美国国家公共电台 NPR Higher, Better, Stronger, Faster — Brain Science Is Trying To Get There

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

If you want to get good at something, whether it's piano or golf, we know what works - practice. Do something over and over and over, and your brain eventually masters that activity. But what if your brain could be so ready to learn that you didn't have to practice something so many times to master it? Some top athletes are training with headsets that are supposed to stimulate¹ their brain cells, make their brains more ready to learn so practice is more effective. NPR's Elise Hu has been trying it out as part of our video series on how emerging technologies may shape our future. It is called Future You With Elise Hu. And she spoke² with Steve.

STEVE INSKEEP, BYLINE³: Hi there.

ELISE HU, BYLINE: Hey. Good morning.

INSKEEP: OK, so I watched your video, and you've got this thing on. And it looks like one of those old-timey, like, 1990s big, old stereo headsets. What is it really?

HU: That's right. It's a headset that looks like headphones like Beats by Dre, but it's actually a brain-stimulating device that can zap you with tiny currents, so you don't feel anything. The electrical charge is super low...

INSKEEP: But you're getting shocked.

HU: Yes (laughter). You are supposed to wear it for about 20 minutes before you practice this golf swing or squats⁴ or lunges, any repetitive activity that you could get better at over time. And what it's doing is it's priming your brain before you do that activity. So to try it out here at NPR West, I decided⁵ to learn something I've never done before - vertical⁶ jump.

OK, so then...

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Get comfortable and then just jump straight up. Boom, there it is.

NATE ROTT, BYLINE: Nice.

HU: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: So you're looking at 14 inches on the dot.

ROTT: Wow.

HU: OK, 14 inches.

ROTT: That's more than a foot.

HU: So I needed to actually train on jumping over four to six weeks while wearing this headset. And then NPR reporter Nate Rott did not get a headset. And we trained together.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

HU: Oh, that was much longer than mine. Jeez.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Seventeen inches.

ROTT: Got three inches on you.

HU: Oh, my gosh. So he's already...

So this isn't...

INSKEEP: He's the control group, like the placebo⁷. OK, fine.

HU: This isn't exactly a perfect science experiment, but we wanted to try this to see if I could improve better than he did. So for another month after this, I used this headset before working out. Nate then worked out with me, but he didn't get a headset.

INSKEEP: OK, so what's the big thing you're trying to get at by testing your vertical jump?

HU: So the entire video series Future You is about exploring where new technologies are going to take us by 2050. And in this case, what we're looking at is electrical stimulation⁸ for your brain. The technical term is called transcranial direct-current stimulation. We are still waiting for more of a body of clinical data on this. We do know that one DARPA-funded study showed as much as a 40% improvement in performance in primates⁹.

INSKEEP: DARPA - that's the Pentagon science guys.

HU: That's right. They are testing this on the military. The one I used actually does have a contract with the DoD. It's from a company called Halo. And I asked the founder¹⁰ of the company where he thinks this might lead us a few decades into the future. He's a Stanford trained MD named Dr. Dan Chao.

DAN CHAO: Like, could we be more attentive¹¹ and focused as a society? You know, advance ourselves, advance humanity - that's a good thing.

HU: So you're expecting kind of a super cognition - right? - like advanced memory capabilities¹², advanced focus capabilities.

CHAO: Advanced focus and - like, I would use it when I needed to get meaningful work done. If I could have had a neuro stimulator¹³ to help me with focus, I would've been a better student.

HU: If humans can be upgraded this much, then are we creating different classes of humans? Or even with athletes, there's asterisks¹⁴ by those who used steroids.

CHAO: There's legal performance enhancement that's all around us, like drinking coffee. It's been identified by the World Anti-Doping Association as performance enhancing, yet it's legal. What WADA considers illegal is things that are unsafe to the health of the athlete and against the spirit of the sport. I would argue it isn't.

INSKEEP: OK, it's said for the moment it's cool for athletes to use this as they train, which brings us back to your vertical jump, Elise. How'd you do?

HU: So not scientific but after about a month of training with the headset...

(Laughter).

...I was able to increase my vertical jump by 11%.

INSKEEP: Is that good? I don't know.

HU: Well, it was pretty surprising, even for me.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: You got some ups.

ROTT: Serious ups.

INSKEEP: How'd Nate do? - the control group.

HU: Nate Rott only increased his vertical jump by 8%. So I like to think I won.

INSKEEP: Well, Elise, thanks very much for the insights - really appreciate it.

HU: You're welcome.

INSKEEP: Now all of this is on video. You can see it for yourself. The series is called Future You With Elise Hu. It rhymes.

HU: It rhymes.

INSKEEP: And you can find it at npr.org/futureyou.

(SOUNDBITE OF SKINNY WILLIAMS AND STEPHEN GOODSON'S "POP STAR EXPLOSION")

1 stimulate   

vt.刺激，使兴奋；激励，使…振奋

参考例句：

• Your encouragement will stimulate me to further efforts.你的鼓励会激发我进一步努力。
• Success will stimulate the people for fresh efforts.成功能鼓舞人们去作新的努力。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 squats   

n.蹲坐，蹲姿( squat的名词复数 )；被擅自占用的建筑物v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的第三人称单数 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。

参考例句：

• The square squats in the centre of the city. 广场位于市中心。 来自互联网
• Various squats, lunges, jumps and sprints are incorporated for the humans. 主人们还要进行下蹲、弓步、跳跃和短跑等各项训练。 来自互联网

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 vertical   

adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置

参考例句：

• The northern side of the mountain is almost vertical.这座山的北坡几乎是垂直的。
• Vertical air motions are not measured by this system.垂直气流的运动不用这种系统来测量。

7 placebo   

n.安慰剂；宽慰话

参考例句：

• The placebo has been found to work with a lot of different cases.人们已发现安慰剂能在很多不同的病例中发挥作用。
• The placebo effect refers to all the observable behaviors caused by placebo.安慰剂效应是指由安慰剂所引起的可观察的行为。

8 stimulation   

n.刺激，激励，鼓舞

参考例句：

• The playgroup provides plenty of stimulation for the children.幼儿游戏组给孩子很多启发。
• You don't get any intellectual stimulation in this job.你不能从这份工作中获得任何智力启发。

9 primates   

primate的复数

参考例句：

• Primates are alert, inquisitive animals. 灵长目动物是机灵、好奇的动物。
• Consciousness or cerebration has been said to have emerged in the evolution of higher primates. 据说意识或思考在较高级灵长类的进化中已出现。

10 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

11 attentive   

adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的

参考例句：

• She was very attentive to her guests.她对客人招待得十分周到。
• The speaker likes to have an attentive audience.演讲者喜欢注意力集中的听众。

12 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

13 stimulator   

n.刺激物，刺激者

参考例句：

• Men also have hair dryers and, if they suffer from baldness, they use a growth stimulator, buy hairpieces, or have hair transplanted from the hirsute part of the scalp to the bare areas. 男士也有他们的吹风机，而且如果他们秃顶的话，还会用毛发生长剂、买假发，或者把头发从密集的地方移植到谢顶的地方。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Objective To design electrical stimulator for epileptic rats experiment based on MSP430. 目的：设计基于MSP430的用于大鼠癫痫实验的电刺激器。 来自互联网

14 asterisks   

n.星号，星状物( asterisk的名词复数 )v.加星号于( asterisk的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He skips asterisks and gives you the gamy details. 他曲解事实，给你一些下流的细节内容。 来自互联网
• Make lists with dashes, asterisks, or bullets if you use HTML email. 如果你写的是HTML格式的邮件，用破折号、星号和子弹号立出清单。 来自互联网