評論
打印
Hairbrush Reads Your Mind
梳子能讀懂你的心
No, this brush is not a mind-reader in the psychic sense.
梳子能讀懂你的心，這可不是從什么神秘莫測的讀心術。
What it does is take precise measurements of the levels of neurological activity in a brain.
這把神奇的數字能夠精確地測量你大腦內部神經活動的水平。
Technology already exists to track your mental activity. It’s called functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS),
最早的追蹤大腦活動的技術稱之為功能性近紅外光譜方法，
which images blood flowing through the brain and measures the difference of levels of oxygen in the blood in order to evaluate mental activity.
這種方法可以對你大腦里的血液流動成像，并且記錄大腦學血液里面的氧氣含量以評估你的精神狀態。
But it has a major drawback: it’s usually impaired by hair.
但是這種方法有一個致命的弱點，它會傷害到你的頭發。
That’s why researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas and University of Texas at Arlington have been working on a device that is essentially a hairbrush that can measure and monitor brain activity.
這就是為什么德克薩斯大學位于達拉斯和阿靈頓的分校要聯合致力于發明這種能夠測量和檢測大腦活動的梳子的緣由。
The device is officially known as a “brush optrode,” which uses that same fNIRS technology, but in a way no other device has been able to up to this point.
這種梳子的學名稱之為“梳子光極”，它的原理和近紅外光譜法差不多，但是卻超越了之前所有的設備。
It’s designed to provide increased sensitivity with fiber tips that thread through hair to increase direct scalp contact.
這種設備的敏感度很高，它的光纖觸頭能夠在頭發之間穿過，直接接觸到頭皮，
The technique is much more accurate when its sensors can actually touch the scalp.
因此這種傳感器的測量結果要比其他傳感器精確很多。
Duncan MacFarlane is a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Texas at Dallas, and one of the lead researchers on this project.
杜康·麥克法蘭是德克薩斯大學達拉斯分校電子工程學院的一名教授，也是這個項目的帶頭人。
He says, “It is easy for a patient’s hair to get in the way and block the signal” with conventional fNIRS technology. “
他說，“用傳統的近紅外光譜分析法，頭發很容易就糾纏在一起，影響到信號的傳遞。
So we developed a new tip for the fNIRS fibers-a brush optrode that slides the fibers between the hair follicles.
因此我們發明了一種新的光纖，一種近似梳子的光極，它使得光纖可以在頭皮的小囊之間自由地穿梭。
Signal levels increase three- to five-fold, and patients report that the brush optrode is considerably more comfortable than the conventional fiber ends.”
信號的傳遞程度增加了三到五倍，治療者也反映這種梳子的光極要比傳統的設備舒服很多。”
