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Whether you're in a deep sleep, taking a test, or watching a YouTube video, your brain is abuzz with activity.
不管你是在熟睡、考試，還是在YouTube上看視頻，你的大腦都在忙著活動(dòng)。
There are millions of electrical pulses passing between neurons that are sending messages to each other.
數(shù)以百萬計(jì)的電脈沖在神經(jīng)元之間相互傳遞著信息。
When those signals spread, clusters of neurons start getting feedback from others,
當(dāng)這些信號(hào)傳遞時(shí)，神經(jīng)元群開始從其他神經(jīng)元那里得到反饋，
and networks of cells synchronize their firing.
然后細(xì)胞網(wǎng)絡(luò)同步激活。
It becomes a repeating cycle or rhythm:
它變成了一個(gè)重復(fù)的循環(huán)或節(jié)律：
a brainwave, or as neuroscientists call them, neural oscillations.
變成了腦電波或神經(jīng)學(xué)家所說的神經(jīng)振蕩。
That organized electrical activity is strong enough to be detected by electrodes on the scalp
這種有組織的腦電活動(dòng)足以被頭皮上的電極檢測到，
with a technique called electroencephalography, or EEG.
這要用到一種叫做腦電圖（EEG）的技術(shù)。
And that's allowed us to study brainwaves to try to make sense of the brain.
該技術(shù)能讓我們通過研究腦電波來了解大腦。
While things are still pretty mysterious, lately we've been making strides to link brainwaves to things
盡管事情仍然很神秘，但最近我們在腦電波
like consciousness, memory, and maybe even certain diseases.
與諸如意識(shí)、記憶以及某些疾病的聯(lián)系方面取得了長足進(jìn)步。
Now, brainwaves aren't one-size-fits-all.
腦電波不是通用的。
There are actually lots of different electrical patterns, defined by their frequency.
它們實(shí)際有很多不同的腦電模式，這由它們的頻率來定義。
They're measured in cycles, or the number of times the neurons are firing, per second.
它們是以周期或者以神經(jīng)元每秒鐘被激活的次數(shù)來測量的。
Brainwaves also vary in amplitude, with lower amplitudes as they speed up.
腦電波的振幅也有變化，它會(huì)隨速度的加快而降低。
There are 5 main types, and there's no hard-and-fast rules about their functions.
腦電波有5種主要類型，它們的功能沒有硬性規(guī)定。
But generally: the higher frequency the wave, the more alert and awake you are.
但通常，腦電波的頻率越高，你就越清醒警覺。
So the slowest of these 5 waves, which are of relatively high amplitude, are delta waves.
這5種腦電波中最慢、振幅相對較高的是δ波。
They're typically linked with deep sleep.
它們通常與深度睡眠有關(guān)。
Slightly faster are theta waves, which are often associated with day-dreaming or meditation.
頻率稍微快一點(diǎn)兒的是θ波，它們通常與白日夢或冥想有關(guān)。
The next step up are alpha waves.
再快一點(diǎn)兒的是α波。
These are common when you're awake, but relaxed, like when you still have your eyes closed.
它們通常出現(xiàn)在你清醒但放松的時(shí)候，比如，你仍閉著眼睛的時(shí)候。
Beta waves are even higher frequency and lower amplitude,
β波的頻率更高，振幅更小，
and seem to happen when you're awake and thinking about something.
你醒著思考問題的時(shí)候似乎會(huì)有該波。
The smallest, fastest oscillations are gamma waves.
振幅最小、振蕩最快的是γ波。
They tend to be around when you're deeply focused on something.
當(dāng)你全神貫注于某件事時(shí)，它們往往會(huì)出現(xiàn)。
Now, even though we talk about beta waves when you're in class
即使我們簡單地討論了你上課時(shí)會(huì)產(chǎn)生β波，
or delta waves when you're sleeping for simplicity's sake,
或者你睡覺時(shí)會(huì)產(chǎn)生δ波，
the reality is that your brain is abuzz with all different frequencies of waves.
但事實(shí)是你的大腦充斥著所有不同頻率的腦電波。
It's just that certain ones are more dominant at any given moment,
只是在任何特定的時(shí)刻，某些腦電波更具有支配性，
depending on what you're doing and how you're feeling.
這取決于你正在做得事情以及你的感受。
If you're chilling at the pool, and sometimes closing your eyes to bask in the sun,
如果你在泳池里放松，或者有時(shí)閉上眼睛曬會(huì)兒太陽，
you probably have a lot of alpha and theta going on.
你的α波與θ波可能活躍得多些。
But there's still some beta waves in the background.
但在隱蔽的地方仍有一些β波。
It's not like your brain has the exact same wave frequencies throughout the whole thing.
這并不是說你的大腦在整個(gè)過程中的腦電波頻率完全相同。
If you look at the readings from individual electrodes on an EEG,
如果你觀察EEG上單個(gè)電極的讀數(shù)，
you can see that different regions of the brain are more commonly linked with certain waves.
就會(huì)看到不同的大腦區(qū)域通常與特定的腦電波相聯(lián)系。
Alpha waves, for instance, are usually strongest at the back of the brain in the occipital lobe, which handles vision.
以α波為例，它們通常在大腦后部負(fù)責(zé)視覺的枕葉中最強(qiáng)。
One of the amazing things about brainwaves is that
腦電波的一個(gè)神奇之處在于
these common frequencies are remarkably similar across different species, like cats, bats and us.
不同物種比如貓、蝙蝠和我們之間，這些常見的頻率非常相似。
But at the same time, they might be very different between individuals.
但與此同時(shí)，個(gè)體之間的差異可能很大。
Some neuroscientists have even proposed that
一些神經(jīng)學(xué)家甚至提出了這個(gè)觀點(diǎn)，
a snapshot of all the waves going on in a brain could be used to identify a person, like a fingerprint.
大腦中所有腦電波的快照可以用來識(shí)別一個(gè)人，就像指紋一樣。
So, in some ways, measuring brainwaves could be very powerful.
所以，在某些方面，測量腦電波可能非常有效。
Like, I can probably guess the moment you open your eyes just by looking at when your alpha waves drop off.
比如，我能猜到你睜開眼睛的那一刻，方法僅僅是觀察你的α波何時(shí)下降。
Kinda freaky...And doctors have successfully used EEGs to diagnose people with epilepsy.
這有點(diǎn)兒可怕。而且醫(yī)生已經(jīng)成功地運(yùn)用EEGs來診斷癲癇患者了。
Brainwaves punctuated with spikes are tell-tale signs of a seizure.
腦電波中夾雜著刺狀物是癲癇發(fā)作的征兆。
But we still don't fully understand why we have these rhythms in the first place.
但我們不能完全理解為什么我們一開始就有這些節(jié)律。
One popular idea is that the synchronized firing allows neurons to better communicate with one another.
一個(gè)普遍的觀點(diǎn)是，同步激活能夠讓神經(jīng)元更好地彼此交流。
Recent work even suggests that the use of different brainwaves helps us learn.
最近的研究甚至表明不同腦電波的使用能夠幫助我們學(xué)習(xí)。
Researchers gave monkeys a test, where they had to learn to associate pairs of images through trial and error.
研究人員對猴子進(jìn)行了一項(xiàng)測試，在測試中，它們必須學(xué)會(huì)通過試錯(cuò)將成對的圖像關(guān)聯(lián)起來。
They found that when the animals got an answer right and received a reward,
他們發(fā)現(xiàn)，當(dāng)動(dòng)物們得到正確答案就會(huì)獲得獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)時(shí)，
their brains seemed to be using beta waves to communicate to the hippocampus, the brain's memory center.
它們的大腦似乎會(huì)使用β波與大腦的記憶中心海馬體交流。
When the monkeys got the answer wrong, theta waves dominated.
當(dāng)猴子的答案錯(cuò)誤時(shí)，它們的θ波會(huì)占主導(dǎo)地位。
So, beta waves might be a way of reinforcing neural connections to improve memory,
所以，β波可能是一種加強(qiáng)神經(jīng)連接以提高記憶力的方式，
while theta waves are a way of saying to the brain, "hey, oops … forget that."
而θ波則是對大腦說“嘿，糟糕…算了吧。”的方式。
Gamma waves are especially interesting to neurobiologists, too,
γ波對神經(jīng)生物學(xué)家來說也特別有趣，
because people with Alzheimer's don't seem to use them as much.
因?yàn)榘柎暮Ｄ习Y患者似乎不怎么使用它們。
In fact, in experiments in mice, restoring gamma waves reduced the amount of beta-amyloid,
事實(shí)上，在老鼠實(shí)驗(yàn)中，儲(chǔ)存γ波會(huì)降低β-淀粉樣蛋白的數(shù)量，
the plaque protein associated with the disease.
該蛋白是與疾病相關(guān)的斑塊蛋白。
The researchers genetically modified mouse neurons so they would respond to light,
研究人員對老鼠的神經(jīng)元進(jìn)行了基因改造，讓它們對光線做出反應(yīng)，
and then flashed pulses at a gamma wave frequency for an hour a day for a week.
然后在一個(gè)星期內(nèi)，以γ波的頻率每天一小時(shí)發(fā)出脈沖。
The animals that received this treatment had half as many plaques in their visual cortex compared to controls.
接受這種治療的動(dòng)物的視覺皮層斑塊數(shù)量是對照組的一半。
The team thinks that gamma activity somehow makes immune cells in the brain better at gobbling up the plaques,
該研究小組認(rèn)為，γ波的活動(dòng)不知何故使大腦中的免疫細(xì)胞更善于吞噬斑塊，
and also changes how the protein is processed, leading to less plaque in the first place.
同時(shí)也改變了蛋白質(zhì)的加工方式，導(dǎo)致一開始斑塊就減少了。
Scientists aren't sure why gamma waves would do this,
科學(xué)家們不確定γ波為什么會(huì)這樣做，
but their work suggests brainwaves can actually change the biology of the brain.
但它們的功能表明腦電波確實(shí)能改變大腦的生物學(xué)。
And this could be huge ... if you could figure out how to trigger gamma waves in people,
這種改變可能很大，如果你能想出激發(fā)人們?chǔ)貌ǖ姆绞剑?/div>
they could be used as a treatment.
那么它們可能用于治療。
But we really have no idea how to do that yet in humans,
但我們還不知道如何在人類身上做到這一點(diǎn)，
and of course, we don't know if it'd actually work.
當(dāng)然，我們也不知道它是否真得有效。
Still, even if we don't totally get why they exist or how they work, it's clear that brainwaves are pretty important.
即使我們還不能完全理解它們存在的原因或者工作方式，但很明顯，腦電波非常重要。
Understanding the electrical activity is just as important as understanding the chemical processes
當(dāng)我們在解大腦運(yùn)作的奧秘時(shí)，
when unraveling the mysteries of how our brains tick.
理解腦電活動(dòng)與理解化學(xué)過程一樣重要。
Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow Psych, which was brought to you by our patrons on Patreon.
感謝您收看本期的心理科學(xué)秀，它是由Patreon贊助播出的。
If you'd like to help us make more episodes like this, you can go to patreon.com/scishow.
如果你想幫助我們制作更多這樣的節(jié)目，可以登錄patreon.com/scishow。
And don't forget to subscribe!
不要忘了點(diǎn)擊訂閱哦！
