牛技能：谷歌眼鏡助你快速攻破摩斯密碼

What if you could pick up a new skill without having to concentrate on learning it? Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have done it with Morse code using Google Glass and passive haptic learning (PHL) (learning a motor skill through vibrations from a wearable device while not paying attention to it).

如果你不用專注于學(xué)習(xí)過程就能學(xué)會一門新技能，這聽起來是不是很誘人?佐治亞理工學(xué)院的研究人員就成功做到了，他們使用谷歌眼鏡和被動觸覺學(xué)習(xí)(通過可穿戴設(shè)備里的觸覺系統(tǒng)來進行學(xué)習(xí)的方法)使人們學(xué)會了摩爾斯電碼。

A haptic system is one that provides feedback through touch. With Google Glass, the touch comes in the form of vibrations right behind the ear. The headset contains a small vibrating motor, similar to what you'd find in a typical cell phone.

觸覺系統(tǒng)是一種通過觸碰來提供反饋的系統(tǒng)，使用谷歌眼鏡時，觸覺是以耳后振動的形式出現(xiàn)的。谷歌眼鏡那位于耳朵上的框架里包含了一個迷你的振動馬達，就是你手機里的那種。

In a study the researchers conducted, 12 participants wore Google Glass while playing an online game for 20 minutes. While they concentrated on the task, half the participants would feel the vibrating motor tap out each letter of a word in Morse code. A voice would also say each letter through a small speaker on the headset. The remaining participants — the control group — learned Morse code without the passive cues from Google Glass.

在研究人員所進行的一項實驗中，12名參與者被要求戴谷歌眼鏡玩20分鐘的網(wǎng)絡(luò)游戲。當(dāng)他們專注于玩網(wǎng)絡(luò)游戲的時候，6名參與者(實驗組)鏡框里的振動馬達會在其耳后“書寫”某些字母的摩爾斯電碼，鏡框上的小喇叭則會相應(yīng)地說出每一段摩爾斯電碼所表示的字母。剩下的那些參與者(也就是對照組)則是在沒有谷歌眼鏡幫助的情況下學(xué)習(xí)了摩爾斯電碼。

After each of four study sessions, the researchers tested participants on their ability to write Morse code, input Morse code on the Glass touch pad and write letters from Morse signals. They found that after four hours, the experimental group displayed more competence with Morse code than the control group. In fact, the experimental group was 98 percent accurate when encoding each letter of the alphabet in a final test. The control group was only 59 percent accurate.

4個小時后，研究人員測試了這些參與者“書寫”摩爾斯電碼的能力：參與者需要在玻璃觸摸板上輸入摩爾斯電碼，并用摩爾斯電碼來寫信。研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，實驗組輸入摩爾斯電碼的能力更加強大，實驗組在最終測試中的準確率為98%，而對照組的準確率只有59%。

The PHL studies group at Georgia Tech previously used similar methods to teach people braille or to play the piano, but in those cases subjects felt vibrations on their respective fingers. This study showed that you can also use vibrations elsewhere on the body, not just the fingers, to pick up information.

佐治亞理工學(xué)院的研究小組以前也曾使用類似的方法來教盲人或彈鋼琴，但是在那種情況下，參與者只是在其手指上感覺到振動。最近的這項研究表明，你也可以利用身體其他部位的振動來獲取信息。

Passive haptic learning might be useful in several applications, though the researchers are quick to point out that learning Morse code probably isn't one of them. It could work well with various text-based interfaces, such as learning to touch-type on a standard keyboard. But it's not a magical way to learn anything — you're not likely to pick up a deep understanding of quantum mechanics this way.

雖然研究人員指出，學(xué)習(xí)摩爾斯電碼不是唯一用途，但被動觸覺學(xué)習(xí)的應(yīng)用范圍還是有限的。這種方法可以幫助你很好地學(xué)習(xí)各種基于文本的輸入法，比如在標準鍵盤上學(xué)習(xí)觸摸類型。但這并不是一種能夠幫你學(xué)習(xí)任何知識的神奇方法，你不可能用這種方式來深入理解量子力學(xué)。

In previous work, the research group found that people would forget skills over time but that it didn't take long for them to become competent again once they started using haptic technology. But there's a lot that remains mysterious. What's the threshold we need to meet to learn a new task? And how long would we retain that skill?

此外，研究小組還發(fā)現(xiàn)：隨著時間的推移，人們會忘記所學(xué)的技能，但是一旦他們開始使用振動反饋，他們很快就能重新掌握那些技能。因此，這一方法對目前的我們來說還很神秘，我們尚不知道：為了學(xué)習(xí)新的技能，我們需要達到什么樣的門檻?我們能夠保留所學(xué)的技能多久?