近日，美国斯坦福大学教授Francis R. Willett及其研究小组揭示了运动皮质内言语及其对言语神经假体的影响。2025年8月14日出版的《细胞》杂志发表了这项成果。

通过对参与者的多单元录音，小组发现，他们的内心语言在运动皮层中得到了明显的表现，想象出来的句子可以被实时解码。内部言语的表现与言语尝试高度相关，尽管课题组人员也发现了一个神经“运动-意图”维度来区分这两者。课题组研究人员研究了私人内部语音解码的可能性，发现在序列回忆和计数任务中，自由形式的内部语音的某些方面可以被解码。最后，该课题组展示了高保真策略，防止语音脑机接口无意中解码私人内部语音。

据悉，语言脑机接口（BCIs）有望恢复瘫痪患者的沟通，但也引发了人们对其解码私人内心语言的潜力的质疑。另外，内部言语可能是一种绕过当前要求言语BCI主题进行物理尝试的方法的方法，这种方法会使人疲劳并且会减慢交流。

附：英文原文

Title: Inner speech in motor cortex and implications for speech neuroprostheses

Author: Erin M. Kunz, Benyamin Abramovich Krasa, Foram Kamdar, Donald T. Avansino, Nick Hahn, Seonghyun Yoon, Akansha Singh, Samuel R. Nason-Tomaszewski, Nicholas S. Card, Justin J. Jude, Brandon G. Jacques, Payton H. Bechefsky, Carrina Iacobacci, Leigh R. Hochberg, Daniel B. Rubin, Ziv M. Williams, David M. Brandman, Sergey D. Stavisky, Nicholas AuYong, Chethan Pandarinath, Shaul Druckmann, Jaimie M. Henderson, Francis R. Willett

Issue&Volume: 2025-08-14

Abstract: Speech brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) show promise in restoring communication to people with paralysis but have also prompted discussions regarding their potential to decode private inner speech. Separately, inner speech may be a way to bypass the current approach of requiring speech BCI users to physically attempt speech, which is fatiguing and can slow communication. Using multi-unit recordings from four participants, we found that inner speech is robustly represented in the motor cortex and that imagined sentences can be decoded in real time. The representation of inner speech was highly correlated with attempted speech, though we also identified a neural “motor-intent” dimension that differentiates the two. We investigated the possibility of decoding private inner speech and found that some aspects of free-form inner speech could be decoded during sequence recall and counting tasks. Finally, we demonstrate high-fidelity strategies that prevent speech BCIs from unintentionally decoding private inner speech.

DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2025.06.015

Source: https://www.cell.com/cell/abstract/S0092-8674(25)00681-6