Four people were able to control a computer using their thoughts and an electrode-studded "thinking cap," U.S. researchers reported on Monday.

They said their set-up could someday be adapted to help disabled people operate a motorized wheelchair or artificial limb.

While experiments have allowed a monkey to control a computer with its thoughts, electrodes were implanted into the animal’s brain. This experiment, reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, required no surgery and no implants.

"The results show that people can learn to use scalp-recorded electroencephalogram rhythms to control rapid and accurate movement of a cursor in two dimensions," Jonathan Wolpaw and Dennis McFarland of the New York State Department of Health and State University of New York in Albany wrote.

They tested their device on four people -- two partly paralyzed men who used wheelchairs and a healthy man and woman.

The key was a special computer algorithm -- a program that translated the brain signals into a meaningful directive of what the users wanted the computer to do.

"The impressive noninvasive multidimensional control achieved in the present study suggests that a noninvasive brain control interface could support clinically useful operation of a robotic arm, a motorized wheelchair, or a neuroprosthesis," the researchers wrote.

The two disabled men were better at the task, the researchers found. This could have to do with stronger motivation or perhaps a brain forced to be more adaptable to cope with the injuries that left the men disabled, the researchers said.

美國日前公布了的一項(xiàng)試驗(yàn)研究成果：4個(gè)試驗(yàn)者戴上布滿電極的“思考帽子”后，可以運(yùn)用他們的思想來直接控制電腦。

據(jù)路透社12月6日報(bào)道，當(dāng)日參與這項(xiàng)試驗(yàn)的研究人員對外發(fā)布了這項(xiàng)試驗(yàn)結(jié)果。他們說，試驗(yàn)中的這種裝置日后將會(huì)投入應(yīng)用，以幫助殘疾人駕駛機(jī)動(dòng)輪椅和操縱假肢。

報(bào)道說，研究人員對兩位使用輪椅的局部殘疾人和兩位健康人進(jìn)行了試驗(yàn)，這4個(gè)人都是志愿參與試驗(yàn)的。研究人員讓這4個(gè)人頭戴含64個(gè)電極的帽子坐在一個(gè)電視屏幕前，電極帽子將記錄下他們大腦的活動(dòng)。研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，兩位殘疾人對試驗(yàn)的反應(yīng)要好于兩位健康人，這可能是由于殘疾人有更強(qiáng)烈的完成試驗(yàn)的愿望，或者由于他們的大腦已經(jīng)習(xí)慣于去應(yīng)付自身的殘疾，因而更為敏感。

參與這項(xiàng)研究的紐約州立大學(xué)的丹尼斯·麥克法蘭和紐約州政府衛(wèi)生部的喬納森·沃爾波在研究報(bào)告中說：“試驗(yàn)結(jié)果表明，人們能通過頭皮記錄的腦電圖來同時(shí)控制電腦光標(biāo)的速度和光標(biāo)的準(zhǔn)確移動(dòng)�！彼麄兘忉屨f，這個(gè)試驗(yàn)的關(guān)鍵在于一個(gè)特殊的電腦運(yùn)算法則，也就是一個(gè)電腦程序。這個(gè)程序能將人大腦發(fā)出的信號(hào)翻譯成有實(shí)際意義的指令，這個(gè)指令會(huì)要求電腦去完成人們所希望它做的事情。

在此之前，早已有研究人員做過試驗(yàn)：通過在猴腦里植入的電極而讓猴子操縱電腦。但是，現(xiàn)在進(jìn)行的這項(xiàng)試驗(yàn)卻不需要任何手術(shù)，也不需要在大腦里植入任何東西。這項(xiàng)研究成果發(fā)表在最新一期的《美國國家科學(xué)院院刊》上。