Assistive technologies for characterizing subjective experience

无法移动和说话的人依靠辅助技术将他们的主观经验传达给其他人。这类技术将来自自主神经系统和大脑的生理信号转化为与认知活动和情绪状态相关的输出。虽然传达主观体验的系统还处于初级阶段，但将当前最先进的系统转化为可以在现实世界中使用的实用系统，需要克服模式识别、信号处理和生理信号分类方面的重大技术挑战。解决这些挑战将使人们能够检测到个人主观体验的水平，以及它的认知和情感内容。此外，发展这些技术将促进我们对意识、认知和情绪的生理关联的理解。

Individuals who are unable to move and speak rely on assistive technologies to convey their subjective experience to others. Such technologies translate physiological signals from the autonomic nervous system and the brain into outputs related to cognitive activity and emotional state. While systems to convey subjective experience are in their nascent stages, translating current state-of-the-art into practical systems that can be used in real-world contexts requires overcoming significant technical challenges in pattern recognition, signal processing and physiological signal classification. Addressing these challenges will enable the detection of the level of an individual’s subjective experience, and its cognitive and affective content. Moreover, developing these technologies will advance our understanding of the physiological correlates of consciousness, cognition and emotion.