What happens in your brain when you pay attention? | Mehdi Ordikhani-Seyedlar

翻译人员: Cherry Zhou 校对人员: cookie fu

Paying close attention to something:

非常专注于某件事情，

Not that easy, is it?

并不容易做到，是吧？

It's because our attention is pulled in so many different directions at a time,

这是因为我们的注意力 同时会被不同的东西吸引。

and it's in fact pretty impressive if you can stay focused.

实际上如果你能保持专注， 会让人感到很佩服。

Many people think that attention is all about what we are focusing on,

许多人认为注意力 只与我们专注的东西有关，

but it's also about what information our brain is trying to filter out.

但它实际上也与我们的大脑 要过滤的信息有关。

There are two ways you direct your attention.

有两种方式主导了你的注意力。

First, there's overt attention.

首先是外显注意力。

In overt attention, you move your eyes towards something

在外显注意力中， 你的眼睛会随着物品移动，

in order to pay attention to it.

这样就可以专注于它。

Then there's covert attention.

然后就是内隐注意力。

In covert attention, you pay attention to something,

在内隐注意力中，

你无需移动你的眼睛 就可以专注于某样东西。

but without moving your eyes.

Think of driving for a second.

想一下你开车时的过程。

Your overt attention, your direction of the eyes,

你的外显注意力，你目光的方向

are in front,

都在前方，

but that's your covert attention

但你的内隐注意力

which is constantly scanning the surrounding area,

会时常扫视周围环境，

where you don't actually look at them.

但你并没有真正去仔细观察。

I'm a computational neuroscientist,

我是一名计算神经科学家，

and I work on cognitive brain-machine interfaces,

致力于做基于认知的脑机接口的研究，

or bringing together the brain and the computer.

也可以说是脑机融合的研究。

I love brain patterns.

我爱脑电波，

Brain patterns are important for us

脑电波对于我们来说很重要，

because based on them we can build models for the computers,

因为有了它们， 我们可以给电脑建立模型，

and based on these models

然后基于这些模型，

computers can recognize how well our brain functions.

电脑可以识别我们的大脑是怎样运作的。

And if it doesn't function well,

如果大脑不能很好地运作，

then these computers themselves can be used as assistive devices

这些电脑就可以成为治疗的

for therapies.

辅助装置。

But that also means something,

但这也意味着，

because choosing the wrong patterns

如果选择了错误的脑电波，

will give us the wrong models

会让我们建立错误的模型，

and therefore the wrong therapies.

最终会导致错误治疗方法的产生，

Right?

对吧？

In case of attention,

关于注意力，

the fact that we can

事实上我们不仅可以

shift our attention not only by our eyes

通过转动眼球来转移注意力，

but also by thinking --

还可以通过思考——

that makes covert attention an interesting model for computers.

让内隐注意力 变成电脑里一个有趣的模型。

So I wanted to know what are the brainwave patterns

因此我想知道在你进行外显观察和

when you look overtly or when you look covertly.

内隐观察的时候脑电波 会发生什么变化。

I set up an experiment for that.

我为此设计了一个实验。

In this experiment there are two flickering squares,

实验中会有两个正在闪烁的方块，

one of them flickering at a slower rate than the other one.

其中一个方块闪烁的速度比另一个慢。

Depending on which of these flickers you are paying attention to,

你专注于哪一个方块，

certain parts of your brain will start resonating in the same rate

你大脑里的某个区域 就会开始产生相应的频率，

as that flickering rate.

同方块的闪烁频率一样。

So by analyzing your brain signals,

所以通过分析你的大脑信号，

we can track where exactly you are watching

我们可以跟踪到你正在看哪里，

or you are paying attention to.

或者专注于哪个地方。

So to see what happens in your brain when you pay overt attention,

为了观察你在运用外显注意力时 大脑里发生的情况，

I asked people to look directly in one of the squares

我会让大家都直接看着其中一个方块，

and pay attention to it.

然后专注于它。

In this case, not surprisingly, we saw that these flickering squares

在这种情况下 ，毫无意外地， 我们能看到这些闪烁方块的频率

appeared in their brain signals

出现在了他们的大脑信号中，

which was coming from the back of their head,

这些信号是从头部后方发出的，

which is responsible for the processing of your visual information.

这个地方负责处理你的视觉信息。

But I was really interested

但我真的很有兴趣，

to see what happens in your brain when you pay covert attention.

想要看看当你在运用内隐注意力时 大脑里会发生什么。

So this time I asked people to look in the middle of the screen

所以这一次， 我让大家看着屏幕的正中间，

and without moving their eyes,

并且眼睛不要移动，

to pay attention to either of these squares.

这样能够注意到任何一个方块。

When we did that,

当我们这样操作时，

we saw that both of these flickering rates appeared in their brain signals,

我们看到两个闪烁方块的频率 都出现在他们的大脑信号中了。

but interestingly,

而有趣的是，

only one of them, which was paid attention to,

被投以关注的其中一个方块

had stronger signals,

信号更加强烈，

so there was something in the brain

因此大脑里存在有某样东西

which was handling this information

负责处理这类型的信息，

so that thing in the brain was basically the activation of the frontal area.

而这基本上就是在大脑前额的活动。

The front part of your brain is responsible

大脑的前额负责

for higher cognitive functions as a human.

人类更高级的认知功能。

The frontal part, it seems that it works as a filter

大脑前额区就像是过滤器，

trying to let information come in only from the right flicker

它会尝试只让你专注的闪烁方块信号

that you are paying attention to

进入大脑，

and trying to inhibit the information coming from the ignored one.

而将那个被忽略的方块信号屏蔽掉。

The filtering ability of the brain is indeed a key for attention,

大脑的过滤能力的确是 注意力产生的关键，

which is missing in some people,

这种能力在某些人身上存在缺失，

for example in people with ADHD.

比如有注意缺陷多动症（ADHD）的人。

So a person with ADHD cannot inhibit these distractors,

因为有注意缺陷多动症的人 无法抑制这些干扰物，

and that's why they can't focus for a long time on a single task.

这就是他们不能长时间 专注于某个单一任务的原因。

But what if this person

但假如这个人

could play a specific computer game

可以玩某一个电脑游戏，

with his brain connected to the computer,

让他的大脑与电脑连接，

and then train his own brain

然后训练他自己的大脑，

to inhibit these distractors?

最终学会抑制这些干扰物呢？

Well, ADHD is just one example.

注意力缺陷多动症只是其中一个例子。

We can use these cognitive brain-machine interfaces

我们可以把这些基于认知的脑机接口

for many other cognitive fields.

运用到许多其他认知领域中。

It was just a few years ago

就在几年前，

that my grandfather had a stroke, and he lost complete ability to speak.

我祖父中风了， 完全丧失了说话的能力。

He could understand everybody, but there was no way to respond,

他能听见任何人的声音， 却没有办法作出回应。

even not writing because he was illiterate.

他不识字，所以也不能 通过写字来表达。

So he passed away in silence.

最后他安静地离开了人世。

I remember thinking at that time:

我记着我那时就在想：

What if we could have a computer

假如我们有一台电脑，可以替他讲话

which could speak for him?

该有多好？

Now, after years that I am in this field,

几年后，我深入了这个领域，

I can see that this might be possible.

预见到这是有可能的。

Imagine if we can find brainwave patterns

想象一下，如果人们在思考 图像甚至文字时，

when people think about images or even letters,

我们可以找到相应的脑电波，

like the letter A generates a different brainwave pattern

比如字母A形成的脑电波

than the letter B, and so on.

会与字母B不一样，诸如此类的。

Could a computer one day communicate for people who can't speak?

那么电脑会不会有一天 就能替那些失语者讲话？

What if a computer

如果电脑

can help us understand the thoughts of a person in a coma?

能帮助我们了解处于昏迷状态中的 人的想法又会怎样呢？

We are not there yet,

我们还没有实现这个目标，

but pay close attention.

但大家请持续关注，

We will be there soon.

我们很快就会达到目的。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）