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我们谈话时大脑在做什么

As every portrait painter knows, the slightest change in the shape of eyebrows¹, the curvature of lips or a crease² in the forehead can alter the expression of a person's face — and affect how someone else responds.

当我们在进行简单对话时，大脑在做什么？利用一项新技术，耶鲁大学的科学家们试图弄清楚自闭症儿童为何缺乏沟通能力。每个肖像画家都知道，眉毛形状、嘴唇弧线以及前额皱纹的微妙变化都会改变人脸的表情，也会影响其他人的反应。

Yale University neuroscientist Joy Hirsch said scientists would like to understand the neurocircuitry behind this interaction between individuals.

耶鲁大学神经系统科学家乔伊·赫希说，科学家们想要了解人类互动行为背后的神经系统运转原理。

“The visual information and facial expressions are actually coded intimately with the systems of the brain that are coding the language processes," she said. "This is something that had not been really appreciated before.”

她说，“视觉信息和面部表情同大脑中掌管语言的系统紧密相关。我们直到最近才认识到这一点。”

Hirsch and her colleagues at the Yale Brain Function Lab are looking into what actually happens in our brains when we engage in simple conversation.

赫希和她在耶鲁大脑功能实验室的同事们，正在一起研究当人们进行简短谈话时大脑的运转情况。

Wearing skull³ caps with sensors⁴ that can register brain activity, researchers explain to each other pictures of simple objects.

研究员沙乌尔·亚希勒和肖恩·布鲁勒带着装配有记录大脑活动的传感器的头盖帽，向彼此描述一些简单的图像。

“The new information here is that visual reports of, say, facial information are an intimate part of the language system as it is being used in an intimate situation,” Hirsch said.

她说：“我们获得的新认识是，视觉信息，比如面部信息，是对话中所需的语言系统不可或缺的一部分。”

Facing each other, then separated by a partition, the researchers describe simple pictures appearing on computer screens, such as a basket, a bowl of rice or a lighted cigarette.

先是面对面，然后被隔开，两名研究者先后描述了显示在电脑屏幕上的简单图像，比如一个篮子，一碗饭，或者一只燃着的香烟。

A small laser in each of the 64 access points in the skull caps shines a light beam that penetrates⁵ about 2.5 centimeters into their brains. The reflected light changes depending on whether the blood vessels⁶ at that point are oxygenated or depleted⁷ of oxygen, showing the level of brain activity. A near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) machine records and displays the patterns of information flow.

头盖帽上有64个接入点，每个接入点里面都有一个小型激光器，他们发送的光束可以穿透到大脑2.5厘米之下。反射光随着血管的氧合与去氧合状态的切换而改变，显示了大脑活动水平。一台近红外光谱仪记录并且显示了数据波动的模式。

“We want to take the physiologic⁸ information that we recorded on the NIRS machine ... and we want to know where is that information anatomically,” said Yale researcher Adam Noah.

亚当·诺亚是耶鲁大学的研究员，他说：“我们想要收集另外一个房间内的近红外光谱仪记录的神经信息，并且从解剖学层面上弄清楚信息来源。”

In similar research, scientists at Princeton University are scanning the brains of people as they tell real-life stories and then playing back those stories to others.

普林斯顿大学的科学家们也在做类似的实验，他们在人们讲述真实故事时扫描叙述者和听众的大脑。

“What we are asking you is whether the listener's brain becomes similar to the speaker brain [while] doing natural, real-life communication," said neuroscientist Uri Hasson.

尤里·汉森是普林斯顿大学的神经系统科学家，他说：“我们的问题是，在进行自然、真实的沟通时，听众的大脑活动是否和叙述者的类似。”

Scientists say the findings may eventually help them better understand the patterns of neurocircuitry involved in communication and how they are different in people suffering from disorders⁹ such as autism or depression.

科学家们说，研究结果也许最终会帮助他们更好地了解人类对话过程中的神经系统运转模式，以及对于患有自闭症、抑郁症等疾病的人们，这个运转模式会有何不同。