Our brains can fathom the beginning of time and the end of the universe, but is any brain capable of understanding itself?
　　我們的大腦有領悟時間的開端乃至宇宙的終結的能力，但可有何人的大腦足以理解大腦自身嗎？

　　With billions of neurons, each with thousands of connections, one's noggin is a complex, and yes congested, mental freeway. Neurologists and cognitive scientists nowadays are probing how the mind gives rise to thoughts, actions, emotions and ultimately consciousness.
　　一個人的腦袋是一個複雜且擁擠的精神“高速公路”，擁有數以十億計的神經元，並且每個神經元都和數千的神經元相互聯繫。今天，神經科學家和認知科學家正在探索，大腦如何產生思維、行動、情感以及最關鍵的意識。

　　The complex machine is difficult for even the brainiest of scientists to wrap their heads around. But the payoff for such an achievement could be huge.
　　
　　“If we understand the brain, we will understand both its capacities and its limits for thought, emotions, reasoning, love and every other aspect of human life,” said Norman Weinberger, a neuroscientist at the University of California, Irvine.

　　　　Brain teasers　　大腦戲弄者

　　What makes the brain such a tough nut to crack?

　　According to Scott Huettel of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at Duke University, the standard answer to this question goes something like: “The human brain is the most complex object in the known universe ... complexity makes simple models impractical and accurate models impossible to comprehend.”
　　“在已知的宇宙中，人類的大腦是最複雜的東西.....它複雜得讓試圖解釋它的簡單模型可笑，讓精緻的模型無用。”

　　While that stock answer is correct, Huettel said, it’s incomplete. The real snag in brain science is one of navel gazing. Huettel and other neuroscientists can’t step outside of their own brains (and experiences) when studying the brain itself.
　　胡特爾認為，雖然這個平凡的答案是對的，但它並不完整。腦科學研究的客觀障礙在於人們只能紙上談兵。當他們研究的正是大腦自身時，胡特爾和其它神經科學家不可能超越于他們自身的大腦以及經驗之外

　　“A more pernicious factor is that we all think we understand the brain—at least our own—through our experiences. But our own subjective experience is a very poor guide to how the brain works,” Huettel told LiveScience.
　　“更糟糕的是，我們都認為，通過自身體驗，至少我們理解自己的大腦。但我們自身的主觀體驗，在指導我們搞懂大腦如何運作這種事情上，是非常蹩腳的嚮導。”

　　“Whether the human brain can understand itself is one of the oldest philosophical questions,” said Anders Garm of the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, a biologist who studies jellyfish as models for human neural processing of visual information.

　　　　Mental mechanics　心理機制　

　　Scientists have made some progress in taking an objective, direct “look” at the human brain.

　　In recent years, brain-imaging techniques, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have allowed scientists to observe the brain in action and determine how groups of neurons function.

　　They have pinpointed hubs in the brain that are responsible for certain tasks, such as fleeing a dangerous situation, processing visual information, making those sweet dreams and storing long-term memories. But understanding the mechanics of how neuronal networks collaborate to allow such tasks has remained more elusive.

　　“We do not yet have a good way to study how groups of neurons form functional networks when we learn, remember, or do anything else, including seeing, hearing moving, loving,” Weinberger said.

　　Plus these clusters of brain cells somehow give rise to more complex behaviors and emotions, such as altruism, sadness, empathy and anger.

　　Huettel and his colleagues used fMRIs to discover a region in the brain linked with altruistic behavior.

　　"Although understanding the function of this brain region may not necessarily identify what drives people like Mother Teresa,” Huettel said, “it may give clues to the origins of important social behaviors like altruism.”

　　　　Who am I?　我是誰？

　　The prized puzzle in brain research is arguably the idea of consciousness. When you look at a painting, for instance, you are aware of it and your mind processes its colors and shapes. At the same time, the visual impression could stir up emotions and thoughts. This subjective awareness and perception is consciousness.
　　這種主觀的感悟和知覺就是意識。

　　Many scientists consider consciousness the delineation between humans and other animals.

　　So rather than cognitive processes directly leading to behaviors (unbeknownst to us), we are aware of the thinking. We even know that we know!
　　因此，認為是認知過程主宰著我們的行為（我們並不知道是否如此），還不如說是，我們意識到了思維本身。我們甚至知道“我們知道”！

　　If this mind bender is ever solved, an equally perplexing question would arise, according to neuroscientists: Why? Why does awareness exist at all?
　　據神經科學家說，如果意識扭曲之謎被解開，即我們知道“我們知道”，將引發一個讓人同樣困惑的問題：究竟為什麼會存在意識？

　　Ultimately, Weinberger said, “understanding the brain will enable us to understand what it truly is to be human.”