科学家创造大脑的“社交网络”分享思想

Scientists Create ‘Social Network’ of Brains to Share Thoughts

There have been many books written and movies made describing the ability of people to communicate through thoughts.

While this idea has not been demonstrated in reality, physicists¹ and neuroscientists have reported some progress in recent years.

Now, scientists say they successfully connected the brains of three people who were able to send thoughts to each other. A group of researchers reported their new findings in a scientific paper posted on the internet.

The scientists – from the University of Washington and Carnegie Mellon University - say they believe their experiment is the very first of its kind. The team used electronic tools to complete the test of brain-to-brain communication.

It was not the first time this same group of researchers connected different human brains, MIT Technology Review reports. In 2015, they used similar equipment to link up the brains of two people. Part of that experiment involved the two test subjects playing a simple word game, the publication said.

The group calls its new project BrainNet. It described the system as the first “direct brain-to-brain interface²” designed to help people cooperate in problem solving.

In the experiment, the scientists said only brain-to-brain communication was used as the three individuals played a video game together. The game was a simplified version of the video game Tetris, which became hugely popular in the 1980s. In the game, players try to match colored blocks falling onto a puzzle.

How it works

Two kinds of electronic devices were worn by people taking part in the experiment. Electroencephalograms, or EEGs were used to record electrical brain activity of subjects. The other, called transcranial magnetic stimulation³, or TMS, is a process that magnetically stimulates⁵ a part of the brain. This was used to send information to others involved in the experiment.

During the game, two players were chosen as “senders” and a third as a “receiver.” The senders had brain signals “decoded” using real-time EEG information. The decoding⁷ process recorded each sender’s decisions about suggested moves in the game. The sending and receiving of information was carried out by the subjects looking at different forms of light.

The decisions were then transmitted through the internet to the brain of the receiver, who could not see the video game. The receiver then uses the information from the senders to decide on what game moves to make. An additional part of the game provided a second chance for senders to examine the receiver’s decision and send feedback to the receiver’s brain.

The researchers said experiments were carried out with five different groups, each with three human subjects. They reported all the groups were able to use BrainNet to perform the game moves with a success rate of 81 percent.

The scientists added noise to one sender’s signal to test whether that would affect the receiver’s responses. They reported that the receivers learned to recognize the most reliable senders by using only the information transmitted to their brains.

The researchers wrote that the results “raise the possibility of future brain-to-brain interfaces⁸ that enable cooperative problem solving by humans using a ‘social network’ of connected brains.”

I’m Bryan Lynn.

Words in This Story

interface – n. connection between two pieces of electronic equipment

puzzle – n. a game or activity in which places have to put pieces together or answer questions using skill

stimulate⁴ – v. make something happen or develop

decode⁶ – v. discover the meaning of something

transmit – v. send out

reliable – adj. able to be trusted or believed

possibility – n. a chance something may happen or be true

enable – v. make it possible for someone to do something

1 physicists   

物理学家( physicist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• For many particle physicists, however, it was a year of frustration. 对于许多粒子物理学家来说，这是受挫折的一年。 来自英汉非文学 - 科技
• Physicists seek rules or patterns to provide a framework. 物理学家寻求用法则或图式来构成一个框架。

2 interface   

n.接合部位，分界面；v.(使)互相联系

参考例句：

• My computer has a network interface,which allows me to get to other computers.我的计算机有网络接口可以与其它计算机连在一起。
• This program has perspicuous interface and extensive application. 该程序界面明了，适用范围广。

3 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。

4 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。

5 stimulates   

v.刺激( stimulate的第三人称单数 )；激励；使兴奋；起兴奋作用，起刺激作用，起促进作用

参考例句：

• Exercise stimulates the body. 运动促进身体健康。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Alcohol stimulates the action of the heart. 酒刺激心脏的活动。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

6 decode   

vt.译（码），解（码）

参考例句：

• All he had to do was decode it and pass it over.他需要做的就是将它破译然后转给他人。
• The secret documents were intercepted and decoded.机密文件遭截获并被破译。

7 decoding   

n.译码，解码v.译（码），解（码）( decode的现在分词 )；分析及译解电子信号

参考例句：

• We cannot add any other memory to this system without further decoding. 如果不增加译码，就不能使系统的存贮容量有任何扩展。 来自辞典例句
• Examples using the 8250 will be presented in hardware section to clarify full-decoding schemes. 在硬件一节中有应用说明全译码方案8250的例子。 来自辞典例句

8 interfaces   

界面( interface的名词复数 )； 接口（连接两装置的电路，可使数据从一种代码转换成另一种代码）； 交界； 联系

参考例句：

• If the class needs to be reprogrammed, new interfaces are created. 如果class需要重新程序设计，新的interfaces创建。
• Interfaces solve this problem of evolving code. Interfaces解决了代码升级的问题。