只要測(cè)量你的腦電波就能知道你在想什么，這聽(tīng)起來(lái)像是科幻小說(shuō),，不過(guò)英國(guó)一項(xiàng)最新研究已經(jīng)在這方面取得了一些進(jìn)展,，可以初步解碼具備某些屬性的腦電波所代表的意義。
（圖片來(lái)源于網(wǎng)絡(luò)）
英國(guó)格拉斯哥大學(xué)的研究人員在新一期美國(guó)學(xué)術(shù)刊物《公共科學(xué)圖書(shū)館—生物學(xué)》（PLoS Biology）上報(bào)告說(shuō)，他們請(qǐng)6名志愿者參與試驗(yàn),。這些人會(huì)觀看一些顯示高興,、害怕、驚訝等表情的人臉圖像,，有時(shí)這些圖像會(huì)被隨機(jī)遮住一部分,，比如只能看到眼睛和嘴巴。受試者被要求從這種圖像中判斷人物表情,，而他們大腦在思考過(guò)程中發(fā)出的腦電波則被儀器仔細(xì)記錄下來(lái),。
研究人員隨后分析了腦電波的頻率、振幅和相位等不同屬性在攜帶信息方面的作用,，結(jié)果顯示,，頻率在12赫茲左右的腦電波更多地?cái)y帶與眼睛有關(guān)的信息，而頻率在4赫茲左右的腦電波更多地?cái)y帶與嘴巴有關(guān)的信息,。此外,，相位與振幅相比攜帶的信息量要大很多。
領(lǐng)導(dǎo)研究的菲利普·許恩斯教授說(shuō),，腦電波雖然容易測(cè)量,，但通常難以明白其中意義，這就像看一臺(tái)信號(hào)解碼有問(wèn)題的電視,，我們能收到信號(hào)，但看不到圖像,。而本次研究的目的正是幫助尋找有效的解碼方式,，現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)能看到一些圖像，也許將來(lái)能夠完全讀出腦電波所代表的內(nèi)容,。
他還指出,，大腦使用不同頻率的波來(lái)代表臉上不同部位，其好處是可以同時(shí)疊加使用多個(gè)頻率的波來(lái)攜帶更多信息,，這與現(xiàn)在廣播通信等領(lǐng)域中對(duì)不同頻段電波的劃分方式類似,。大腦與現(xiàn)有科技在處理信息方式上的這種相似性，使得在研發(fā)人機(jī)接口方面有很大潛力,，即可能直接讓大腦通過(guò)腦電波來(lái)與計(jì)算機(jī)通信,。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原文：
PLoS Biology DOI:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001064
Cracking the Code of Oscillatory Activity
Philippe G. Schyns, Gregor Thut, Joachim Gross
Neural oscillations are ubiquitous measurements of cognitive processes and dynamic routing and gating of information. The fundamental and so far unresolved problem for neuroscience remains to understand how oscillatory activity in the brain codes information for human cognition. In a biologically relevant cognitive task, we instructed six human observers to categorize facial expressions of emotion while we measured the observers' EEG. We combined state-of-the-art stimulus control with statistical information theory analysis to quantify how the three parameters of oscillations (i.e., power, phase, and frequency) code the visual information relevant for behavior in a cognitive task. We make three points: First, we demonstrate that phase codes considerably more information (2.4 times) relating to the cognitive task than power. Second, we show that the conjunction of power and phase coding reflects detailed visual features relevant for behavioral response—that is, features of facial expressions predicted by behavior. Third, we demonstrate, in analogy to communication technology, that oscillatory frequencies in the brain multiplex the coding of visual features, increasing coding capacity. Together, our findings about the fundamental coding properties of neural oscillations will redirect the research agenda in neuroscience by establishing the differential role of frequency, phase, and amplitude in coding behaviorally relevant information in the brain.
