Monkeys Play Videogames With Their Mind

Thanks to IOL/Reuters for their story discussing research on monkeys who control videogames with their thoughts. According to the piece, "Dr Miguel Nicolelis knew he had nailed it when the monkey stopped using her arm to play the computer game. An implanted device had allowed the monkey to control the game using only her thought." The research, to be printed in Public Library Of Science Biology Journal on Monday, is intended to help humans who "have partial or nearly total permanent paralysis."

Comments

Re:Humans can do this too

[blincoln]

Kevin Warwick is really overrated by the media (and himself, IMO). The last time I checked, the extent of his "cybernetic implant" was a chip that did something like emit radio waves so that doors in his house would open automatically for him.

The real pioneers of this technology are the ones who go to Europe to have electrodes implanted in their brain to participate in artificial vision research that's currently illegal in the US. I am not a fan of animal experimentation, and a human that can verbally describe what they're seeing seems like a more useful way to gather data than trying to infer it from a monkey's behaviour.

In the case of this article, it seems like being able to tell someone "now try moving the robotic arm without moving your real one" is a lot more straightforward than waiting for a monkey to figure it out on their own.

I'm sure there are many people with disabilities (and even some without them) who would be interested in participating in research like this. I know I would, if I became blind or lost the use of a limb. I'm glad that the article mentions that human trials are now beginning.