼,美国国防部所在地
23. DARPA:美国国防部高级研究计划局(Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency)
24. hook up:(用钩等)连接
25. microarray [5maIkrEuE7reI] n. 微阵列;生物芯片
26. electrode [I5lektrEJd] n. 电极
27. retinal [5retInEl] adj. [解] 视网膜的