新奇事件簿 科学家称能够重现梦境（在线收听）

Japanese scientists say they have found a way to "read" people's dreams. Researchers at the ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for what they say is, "the world's first decoding" of night-time visions. Their research is published in the journal "Science". The researchers wrote: "Visual imagery during sleep has long been a topic of persistent speculation, but its private nature has hampered objective analysis. Here, we present a neural decoding approach in which machine learning models predict the contents of visual imagery during sleep." They were able to predict what images their volunteers had seen with a 60 per cent accuracy rate.

日本科学家称他们找到了重现人们梦境的方法。日本国际电气通信基础技术研究所计算神经学实验室(ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories)使用磁共振成像技术对夜间梦境进行解码，他们称这是全世界首次这样做。他们的研究发表在《科学》杂志上。研究人员写道：“睡眠期间的视觉影像长期以来都是人们持续推断的话题，但是其隐私本质妨碍了客观分析。我们在这里展现了一种神经解码方法，机器学习模板可以预测睡眠期间视觉影像的内容。”他们预测志愿者看到的图像的准确率为60%。

The research is a part of a wider programme aimed at studying the brain. It hopes to unlock the secrets of the unconscious mind to help the disabled move artificial limbs using brain activity. It could also help those with dementia and other neurological conditions. A spokesperson said: "Our expectations from the dream study are quite high, but we are also looking carefully at the ethical aspects of the technology, which may allow a third person to look at somebody else's thoughts." Head researcher Yukiyasu Kamitani said, "dreams have fascinated people since ancient times, but their function and meaning has remained closed". He believes his research is "a key step towards reading dreams more precisely".

这项研究是更广泛的旨在研究大脑的项目的一部分。该项目希望解开无意识思维的秘密，帮助残疾人通过大脑活动来移动假肢。还可以帮助痴呆和患有其他神经疾病的人。一名发言人表示：“我们对这项梦境研究的期望非常高。但是我们也非常谨慎地对待这项技术中的伦理问题，或许会让第三方看到其他人的想法。”首席研究员Yukiyasu Kamitani表示：“自古时候起，梦就让人们非常着迷，但是它们的运作和意义一直都是一个谜团。”他相信他的研究对于更精确地解读梦境前进了关键的一步。