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Non-Invasive Computer Control Through Brainwaves
mikael writes "An article on the BBC website is reporting that U.S. scientists have managed to develop a 'thinking cap' which allows a computer to receive commands from the electrical activity of a person's brain alone. Comprised of 64 electrodes, this cap allowed two users to control a cursor through pure thought alone, rather than through eye movements or other physical gestures." Unlike some previous efforts, this one doesn't require anything to be implanted in your brain.
In fact, the article says: It is not the first time researchers have had this sort of success in brain-control experiments.
So even the original cited article claims that this is not new . . . I fail to understand why such "repeats" of similar "discoveries" seem to be so "newsworthy"
I remember playing with a device that connected to electrodes that one connected to the head and measured some level of brain activity when I was in high school. This connected to a PC which would draw a virtual strip chart of measured activity. We would move the stripchart pen with our mind . . . isn't this really quite similar? . . .
Reminds me of Anne McCaffrey's Tower & Hive/Pegasus sci-fi series. In "1997", about when the book "To Ride Pegasus" was set, science "discovered" the EEG could pick up specific variations in brain waves of psychics "using their power", thus proving that psychics did exist. As this was a novel, obviously that didn't happen, but the parallels are interesting.
If a space alien came down to earth and made contact with us was a being of extraordinary intelligence but lacking in the sense of sight, do you think he would have trouble understanding the concept of sight?
Wouldn't he also say, "So you are able to detect an object from some distance without being in physical contact or within aural distance of it? I don't believe it. How would the sense come to you? Would it travel through the air and into your brain where you sensed it? It doesn't seem plausible."
The problem is that the alien simply does not have the sensory organs that humans have. As such, he can't even contemplate what it is like to have that sense.
If there are humans who have some organ (perhaps a genetic mutation in the skin or retina) that most of us do not have, how would we be able to understand that without study? Dismissing it as bunk out of hand is the method of religious schemers. Scientists ought to be interested.
You are correct, which means that to be in any way feasible for the average user it needs to be quick and accurate. There's a HCI technique called Fitt's law which measures the amount of movement required to perform actions with an interface, the lower the number the better and you could conclude that high numbers lead to RSI et al.
So something that removed the need to make many fine grained movement, which we are good at but maybe shouldn't do to the excess that computers require, would be a good thing
"Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door." - Emily Dickinson
At the WorldExpo 2000 in Hannover/Germany, the Swedish booth showed something similar. Two contestants were wearing tin foil hats that measured their brain activity. The higher the brain activity, the lower the score, so the goal was to be more relaxed than the opponent.
The great thing was that the most ambitious people had no chance, because their brain was too active in wanting the victory. Pretty cool, watching two guys relaxing the hell out of each other.
Signature deleted by lameness filter.
So they have calculations to read the impulses and move a cursor in the desired direction. Too bad the article is a little light on details. Wonder how long before they're able to decode simple thoughts, perhaps letters or even words. It's understandably a pretty long jump.
If they could pick up the Medulla Oblongata's output and pass it along to electrodes the diaphram of a tetrapalegic, or from motor control to their arms to allow gross movement.
Imagine typing at 400 words per minute. Of course this tech might suffer from the same class of problems as speech recognition but there's certainly hope.
Would be interesting to be around to see the day that they fully understand what comes out and how to put stuff in to a brain. Those will be exciting. (and potentially dangerous times)
This looks like it isn't very complex nor very expensive - 64 electrical sensors in a cap and a PCI card with 64 inputs for A to D conversion- looks like less than $500 in volume, perhaps only $200.
You can do infinite numbers of fun things, first one that comes to mind is a brain wave visualization plugin for XMMS.
Lets hope someone picks this up and runs with it.
I am very easy to get along with, but I don't have time to waste being nice to people who are being stupid. -Theo
Yes you are the only person and this ain't paranormal research
I'll come clean and say that I spent 4 enjoyable years studying "energy waves" from the brain, also known as EEGs (Electroencephalograph).
A MSc in Epileptology and a PhD in Clinical Neurophysiology later, my considered opionion is that there is a world of difference between "monitoring" activity in the brain and actually making sense of it. EEGs, MEGs and FMRIs can give you a world of data but the specifics you can attach to this are very limited. Even in epileptology, where EEGs have been used for over a hundred years (since 1897), the clinical power of EEGs is far less than a lay person could imagine.
To receive "useful" signals of peoples thoughts, there would have to be a series of breakthroughs in dipole modelling, brain function mapping, and a whole host of other technologies. Otherwise you are restricted to the gross/obvious signals such as alpha, beta and delta rhythms
Another point against pychic receptivity is that the receiving brain is also giving off its own signals at a far greater amplitude than the "transmitting" one; the equivalent of listening to someone whisper a foriegn language at the end of a football field in a howling gale while you bellow what ever is on your mind.
Back in the 1980's,a research project was funded to determine the best way for rescue helicopters to find survivors wearing orange life-belts floating in the North Sea. Several proposals for advanced optical systems were proposed; these included infra-red cameras and laser scanning. The other system was based on bio-technology: A handful of pigeons were kept in enclosed containers on each side of the helicopter. The containers were warmed by an electrical heater, and had a window kept clean by a windscreen wiper. Each pigeon was trained to peck an alarm button whenever they saw any red or orange dots; The maintenance costs were simple; grain and water.
Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads