英文原文
Rollercoaster of emotions: exploring emotions with virtual reality. To find out what happens in the brain when humans experience emotions, researchers have so far mostly used highly simplified laboratory experiments. The emotions often bore little resemblance to what is experienced in everyday life. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences have now used virtual reality to evoke emotions as realistically as possible - and were able to calculate the strength of the emotion from the brain signals. Like being on a roller coaster: VR glasses allow participants to dynamically and interactively immerse themselves in situations and experience them close to reality. Emotions are thus evoked in a more natural way than in classical laboratory experiments. To the left and right, the landscape drifts idly by, the track in front of you. Suddenly, a fire. The tension builds. The ride reaches its highest point. Only one thing lies ahead: the abyss. Plummeting down into the depths of the earth. These are scenes of a rollercoaster ride as experienced by participants in a recent study at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig. However, not in real life, but virtually, with the help of virtual reality (VR) glasses. The aim of the research was to find out what happens in participants' brains while they experience emotionally engaging situations. To find out how the human brain processes emotions, highly simplified experiments have been used until now. Researchers would show participants photos of emotional scenes and record their brain activity. The studies took place under controlled laboratory conditions, so that the results could be easily compared. However, the simulated situations were usually not particularly emotionally arousing and were far removed from the experiences we normally have. This is because emotions are continuously created through an interplay of past experiences and various external influences with which we interact. With regard to emotions, it is therefore particularly important to create situations that are perceived as real as possible. Only in this way can we assume that the simultaneously measured brain activation comes close to that which occurs in real life outside the laboratory. VR glasses provide a remedy here. Through them, participants can immerse themselves dynamically and interactively in situations and experience them close to reality. Emotions are thus evoked in a more natural way. The results of the current study showed that the degree to which a person is emotionally aroused can be seen in a specific form of rhythmic brain activity, the so-called alpha oscillations. Accordingly, the lower the strength of this oscillation in the measured EEG signal, the higher the arousal. "The findings thus confirm earlier investigations from classical experiments and prove that the signals also occur under conditions that are closer to everyday life," says Simon M. Hofmann, one of the authors of the underlying study, which has now appeared in the scientific journal eLife. "Using alpha oscillations, we were able to predict how strongly a person experiences a situation emotionally. Our models learned which brain areas are particularly important for this prediction. Roughly speaking, the less alpha activity measured here, the more aroused the person is," explains author Felix Klotzsche. "In the future, it could be possible to apply these findings and methods to practical applications beyond basic research," adds author Alberto Mariola. VR glasses, for example, are increasingly being used in psychological therapy. Neurophysiological information about the emotional state of patients could lead to an improvement in treatment. Therapists could, for instance, directly gain an insight into the current emotional feeling during an exposure situation without having to ask the patient directly and thus interrupt the situation. The scientists investigated these relationships with the help of electroencephalography (EEG), which allowed them to record the participants’ brain waves during the virtual rollercoaster ride - in order to determine what happens in the brain during the ride. Additionally, the subjects were asked to rate afterwards how excited they were over the course of the VR experience using a video. In this way, the researchers wanted to find out whether the subjective sensations during the ride correlate with the measured data from brain activity. Since people differ in how much they like to ride on rollercoasters, it was irrelevant whether the situation was perceived as positive or negative. What mattered was the strength of the sensation. For the evaluation, the researchers used three different machine learning models to predict the subjective sensations as accurately as possible from the EEG data. The authors thereby showed that with the help of these approaches, the connection between EEG signals and emotional feelings can also be confirmed under naturalistic conditions.
中文翻译
情绪过山车：用虚拟现实探索情绪。为了找出人类体验情绪时大脑会发生什么，研究人员迄今为止大多使用高度简化的实验室实验。这些情绪往往与日常生活中的体验相去甚远。马克斯·普朗克人类认知与脑科学研究所的科学家们现在使用虚拟现实来尽可能真实地唤起情绪，并能够从大脑信号中计算出情绪的强度。就像坐过山车一样：VR眼镜让参与者能够动态、互动地沉浸于情境中，并近乎真实地体验它们。因此，情绪以一种比经典实验室实验更自然的方式被唤起。左右两侧，风景悠闲地掠过，轨道就在你面前。突然，一场火灾。紧张感加剧。过山车到达最高点。前方只有一件事：深渊。坠入地球深处。这些是莱比锡马克斯·普朗克人类认知与脑科学研究所最近一项研究中参与者体验的过山车场景。然而，不是在现实生活中，而是虚拟地，借助虚拟现实（VR）眼镜。该研究旨在找出参与者在体验情感投入情境时大脑发生了什么。为了了解人类大脑如何处理情绪，迄今为止一直使用高度简化的实验。研究人员会向参与者展示情绪场景的照片并记录他们的大脑活动。这些研究在受控的实验室条件下进行，以便结果易于比较。然而，模拟的情境通常并不特别具有情绪唤起性，并且与我们通常的经历相去甚远。这是因为情绪是通过过去经验和我们与之互动的各种外部影响的相互作用不断产生的。因此，就情绪而言，创造尽可能真实的情境尤为重要。只有这样，我们才能假设同时测量的大脑激活接近实验室外现实生活中发生的激活。VR眼镜在这里提供了解决方案。通过它们，参与者可以动态、互动地沉浸于情境中，并近乎真实地体验它们。因此，情绪以一种更自然的方式被唤起。当前研究的结果表明，一个人情绪唤起的程度可以从一种特定形式的节律性脑活动中看出，即所谓的α振荡。因此，在测量的脑电图信号中，这种振荡的强度越低，唤起程度越高。“这些发现因此证实了早期经典实验的研究，并证明这些信号也在更接近日常生活的条件下发生，”基础研究的作者之一西蒙·M·霍夫曼说，该研究现已发表在科学期刊eLife上。“使用α振荡，我们能够预测一个人对情境的情感体验有多强烈。我们的模型学习了哪些脑区对这种预测特别重要。粗略地说，这里测量的α活动越少，人就越兴奋，”作者费利克斯·克洛切解释道。“未来，这些发现和方法可能应用于基础研究之外的实际应用，”作者阿尔贝托·马里奥拉补充道。例如，VR眼镜越来越多地用于心理治疗。关于患者情绪状态的神经生理学信息可能改善治疗。治疗师可以，例如，直接洞察暴露情境中的当前情感感受，而无需直接询问患者从而中断情境。科学家们借助脑电图（EEG）研究了这些关系，这使他们能够记录参与者在虚拟过山车过程中的脑电波，以确定大脑在过程中发生了什么。此外，受试者被要求事后通过视频评估他们在VR体验过程中的兴奋程度。通过这种方式，研究人员希望找出过程中的主观感受是否与大脑活动的测量数据相关。由于人们对坐过山车的喜好程度不同，情境被视为积极还是消极无关紧要。重要的是感觉的强度。为了评估，研究人员使用了三种不同的机器学习模型，从脑电图数据中尽可能准确地预测主观感受。作者因此表明，借助这些方法，脑电图信号与情感感受之间的联系也可以在自然主义条件下得到证实。
文章概要
本文介绍了马克斯·普朗克研究所的一项研究，该研究使用虚拟现实（VR）技术模拟过山车体验，以更自然的方式唤起参与者的情绪，并通过脑电图（EEG）测量大脑活动。研究发现，α振荡的强度与情绪唤起程度相关，α活动越低，情绪越强烈。该研究证实了在接近日常生活的条件下，脑电信号与情感体验之间的联系，并探讨了VR和脑电技术在心理治疗等领域的应用潜力。
高德明老师的评价
用12岁初中生可以听懂的语音来重复翻译的内容：科学家们让一些人戴上VR眼镜，像玩过山车游戏一样体验刺激的场景，同时用机器测量他们的大脑活动。他们发现，当大脑中的一种叫α波的活动变弱时，人就感觉更兴奋或害怕。这就像坐过山车时心跳加快一样，大脑也有自己的“心跳”来告诉我们情绪有多强。VR让这种体验更真实，帮助科学家更好地理解我们的情绪。
TA沟通分析心理学理论评价：从TA沟通分析心理学角度看，这项研究展示了成人自我状态在虚拟现实体验中的运作。参与者通过VR技术沉浸于模拟情境，这激活了他们的成人自我状态，使其能够理性地处理感官输入（如视觉和运动刺激），同时整合过去经验（如对过山车的记忆或恐惧）来产生情绪反应。研究强调情绪强度而非正负性，这符合TA理论中成人自我状态关注客观事实和当前情境的特点，而非简单地评判好坏。脑电信号与情绪强度的关联，反映了成人自我状态如何协调内在心理过程与外部环境，实现更自然的情绪唤起，这有助于深化我们对自我状态交互的理解。
在实践上可以应用的领域和可以解决人们的十个问题：这项研究在实践上可应用于心理治疗、教育、娱乐和健康管理等领域。基于TA沟通分析心理学，它可以解决人们的以下十个问题：1. 帮助个体在安全环境中探索和表达情绪，增强情绪觉察能力；2. 支持治疗师在暴露疗法中实时监测患者情绪状态，优化干预时机；3. 促进儿童和青少年的情绪教育，通过VR体验学习情绪管理；4. 辅助职场人士进行压力管理训练，提升应对挑战的能力；5. 改善社交焦虑者的情境适应，通过模拟社交场景练习互动；6. 增强创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）患者的情绪调节，逐步面对触发因素；7. 支持老年人认知训练，结合情绪体验延缓认知衰退；8. 帮助夫妻或家庭沟通，通过共享VR体验增进理解和共情；9. 促进艺术治疗中的创造性表达，利用VR激发情感灵感；10. 辅助运动员心理训练，模拟比赛场景以提升情绪控制和表现。