Christopher deCharms: A look inside the brain in real time

譯者: Yuchen Huang 審譯者: Shiu-chin Linda Hsu

Hi. I'm going to ask you to raise your arms and wave back,

大家好。我想請你們舉起手臂朝我揮一揮，

just the way I am -- kind of a royal wave.

像我這樣，有點皇室招手的樣子。

You can mimic what you can see.

你能模仿你所看到的，

You can program the hundreds of muscles in your arm.

再過不久，你也能透視自己的大腦，並且指揮、

Soon, you'll be able to look inside your brain and program,

控制裡面數以百計的大腦區塊。

control the hundreds of brain areas that you see there.

我要談的就是這項科技。

I'm going to tell you about that technology.

幾千年來，人們一直想要探索人類的心智，

People have wanted to look inside the human mind,

以及人腦的奧秘。

the human brain, for thousands of years.

現在透過實驗室研究，這樣的夢想在我們這一代已經成為可能。

Well, coming out of the research labs just now, for our generation, is the possibility to do that.

大家想像中實行起來一定很困難吧，

People envision this as being very difficult.

你得先搭上太空船，然後把船縮小，注射到血管裡去，

You had to take a spaceship, shrink it down, inject it into the bloodstream.

簡直是超危險的，

It was terribly dangerous. (Laughter)

還可能遭受動脈中白血球的攻擊。

You could be attacked by white blood cells in the arteries.

不過現在我們有真實的科技可以做到。

But now, we have a real technology to do this.

我們現在要飛進我同事彼得的大腦裡，

We're going to fly into my colleague Peter's brain.

也就是用使用非侵入性的磁振造影的方法。

We're going to do it non-invasively using MRI.

不需要注射任何東西，也不用放射線，

We don't have to inject anything. We don't need radiation.

就可以飛進彼得大腦的剖面，真的是飛進他的身體裡去。

We will be able to fly into the anatomy of Peter's brain -- literally, fly into his body --

不過更重要的是，我們可以透視他的思想。

but more importantly, we can look into his mind.

當彼得移動他的手臂時，你看到的那個黃點

When Peter moves his arm, that yellow spot you see there

就是顯示出彼得腦部運作的圖形界面。

is the interface to the functioning of Peter's mind taking place.

你已經看過用電極來控制機械手臂，

Now you've seen before that with electrodes you can control robotic arms,

或者腦部影像和掃描器能顯示腦的內部，

that brain imaging and scanners can show you the insides of brains.

只不過那樣的過程通常需要幾天或幾個月的資料分析。

What's new is that that process has typically taken days or months of analysis.

透過科技我們已經將這個過程縮小到千分之幾秒，

We've collapsed that through technology to milliseconds,

如此，只要彼得待在掃描器內，就可以即時看到他自己的大腦運作。

and that allows us to let Peter to look at his brain in real time as he's inside the scanner.

他可以看著這些每秒 65,000 個的腦內神經活動點，

He can look at these 65,000 points of activation per second.

只要他能看見自己腦內的運作模式，就能學習控制它。

If he can see this pattern in his own brain, he can learn how to control it.

一直以來我們只有三個可以嘗試著影響的大腦方法：

There have been three ways to try to impact the brain:

心理治療師的沙發、藥物和手術刀。

the therapist's couch, pills and the knife.

在不久的將來你就會有第四種選擇了。

This is a fourth alternative that you are soon going to have.

大家知道，我們的想法在成形的過程中，會在我們的內心和大腦深處形成通路，

We all know that as we form thoughts, they form deep channels in our minds and in our brains.

慢性疼痛就是其中一個例子。當你燙到自己時，你會馬上縮手，

Chronic pain is an example. If you burn yourself, you pull your hand away.

但是如果六個月或六年後你還覺得疼痛，

But if you're still in pain in six months' or six years' time,

那是因為這個神經迴路所製造的疼痛對你已經沒有益處。

it's because these circuits are producing pain that's no longer helping you.

如果我們能看到大腦內產生這個疼痛的活動狀況，

If we can look at the activation in the brain that's producing the pain,

就能建立 3D 模型，並且即時觀察大腦處理資訊的過程，

we can form 3D models and watch in real time the brain process information,

從而找出產生疼痛的腦部區塊。

and then we can select the areas that produce the pain.

請再把你的手臂舉起來並動動你的二頭肌。

So put your arms back up and flex your bicep.

現在請想像你很快就能透視自己的大腦，

Now imagine that you will soon be able to look inside your brain

並選擇大腦區塊來做出同樣的動作。

and select brain areas to do that same thing.

這裡你們所看到的，是我們選出的一位慢性疼痛病人腦內的路徑，

What you're seeing here is, we've selected the pathways in the brain of a chronic pain patient.

也許你會很吃驚，但是我們確確實實正在以同步方式讀他的腦。

This may shock you, but we're literally reading this person's brain in real time.

他們可以一邊看著腦的活動，

They're watching their own brain activation,

一邊控制著引發疼痛的路徑，

and they're controlling the pathway that produces their pain.

並且學習操控這個會釋出內生性類鴉片止痛物質的系統。

They're learning to flex this system that releases their own endogenous opiates.

當他們一面這樣做的時候，左上方連結大腦活動的螢幕

As they do it, in the upper left is a display

就會顯示出他們的疼痛正在受到控制。

that's yoked to their brain activation of their own pain being controlled.

當他們能控制大腦時，就能控制疼痛。

When they control their brain, they can control their pain.

這是一項還在發展研究中的科技，

This is an investigational technology,

不過在臨床試驗我們已經發現慢性疼痛患者減少了百分之 44 到 64 。

but, in clinical trials, we're seeing a 44 to 64 percent decrease in chronic pain patients.

這不是 「駭客任務」。你只能在自己身上操作，只有你擁有控制權。

This is not "The Matrix." You can only do this to yourself. You take control.

我已經透視了自己的腦，再過不久你也能這樣做。

I've seen inside my brain. You will too, soon.

當你看著自己的大腦時，你會想控制甚麼呢？

When you do, what do you want to control?

你將得以看見各種你之所以為你的形成因素，以及你的所有經歷。

You will be able to look at all the aspects that make you yourself, all your experiences.

這些部分是我們還在努力研究中，但今天卻因為時間因素無法詳談。

These are some of the areas we're working on today that I don't have time to go into in detail.

我只想留給大家一個大哉問：

But I want to leave with you the big question.

我們是第一個得以藉著這項科技進入

We are the first generation that's going to be able to enter into,

人類心智與大腦的世代，

using this technology, the human mind and brain.

我們會把這項科技帶向什麼方向呢？

Where will we take it?