Recently, scientists have developed a wireless brainmachine interface that help restore communication to people who can no longer speak by reading brainwaves using electrodes(电极) stuck on their heads. Unfortunately, these have proved very slow, at roughly one word typed per minute, making normal conversations and social interactions virtually impossible. Scientist Frank Guenther and his colleagues reveal a brainmachine interface that uses electrodes implanted directly into the brain for research into real time speech. "It should soon be possible for extremely paralysed individuals who are incapable of speaking to produce speech through a laptop computer, " said Guenther. The scientists worked with a 26-year- old male volunteer who experience near-total paralysis due to a stroke he suffered when he was 16. They implanted an electrode that had two wires into a part of the brain that help plan and execute movements related to speech. The electrode recorded brain signals when the volunteer attempted to talk and the wires spread them across the scalp(头皮)to help drive a speech synthesizer (合成器). The delay between brain activity and sound output was just 50 milliseconds on average, roughly the same with regular speech. "He was quite excited, particularly on the first few days we used the system, as he got used to its properties, " Guenther recalled." I am sure the work proceeds slowly from his perspective, as it does from ours. Nonetheless, he was very excited about getting real-time audio feedback of his intended speech and happy to work very hard with us throughout the experiments." "The current system uses data from just two wires. Within a year it will be possible to implant a system with 16 times as many." Guenther said." This will allow us to tap into neurons(神经元)，which in the end means better control over a synthesizer and thus better speech." 小题1:In the study of Guenther, electrodes are _______.
A. Wireless Device Are Used to Read Words in the Brain. B. New Equipment Helps you read others’ mind. C. Virtual tongue can make you speak fluently. It is no secret what you are thinking in mind. |