雅思阅读材料盘点：人类大脑与机器实验

　　A channel of communication of this sort requires a brain-computer interface (BCI). Such things are already in use. Since 2004, 13 paralysed people have been implanted with a system called Brain Gate, first developed at Brown University (a handful of others have been given a similar device). An array of small electrodes, called a Utah array, is implanted into the motor cortex, a strip of the brain that governs movement. These electrodes detect the neurons that fire when someone intends to move his hands and arms. These signals are sent through wires that poke out of the person’s skull to a decoder, where they are translated into a variety of outputs, from moving a cursor to controlling a limb.

　　要建立这样的沟通渠道，就需要一个脑机接口(BCI)。人们已经在使用这种东西了。自2004年以来，已有13位瘫痪者被植入了一个名为Brain Gate的系统，它是由布朗大学首先开发的(还有少数其他人也植入了类似的设备)。一组被称为犹他(Utah)阵列的小电极被植入到运动皮层，即大脑中管理运动的部分。如果有人想动动他的手和手臂，这些电极会检测到放电的神经元。信号通过穿出颅骨的电线传送到解码器，再转换成各种输出，如移动光标或控制肢体。

　　The system has allowed a woman paralysed by a stroke to use a robotic arm to take her first sip of coffee without help from a caregiver. It has also been used by a paralysed person to type at a rate of eight words a minute. It has even reanimated useless human limbs. In a study led by Bob Kirsch of Case Western Reserve University, published in the Lancetthis year, Brain Gate was deployed artificially to stimulate muscles in the arms of William Kochevar, who was paralysed in a cycling accident. As a result, he was able to feed himself for the first time in eight years.

　　该系统让一名中风瘫痪的妇女在没有看护者帮助的情况下用机器人手臂喝到了第一口咖啡。还有一位瘫痪者能以每分钟八个字的速度打字。它甚至让本已无用的肢体再次活动起来。由凯斯西储大学的鲍勃·基尔希(Bob Kirsch)领导的一项研究今年在《柳叶刀》上发表了论文，为在一次骑车事故中瘫痪的威廉·科切瓦(William Kochevar)人为部署了BrainGate，以刺激他手臂上的肌肉。结果八年来他第一次能够自己吃饭了。

　　Interactions between brains and machines have changed lives in other ways, too. The opening ceremony of the football World Cup in Brazil in 2014 featured a paraplegic man who used a mind-controlled robotic exoskeleton to kick a ball. A recent study by Ujwal Chaudhary of the University of Tübingen and four co-authors relied on a technique called functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), which beams infrared light into the brain, to put yes/no questions to four locked-in patients who had been completely immobilized by Lou Gehrig’s disease; the patients’ mental responses showed up as identifiable patterns of blood oxygenation.

　　大脑和机器之间的互动还以其他方式改变了人们的生活。2014年，在巴西举行的世界杯足球赛开幕式上，一名截瘫男子用思维控制机器人外骨骼来踢球。在最近的一项研究中，图宾根大学的乌吉瓦·乔杜里(Ujwal Chaudhary)和四位合著者使用一种可将红外光束照进大脑的“近红外光谱”(fNIRS)技术，向四名因卢·贾里格症(Lou Gehrig's disease，又称肌萎缩性脊髓侧索硬化症、渐冻症)而完全失去行动能力的闭锁综合症患者提出是非问题，患者的思维反应表现为可辨认的血氧模式。

　　Neural activity can be stimulated as well as recorded. Cochlear implants convert sound into electrical signals and send them into the brain. Deep-brain stimulation uses electrical pulses, delivered via implanted electrodes, to help control Parkinson’s disease. The technique has also been used to treat other movement disorders and mental-health conditions. NeuroPace, a Silicon Valley firm, monitors brain activity for signs of imminent epileptic seizures and delivers electrical stimulation to stop them.

　　神经活动可以被刺激，也可以被记录。人工耳蜗将声音转换为电信号并将其送入大脑。深度脑刺激通过植入电极传送电脉冲来帮助控制帕金森病，该技术也被用于治疗其他运动障碍和精神疾病。硅谷的NeuroPace公司监测大脑活动来判断癫痫即将发作的迹象，并通过电刺激来阻止它们。

　　It is easy to see how brain-computer interfaces could be applied to other sensory inputs and outputs. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have deconstructed electrical activity in the temporal lobe when someone is listening to conversation; these patterns can be used to predict what word someone has heard. The brain also produces similar signals when someone imagines hearing spoken words, which may open the door to a speech-processing device for people with conditions such as aphasia (the inability to understand or produce speech).

　　我们很容易想象出脑机接口可以如何应用于其他感官的输入和输出。加州大学伯克利分校的研究人员解析了聆听对话时大脑颞叶的电活动;这些模式可以用来推测听到的单词。当人们想象听到某些单词时，大脑也会产生类似的信号，这可能为患有失语症(无法理解或产生言语)的人开启语音处理设备的大门。