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

Gah! More tech for "paralyzed people"

[QuantumG]

I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to get in a car crash or fall off a horse before I can get some electrodes inserted in my head. I'm a programmer, I work with computers every day.. I think I qualify for a brain-computer interface better than someone who just happened to have the misfortune to lose control of their upper body! But no, every time some new piece of research discovers a brain-computer interface the first bunch of people they go running after are the paralyzed.

"However, the results so far lead us to believe that these brain-machine interfaces hold enormous promise for restoring function to paralyzed people."

Just once I'd like to hear "results so far lead us to believe that these brain-machine interfaces hold enormous promise for increased programmer productivity."

Category, etc.

[Noah Adler]

Why is this not posted under Science? Just because it uses games as part of the research doesn't mean its all just for entertainment.

Plenty of other brain-computer interface links have been posted under the proper category: Mind-Controlled Wheelchair, Controlling Robots with the Mind,Linking Hardware to Wetware, etc. This article is a continuation of this field's story.

Personally, I think this is one of the coolest areas of research around right now. The ability to, in the near future, help paralyzed people regain mobility and function would indeed be an incredible accomplishment, but that's just the start. This kind of research could help improve humans themselves. Imagine adding new cybernetic body parts, or even new senses (ability to 'see' infrared for example). There are a lot of potential possibilities. Forget the ad-hoc wireless computer networks, this tech could possibly enable something like an ad-hoc human brain network (telepathy anyone?) Seems very very cool and useful.

If this rate of progress keeps up (which seems likely), perhaps Slashdot will need to create a Brain-Computer Interface category.

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.

They've got nothing on my girlfriend

[El]

She's been playing mind-games for years!