Pawan Sinha on how brains learn to see

翻译人员: Dan Song 校对人员: Tony Yet

If you are a blind child in India,

在印度，如果你先天失明

you will very likely have to contend with

你必须为之奋斗的

at least two big pieces of bad news.

有两件事

The first bad news

第一

is that the chances of getting treatment

接受治疗的机会

are extremely slim to none,

极为微小，或者说近乎没有

and that's because most of the blindness

因为在这个国家

alleviation programs in the country

大部分的眼科治疗

are focused on adults,

都仅仅集中提供给成人

and there are very, very few hospitals

只有极少极少数的医院

that are actually equipped to treat children.

才有针对儿童的医疗设备

In fact, if you were to be treated,

其实，就算能够接受治疗

you might well end up being treated

也很有可能你的主治医生

by a person who has no medical credentials

根本没有医学证书

as this case from Rajasthan illustrates.

拉贾斯坦的这个例子就是这样

This is a three-year-old orphan girl

她是个孤儿，只有三岁

who had cataracts.

患有先天性白内障

So, her caretakers took her

于是她的看护人带她到

to the village medicine man,

乡村诊所看病

and instead of suggesting to the caretakers

赤脚医生没有向看护人建议

that the girl be taken to a hospital,

让这个女孩子去正规医院

the person decided to burn her abdomen

恰恰相反，他决定以烧红的铁条

with red-hot iron bars

灼烧她的小腹

to drive out the demons.

说是用来驱魔 :(

The second piece of bad news

另一则不幸的消息

will be delivered to you

你会了解到的是

by neuroscientists, who will tell you

神经学家说

that if you are older than four or five years of age,

如果你是四到五岁以上

that even if you have your eye corrected,

视力才得以恢复

the chances of your brain learning how to see

大脑学习去看东西的机会

are very, very slim --

已经微乎其微

again, slim or none.

像第一条一样，几近没有机会。。。

So when I heard these two things,

听到这两件事

it troubled me deeply,

我陷入了深深的烦恼

both because of personal reasons

有个人背景方面的原因

and scientific reasons.

也有科学原因

So let me first start with the personal reason.

先从个人方面说起吧

It'll sound corny, but it's sincere.

听起来稀松平常，但我是非常认真的

That's my son, Darius.

那就是我的儿子，Darius

As a new father,

作为一个刚刚晋升的父亲

I have a qualitatively different sense

我从内心深处有种奇妙的感觉

of just how delicate babies are,

小宝宝是多么的纤细微妙，

what our obligations are towards them

那些对他们应尽的责任

and how much love

以及深深的爱护

we can feel towards a child.

面对孩子时我会不由自主的有所感应

I would move heaven and earth

我愿意上天入地

in order to get treatment for Darius,

只为Darius的健康成长

and for me to be told

当我被告知

that there might be other Dariuses

有那么多其他的Darius

who are not getting treatment,

没得到任何治疗

that's just viscerally wrong.

这简直是大错特错！

So that's the personal reason.

这，就是我的个人原因

Scientific reason is that this notion

科学研究方面，

from neuroscience of critical periods --

神经学长久以来的这种说法

that if the brain is older

认为当大脑超过

than four or five years of age,

四到五岁时

it loses its ability to learn --

将会失去学习能力

that doesn't sit well with me,

我并不赞同

because I don't think that idea

因为我不觉得此理论

has been tested adequately.

有广泛的实践基础

The birth of the idea is from

这个理论来自于

David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel's work,

大卫胡伯和维塞尔的研究

two researchers who were at Harvard,

他们是哈佛大学的两位学者

and they got the Nobel Prize in 1981

于1981年赢得诺贝尔奖

for their studies of visual physiology,

其课题是视觉生理学

which are remarkably beautiful studies,

那是一项非比寻常的研究

but I believe some of their work

但我相信他们的一些工作

has been extrapolated

在推断的基础上

into the human domain prematurely.

过早的进入了人类范围

So, they did their work with kittens,

事实上，他们用猫咪做实验

with different kinds of deprivation regiments,

证实了不同残疾种类的行为

and those studies,

这些研究

which date back to the '60s,

已经是六十年代的产物

are now being applied to human children.

现在却还在被用于分析我们的孩子

So I felt that I needed to do two things.

就这样，我认定自己需要做两件事

One: provide care

第一: 为得不到

to children who are currently

治疗的儿童们

being deprived of treatment.

提供关照

That's the humanitarian mission.

这是人道主义职责所在

And the scientific mission would be

科学的职责在于

to test the limits

要去学习

of visual plasticity.

视觉系统延伸的极限

And these two missions, as you can tell,

很显然，这两项任务放在一起

thread together perfectly. One adds to the other;

会是多么的珠联璧合

in fact, one would be impossible without the other.

彼此密不可分

So, to implement

这般如此，为了实施

these twin missions,

此两个任务

a few years ago, I launched Project Prakash.

几年前我发起了普拉卡项目

Prakash, as many of you know,

普拉卡，你们也许知道

is the Sanskrit word for light,

在梵语中意为 光明

and the idea is that

我们希望能

in bringing light into the lives of children,

给孩子们的生命中带来光明

we also have a chance

同时有机会

of shedding light on some of the

搞定一些

deepest mysteries of neuroscience.

神经学上的迷思

And the logo -- even though it looks extremely Irish,

它的图标，尽管看起来特别像爱尔兰文字

it's actually derived from

其实是源自

the Indian symbol of Diya, an earthen lamp.

古印度代表大地之神的明灯

The Prakash, the overall effort

普拉卡 总的来说

has three components:

专注于三个方面

outreach, to identify children in need of care;

从长计议，去帮助需要关爱

medical treatment; and in subsequent study.

治疗和学习的孩子们

And I want to show you a short video clip

现在我要播放一段视频

that illustrates the first two components of this work.

来展示前两个方面

This is an outreach station

这个长远的安置

conducted at a school for the blind.

引导着盲童学校

(Text: Most of the children are profoundly and permanently blind ...)

画外音：大部分孩子都是重度永久性的失明

Pawan Sinha: So, because this is a school for the blind,

教授：由于这是所盲人学校

many children have permanent conditions.

很多孩子的情况一生都无法治愈

That's a case of microphthalmos,

这就是小眼症

which is malformed eyes,

也称眼部发育畸形

and that's a permanent condition;

一种永久性的损害

it cannot be treated.

无法治愈

That's an extreme of micropthalmos

这一例是极端小眼症

called enophthalmos.

叫做眼球内陷

But, every so often, we come across children

尽管情况如此糟糕，我们还是会遇到

who show some residual vision,

有些孩子留有少许视力

and that is a very good sign

这是非常好的迹象

that the condition might actually be treatable.

说明这种病例有治疗的希望

So, after that screening, we bring the children to the hospital.

我们把类似这样经过挑选的孩子送进医院观察

That's the hospital we're working with in Delhi,

我们与这家坐落在德里的医院合作

the Schroff Charity Eye Hospital.

斯沃夫慈善眼科医院

It has a very well-equipped

它有个设备精良的

pediatric ophthalmic center,

儿童眼科中心

which was made possible in part

多亏了罗兰 麦当劳的慷慨捐助

by a gift from the Ronald McDonald charity.

使其成为可能

So, eating burgers actually helps.

你看，多吃点儿汉堡包真的有用

(Text: Such examinations allow us to improve

文字：（这类的检测使我们提高了

eye-health in many children, and ...

许多孩子的眼部健康状况并且

... help us find children who can participate in Project Prakash.)

协助我们寻找那些可以参与普拉卡计划的孩子们）

PS: So, as I zoom in to the eyes of this child,

近距离观察这个孩子的眼睛

you will see the cause of his blindness.

你会看见是什么使他失明

The whites that you see in the middle of his pupils

你看瞳孔中间的这块白斑

are congenital cataracts,

是先天性白内障

so opacities of the lens.

挡住眼球水晶体

In our eyes, the lens is clear,

我们眼睛里的水晶体是透明的

but in this child, the lens has become opaque,

但是这个孩子，他的水晶体变得浑浊

and therefore he can't see the world.

就这样儿，他什么都看不见

So, the child is given treatment. You'll see shots of the eye.

于是这个孩子接受了治疗，注意看他眼部的照片

Here's the eye with the opaque lens,

这是那只盲眼

the opaque lens extracted

拿出浑浊的晶状体

and an acrylic lens inserted.

用树脂晶状体取代

And here's the same child

同样的孩子

three weeks post-operation,

手术3个星期后

with the right eye open.

右眼看得见了

(Applause)

（掌声）

Thank you.

谢谢

So, even from that little clip, you can begin to get the sense

从这段小影片中，你已经了解到

that recovery is possible,

康复是有可能的

and we have now

目前我们已经

provided treatment to over 200 children,

为超过200名儿童提供了治疗

and the story repeats itself.

故事在重复上演着

After treatment, the child

进过治疗，这些孩子们

gains significant functionality.

的视力得到极大的进步

In fact, the story holds true

其实，同样的示例

even if you have a person who got sight

发生在失明多年的

after several years of deprivation.

病患身上

We did a paper a few years ago

几年前我们有篇论文

about this woman that you see on the right, SRD,

就是关于右边这位妇女的故事

and she got her sight late in life,

她晚年才开始看见东西的

and her vision is remarkable at this age.

她的视力在这个年龄段是非常出色的

I should add a tragic postscript to this --

我得加个悲剧桥段

she died two years ago

两年前她去世了

in a bus accident.

死于巴士车祸

So, hers is just a truly inspiring story --

她是个真实而激动人心的示例

unknown, but inspiring story.

尽管无法得知未来会怎样，不过非常激励我们

So when we started finding these results,

当我们开始寻找这类示例时

as you might imagine, it created quite a bit of stir

能够想象，在科学界和流行出版行业

in the scientific and the popular press.

激起过一些浪潮

Here's an article in Nature

这是刊登在《自然》 上面的文章

that profiled this work,

描述这项工作

and another one in Time.

时代周刊也曾经报道

So, we were fairly convinced -- we are convinced --

我们十分信服

that recovery is feasible,

回复是很有可能的

despite extended visual deprivation.

即使是针对长期视力衰弱

The next obvious question to ask:

下一个问题显然就是

What is the process of recovery?

恢复的过程是怎样呢？

So, the way we study that is,

我们是这么进行研究的：

let's say we find a child who has light sensitivity.

先要寻找一个对光线敏感的孩子

The child is provided treatment,

给他进行治疗

and I want to stress that the treatment

我想要强调一点这类治疗

is completely unconditional;

是完全免费的

there is no quid pro quo.

无需置疑

We treat many more children then we actually work with.

我们治疗非常多的孩子们，通过他们开展工作

Every child who needs treatment is treated.

每个需要的孩子都会治疗

After treatment, about every week,

治疗过后的几乎每个星期♪

we run the child

我们给孩子进行

on a battery of simple visual tests

简单的视觉测试

in order to see how their visual skills

从而观察他们的进步

are coming on line.

是符合预期效果的

And we try to do this for as long as possible.

我们试着去做，越多越好

This arc of development

这条发展之路

gives us unprecedented

给了我们前所未有

and extremely valuable information

极为珍贵的信息

about how the scaffolding of vision

学习视力框架是

gets set up.

如何构建的

What might be the causal connections

其中

between the early developing skills

早期发展技巧

and the later developing ones?

与后期发展有什么因果联系吗？

And we've used this general approach to study

我们用类似的方式来学习

many different visual proficiencies,

很多不同的视觉能力

but I want to highlight one particular one,

但是我想要特别强调其中的一种

and that is image parsing into objects.

那就是怎样把图像解析为物体

So, any image of the kind that you see on the left,

看，你现在看到在左边任一种图像

be it a real image or a synthetic image,

不论是真的物体或者是人造的

it's made up of little regions

都以小的区域构成

that you see in the middle column,

就是中间的这些小东西

regions of different colors, different luminances.

这些区域有各式各样的颜色，光泽

The brain has this complex task

大脑用其复杂的结构

of putting together, integrating,

来吸取判断

subsets of these regions

小区域中更小的部分

into something that's more meaningful,

转化成有意义的信息

into what we would consider to be objects,

告诉我们哪些是真实的物体

as you see on the right.

像你在右侧看到的这样

And nobody knows how this integration happens,

没人知道这个过程是怎么发生的

and that's the question we asked with Project Prakash.

这就是我们在普拉卡课题上的挑战

So, here's what happens

其实是这样的

very soon after the onset of sight.

得到视觉不久

Here's a person who had gained sight just a couple of weeks ago,

这个人几周前刚刚复明

and you see Ethan Myers, a graduate student from MIT,

这位是伊坦迈尔，麻省理工大学的学生

running the experiment with him.

在与他做实验

His visual-motor coordination is quite poor,

他的视觉配合度还很差

but you get a general sense

你可以从中得到一种感觉

of what are the regions that he's trying to trace out.

他到底在忙着找一些什么区域

If you show him real world images,

如果给他看真实的图像

if you show others like him real world images,

或者跟他这样儿的初期康复者看这种图像

they are unable to recognize most of the objects

它们不能辨识大部分物体

because the world to them is over-fragmented;

因为这个世界分成了很多小块儿

it's made up of a collage, a patchwork,

抽象断裂的小块儿

of regions of different colors and luminances.

有着很多不同的颜色和光泽

And that's what's indicated in the green outlines.

类似那些绿色划线

When you ask them,

当你向他们问起

"Even if you can't name the objects, just point to where the objects are,"

不需要命名，只要指着物体就可以

these are the regions that they point to.

他们指出来这样一些区域

So the world is this complex

他的世界非常复杂

patchwork of regions.

有一块一块的很多区域

Even the shadow on the ball

甚至球上方的阴影

becomes its own object.

变成独体的物体

Interestingly enough,

有趣的是

you give them a few months,

几个月后

and this is what happens.

发生了一些事

Doctor: How many are these?

医生：看见几个东西？

Patient: These are two things.

病患：这有两件物体

Doctor: What are their shapes?

医生：它们什么形状？

Patient: Their shapes ...

病患：它们的形状。。

This one is a circle,

这个是圆形

and this

这个

is a square.

是正方形

PS: A very dramatic transformation has come about.

相当戏剧化的转变发生了

And the question is:

问题就是

What underlies this transformation?

这种转换说明什么？

It's a profound question,

这是个很深奥的问题

and what's even more amazing is how simple

更使人惊奇的是

the answer is.

答案竟然那么简单

The answer lies in motion

答案来自于运动

and that's what I want to show you in the next clip.

那就是下一段视频我想要给大家展示的

Doctor: What shape do you see here?

医生：你能看到什么形状？

Patient: I can't make it out.

病患：我不太清楚

Doctor: Now?

医生：现在呢？

Patient: Triangle.

病患：三角形

Doctor: How many things are these?

医生：这有几个物体？

Now, how many things are these?

现在，有几个呢？

Patient: Two.

病患：两个

Doctor: What are these things?

医生：这些是什么？

Patient: A square and a circle.

病患：一个正方形和一个圆形

PS: And we see this pattern over and over again.

这种行为会反复出现

The one thing the visual system needs

视觉系统解读世界

in order to begin parsing the world

需要的重点

is dynamic information.

是动感信息

So the inference we are deriving from this,

我们从这个实验还有很多其他实验中

and several such experiments,

提取的是

is that dynamic information processing,

动感信息进程

or motion processing,

又叫移动进程

serves as the bedrock for building

的作用是建构视觉

the rest of the complexity of visual processing;

进程的支架

it leads to visual integration

它带领了视觉合成

and eventually to recognition.

最终实现视觉感知

This simple idea has far reaching implications.

这个貌似简单的道理有深远的影响

And let me just quickly mention two,

让我大概来提两点

one, drawing from the domain of engineering,

一方面是科技工程学

and one from the clinic.

另一个是临床

So, from the perspective of engineering,

那么，从工程学的角度来看

we can ask: Goven that we know

我们可能会问，了解了

that motion is so important for the human visual system,

动态对人类视觉行程是如此的重要

can we use this as a recipe

能不能用这个配方

for constructing machine-based vision systems

来搭建机器人视觉系统？

that can learn on their own, that don't need to be programmed

使它自己学习，都不用程序操纵

by a human programmer?

和人的协助

And that's what we're trying to do.

这就是我们在

I'm at MIT, at MIT you need to apply

麻省理工大学正在研究的课题，这里

whatever basic knowledge you gain.

需要应用任何你学到的基础知识

So we are creating Dylan,

这样，我们制造了德兰

which is a computational system

一个机器人系统

with an ambitious goal

它有个雄心勃勃的目标

of taking in visual inputs

就是获取视觉输入

of the same kind that a human child would receive,

类似小孩接受的信息一样

and autonomously discovering:

然后自觉地去发掘

What are the objects in this visual input?

这个视觉输入的目的

So, don't worry about the internals of Dylan.

别担心德兰内部长什么样

Here, I'm just going to talk about

在这里，我只需要介绍

how we test Dylan.

我们怎么测试她

The way we test Dylan is by giving it

测试德兰的方法是通过

inputs, as I said, of the same kind

给它输入一些信息

that a baby, or a child in Project Prakash would get.

类似婴儿能看到或者其他普拉卡课题的孩子能看到的

But for a long time we couldn't quite figure out:

但是很长一段时间里我们找不出来

Wow can we get these kinds of video inputs?

到哪去弄这种视频输入

So, I thought,

所以，我想到的是。。。

could we have Darius

不如让我儿子

serve as our babycam carrier,

当个婴儿摄像头

and that way get the inputs that we feed into Dylan?

就这样拍到了德兰的输入视频

So that's what we did.

我们是这么做的

(Laughter)

笑声

I had to have long conversations with my wife.

为这，我必须跟老婆进行一次长谈

(Laughter)

笑声

In fact, Pam, if you're watching this,

潘米，如果你在看的话

please forgive me.

原谅我吧

So, we modified the optics of the camera

于是我们改装了摄像机镜头

in order to mimic the baby's visual acuity.

用于模仿小婴儿的视觉精度

As some of you might know,

大家可能知道了

babyies are born pretty much legally blind.

新生宝宝总的来说是看不见什么东西的

Their acuity -- our acuity is 20/20;

他们的视力如何- 我们成人是20/20

babies' acuity is like 20/800,

婴儿的精度大概只有20/800

so they are looking at the world

所以他们眼中的世界

in a very, very blurry fashion.

非常非常的模糊

Here's what a baby-cam video looks like.

这个就是婴儿摄像头看到的

(Laughter)

笑声

(Applause)

鼓掌

Thankfully, there isn't any audio

幸亏没有音频

to go with this.

跟着图像伴奏

What's amazing is that working with such

令人惊叹的是，

highly degraded input,

宝宝们看到的世界如此的高度模糊

the baby, very quickly, is able

他们还能很快的

to discover meaning in such input.

发现这种输入的意义

But then two or three days afterward,

只要两三天，

babies begin to pay attention

宝宝会开始注意到

to their mother's or their father's face.

他的爸爸妈妈的脸孔。

How does that happen? We want Dylan to be able to do that,

这是怎么回事？我们希望德兰也能做到

and using this mantra of motion,

利用动态原理

Dylan actually can do that.

德兰实际上真的做到了

So, given that kind of video input,

给它输入这种视频

with just about six or seven minutes worth of video,

才六七分钟的短片

Dylan can begin to extract patterns

德兰能开始提取模式

that include faces.

包括面孔。

So, it's an important demonstration

所以，这是个很重要的展示

of the power of motion.

说明了动态的重要性

The clinical implication, it comes from the domain of autism.

临床上，它的应用来源于自闭症的研究

Visual integration has been associated with autism

视觉合成疗法开始的结合是自闭症

by several researchers.

已经有些科学家在研究了

When we saw that, we asked:

我们看到这些，提出的问题是

Could the impairment in visual integration

视觉系统的合成缺陷

be the manifestation of something underneath,

会不会是某种表像

of dynamic information processing deficiencies in autism?

而是自闭症的动态信息处理缺陷

Because, if that hypothesis were to be true,

因为如果这个假说是真的

it would have massive repercussions in our understanding

会给我们的研究带来巨大影响

of what's causing the many different aspects

特别是不同的

of the autism phenotype.

自闭症的显现

What you're going to see are

你会看到的是

video clips of two children -- one neurotypical,

两个孩子的视频，一个正常

one with autism, playing Pong.

另一个自闭症的孩子，在玩撞球游戏

So, while the child is playing Pong, we are tracking where they're looking.

这样，当孩子在玩儿的时候，我们跟踪他们眼球的方向

In red are the eye movement traces.

红色是眼睛运动的路径

This is the neurotypical child, and what you see

这个是正常的孩子，你会看到

is that the child is able to make cues

这个孩子能推断出

of the dynamic information

球的动态信息

to predict where the ball is going to go.

然后预测出球要去哪里

Even before the ball gets to a place,

在球到达之前

the child is already looking there.

孩子已经能看向那边了

Contrast this with a child

相反的，另一个

with autism playing the same game.

自闭症的孩子在玩的时候

Instead of anticipating,

不能预测

the child always follows where the ball has been.

他只能追着球的运动

The efficiency of the use

使用动态信息

of dynamic information

的效率

seems to be significantly compromised in autism.

看来在自闭症人身上低多了

So we are pursuing this line of work

我们一直追随这方面的工作

and hopefully we'll have

希望有一天

more results to report soon.

有更多的研究报告出炉

Looking ahead, if you think of this disk

向前看去，如果你觉得这个圆形

as representing all of the children

用以代表所有

we've treated so far,

我们已经治疗过的儿童

this is the magnitude of the problem.

这就是问题的总量

The red dots are the children we have not treated.

红色的点是我们治疗过的孩子

So, there are many, many more children who need to be treated,

所以，还有很多很多孩子，需要接受治疗

and in order to expand the scope of the project,

为了能扩大课题的范围

we are planning on launching

我们计划要发展

The Prakash Center for Children,

普拉卡儿童中心

which will have a dedicated pediatric hospital,

包括专业眼科医院

a school for the children we are treating

为患病儿童开设的学校

and also a cutting-edge research facility.

还有前沿科技研究机构

The Prakash Center will integrate health care,

普拉卡中心将会结合医疗

education and research in a way

教育和科研为一体

that truly creates the whole

真正实现

to be greater than the sum of the parts.

合众为一的伟大力量

So, to summarize: Prakash, in its five years of existence,

总的来说，在普拉卡成立5年之际

it's had an impact in multiple areas,

它已经影响到了很广的范围

ranging from basic neuroscience

从基础神经学

plasticity and learning in the brain,

和脑神经学

to clinically relevant hypotheses like in autism,

到临床相关的设想，比如说自闭症

the development of autonomous machine vision systems,

有半自动可视机器人

education of the undergraduate and graduate students,

大学生，研究生的教育学习

and most importantly in the alleviation

最重要的在于减轻

of childhood blindness.

孩子们失明的痛苦

And for my students and I, it's been

对于我的学生，还有我本人

just a phenomenal experience

这是多么非凡的经历

because we have gotten to do interesting research,

因为我们在做着特别有趣的研究

while at the same time

同时

helping the many children that we have worked with.

帮助了那么多与我们工作同在的孩子们

Thank you very much.

非常感谢

(Applause)

（掌声）