Paying close attention to something: Not that easy, is it?
非常专注于某件事情，这并不容易做到，是吧？
It's because our attention is pulled in so many different directions at a time,
这是因为我们的注意力同时会被不同的东西吸引，
and it's in fact pretty impressive if you can stay focused.
实际上如果你能保持专注，会让人感到很佩服。
Many people think that attention is all about what we are focusing on,
许多人认为注意力只与我们专注的东西有关，
but it's also about what information our brain is trying to filter out.
但它实际上也与我们的大脑要过滤的信息有关。
There are two ways you direct your attention. First, there's overt attention.
有两种方式主导了你的注意力。首先是外显注意力。
In overt attention, you move your eyes towards something in order to pay attention to it.
在外显注意力中，你的眼睛会随着物品移动，这样就可以专注于它。
Then there's covert attention. In covert attention, you pay attention to something, but without moving your eyes.
然后就是内隐注意力。在内隐注意力中，你无需移动你的眼睛就可以专注于某样东西。
Think of driving for a second. Your overt attention, your direction of the eyes, are in front,
想一下你开车时的过程。你的外显注意力，你目光的方向都在前方，
but that's your covert attention which is constantly scanning the surrounding area, where you don't actually look at them.
但你的内隐注意力会时常扫视周围环境，但你并没有真正去仔细观察。
I'm a computational neuroscientist, and I work on cognitive brain-machine interfaces,
我是一名计算神经科学家，致力于做基于认知的脑机接口的研究，
or bringing together the brain and the computer. I love brain patterns.
也可以说是脑机融合的研究。我爱脑电波。
Brain patterns are important for us because based on them we can build models for the computers,
脑电波对于我们来说很重要，因为有了它们，我们可以给电脑建立模型，
and based on these models computers can recognize how well our brain functions.
然后基于这些模型，电脑可以识别我们的大脑是怎样运作的。
And if it doesn't function well, then these computers themselves can be used as assistive devices for therapies.
如果大脑不能很好地运作，这些电脑就可以成为治疗的辅助装置。
But that also means something, because choosing the wrong patterns
但这也意味着，如果选择了错误的脑电波，
will give us the wrong models and therefore the wrong therapies. Right?
会让我们建立错误的模型，最终会导致错误治疗方法的产生，对吧？
In case of attention, the fact that we can shift our attention not only by our eyes but also by thinking
关于注意力，事实上我们不仅可以通过转动眼球来转移注意力，还可以通过思考，
that makes covert attention an interesting model for computers.
让内隐注意力变成电脑里一个有趣的模型。
So I wanted to know what are the brainwave patterns when you look overtly or when you look covertly.
因此我想知道在你进行外显观察和内隐观察的时候，脑电波会发生什么变化。
I set up an experiment for that.
我为此设计了一个实验。
In this experiment there are two flickering squares, one of them flickering at a slower rate than the other one.
实验中会有两个正在闪烁的方块，其中一个方块闪烁的速度比另一个慢。
Depending on which of these flickers you are paying attention to,
你专注于哪一个方块，
certain parts of your brain will start resonating in the same rate as that flickering rate.
你大脑里的某个区域就会开始产生相应的频率，同方块的闪烁频率一样。
So by analyzing your brain signals, we can track where exactly you are watching or you are paying attention to.
所以通过分析你的大脑信号，我们可以跟踪到你正在看哪里，或者专注于哪个地方。
So to see what happens in your brain when you pay overt attention,
为了观察你在运用外显注意力时大脑里发生的情况，
I asked people to look directly in one of the squares and pay attention to it.
我会让大家都直接看着其中一个方块，然后专注于它。

In this case, not surprisingly, we saw that these flickering squares appeared in their brain signals
在这种情况下，毫无意外地，我们能看到这些闪烁方块的频率出现在了他们的大脑信号中，
which was coming from the back of their head, which is responsible for the processing of your visual information.
这些信号是从头部后方发出的，这个地方负责处理你的视觉信息。
But I was really interested to see what happens in your brain when you pay covert attention.
但我真的很有兴趣，想要看看当你在运用内隐注意力时大脑里会发生什么。
So this time I asked people to look in the middle of the screen and without moving their eyes,
所以这一次，我让大家看着屏幕的正中间，并且眼睛不要移动，
to pay attention to either of these squares.
这样能够注意到任何一个方块。
When we did that, we saw that both of these flickering rates appeared in their brain signals,
当我们这样操作时，我们看到两个闪烁方块的频率都出现在他们的大脑信号中了。
but interestingly, only one of them, which was paid attention to, had stronger signals,
而有趣的是，被投以关注的其中一个方块信号更加强烈，
so there was something in the brain which was handling this information
因此大脑里存在有某样东西负责处理这类型的信息，
so that thing in the brain was basically the activation of the frontal area.
而这基本上就是在大脑前额的活动。
The front part of your brain is responsible for higher cognitive functions as a human.
大脑的前额负责人类更高级的认知功能。
The frontal part, it seems that it works as a filter
大脑前额区就像是过滤器，
trying to let information come in only from the right flicker that you are paying attention to
它会尝试只让你专注的闪烁方块信号进入大脑，
and trying to inhibit the information coming from the ignored one.
而将那个被忽略的方块信号屏蔽掉。
The filtering ability of the brain is indeed a key for attention,
大脑的过滤能力的确是注意力产生的关键，
which is missing in some people, for example in people with ADHD.
这种能力在某些人身上存在缺失，比如有注意缺陷多动症（ADHD）的人。
So a person with ADHD cannot inhibit these distractors, and that's why they can't focus for a long time on a single task.
因为有注意缺陷多动症的人无法抑制这些干扰物，这就是他们不能长时间专注于某个单一任务的原因。
But what if this person could play a specific computer game with his brain connected to the computer,
但假如这个人可以玩某一个电脑游戏，让他的大脑与电脑连接，
and then train his own brain to inhibit these distractors?
然后训练他自己的大脑，最终学会抑制这些干扰物呢？
Well, ADHD is just one example. We can use these cognitive brain-machine interfaces for many other cognitive fields.
注意力缺陷多动症只是其中一个例子。我们可以把这些基于认知的脑机接口运用到许多其他认知领域中。
It was just a few years ago that my grandfather had a stroke, and he lost complete ability to speak.
就在几年前，我祖父中风了，完全丧失了说话的能力。
He could understand everybody, but there was no way to respond, even not writing because he was illiterate.
他能听见任何人的声音，却没有办法作出回应。他不识字，所以也不能通过写字来表达。
So he passed away in silence. I remember thinking at that time:
最后他安静地离开了人世。我记着我那时就在想：
What if we could have a computer which could speak for him?
假如我们有一台电脑，可以替他讲话该有多好？
Now, after years that I am in this field, I can see that this might be possible.
几年后，我深入了这个领域，预见到这是有可能的。
Imagine if we can find brainwave patterns when people think about images or even letters,
想象一下，如果人们在思考图像甚至文字时，我们可以找到相应的脑电波，
like the letter A generates a different brainwave pattern than the letter B, and so on.
比如字母A形成的脑电波会与字母B不一样，诸如此类的。
Could a computer one day communicate for people who can't speak?
那么电脑会不会有一天就能替那些失语者讲话？
What if a computer can help us understand the thoughts of a person in a coma?
如果电脑能帮助我们了解处于昏迷状态中的人的想法，又会怎样呢？
We are not there yet, but pay close attention. We will be there soon. Thank you.
我们还没有实现这个目标，但大家请持续关注。我们很快就会达到目的。谢谢。