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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.
The end of left handed surfing!
Saw the headline and thought "Non-Invasive Brain Control Through Computers". I need a new tinfoil hat.
Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
could this be the first actual useful tinfoil hat?
Remember Brainstorm starring Christopher Walken?
- Just my $0.02, take with a grain of salt, your mileage may vary.
I for one will be waiting for the 128-electrode technology to come out so I can think faster.
TT
So what exactly goes through the person's mind when they are moving the cursor. Do they just think "Left" and "Right" etc. Or do they simply have to look in the direction they want the cursor to go? It'd be interesting to try it out. It would bring me one step closer to utilizing the power of the force.
Because invasive would be that long spike jammed into the back of your cranium in the Matrix.
-Teiresias
.. now get cracking on the bi-directional interface. I need my legion of computer-controlled human drones to do my evil bidding!
Robots and sharks with lasers on their heads can't do everything, you know.
because I, like the rest of you, have other uses for our hands while surfing the net.
On a real note (though the above is true), imagine playing CS or any FPS game with mind control. Now it will even mean that shooter games will be won by the smartest - not the most physically capable (hand to eye coordination).
I mod down so you can mod up. Your welcome.
Now all you have to do to be a hacker is to wear one of these and stand behind people who are using a computer.
Imagine the fun in a library or computer lab...mauahaha!
Brain-Computer Interfaces for Communication and Control at the society for neuroscience annual meeting. There are already paralyzed people using this type of technology (electrode and even EEG(!)) on an experimental basis.
While I think this is wonderful for people who lack mobility or the use of their limbs, I for one, can't see this kind of tech gaining much ground for everyday use.
One of the primary reasons for this is the sensation of tactile feed-back you get from using controllers that require physical interaction. You can feel the mouse scraping against your desk as you move it back and forth. You can feel the microswitches 'catching' when pushing the buttons. You can feel the keyboard keys 'click' into place as the latex compression switches underneath connect.
Remember all the 'touch sensitive' microwaves that came out in the 80's and early 90s? Notice how all the buttons now at least provide some semblance of movement when you touch them, even if it's a small amount?
Even if this tech becomes cheap and wide-spread, there's just no replacing the touch-sensation inherent with using mechanical input devices.
The next Slashdot story will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and slashdot the links early!
Imagine a factory workforce of trained animals (pigs? Dogs?) using this sort of technology; they might be able to handle problems a bit too difficult for a an actual manufacturing robot to handle.
eat shiat and bark at the moon
Could the users make the mouse 'click'?
It is not outside the realm of possibility, however, as Carl Sagan was fond of saying "Extrodinary claims require extraordinary evidence." Those who claim to have extra sensory perception (ESP) have consistently failed to substatiate those claims when scrutinized with truly scientific methods.
My wife (working on her PhD in psychology) was part of a program where children diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder would play PlayStation games with a special controller in order to teach them how to strengthen their focusing skills.
The controller was tied to a machine which monitored the level of a certain brainwave (I don't remember which) and if the levels fell outside predetermined parameters the controller would cease to function properly. This helped teach the kids how to maintain focus while performing a task that required constant attention. The 'brain interface' part looked like a baseball cap with lots of little sensors inside, no neurosurgery required.
I tried it myself (I do not have ADD) and it was interesting how difficult it seemed at first to 'grasp' the required level, and how second hand it became after a few minutes of play (obviously the patients took quite a bit longer). It was a neat alternative / addition to drug therapy. I'd bet there is a lot of value in this more accurate control interface for future treatment.
It's a hell of a lot more difficult to believe.
Putting electrodes right next to the brain and using computational power to detect the VERY faint electrical signals within the brain is worlds and worlds apart from someone being able to pick up these electrical signals from the span of -- let's say two feet away to be fair -- THROUGH THE AIR and having it penetrate their skull, and then being able to interpret these electrical signals into meaningful thoughts. Keep in mind that since every mind is different, the electrical signals in one brain that signify a certain thought -- let's say something simple such as "I like cheese." can be fairly different from one person to the next because of the way the synapses are linked and pulse their electrochemical signals to make up said thought. I consider this to be an even greater obstacle than the electrical signals from the brain going through the air. The electrical signals to move a cursor are so much simpler than the simplest of thoughts (I like cheese).
where's the fun in controlling my computer via brain waves or thought patterns if i don't get to stick a fiber cable into my head? i want a datajack, for dodger's sake!
Karma
It could be bad to be able to control your computer by thinking. Just imagine if you were sitting at your thought controlled computer when a "friend" comes up and asks, "hey, what's the command to delete everything recursively without confirmation?"
And you think... "\rm -r *"
DOH!
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? . . .
Well, as soon as someone writes the Firefox plugin.
Baranovich: "You must think... of Russians!"
Andropov: "Are you enjoyink your ride, Mister Gant? Do you like our new toy?" Gant: "Boy, is this a machine!"
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.
If we are able to detect and monitor energy waves that are emitted from our brains merely by thinking about things, how much more difficult is it to believe that there are people who are physically tuned to be able to "pick up" those brain waves?
Just wait until the electrodes attached to the skull are not just sensors, but are powered transmitters used to induce right thinking!
I'm already thinking I need to take out a loan at Ditech to buy some more products that will surely ease my anxieties about my projected sexual desirability!
"Provided by the management for your protection."
You know what, now that I think about it a little longer, it is pretty damn close to being "out of the realm of possibility". Think about it, electrical fields fall of at the square of the distance. This means that at normal conversational distances the already faint signals are going to be essentially undetectable.
Does it move left when you think of Kerry, and right when you think of Bush?
Have you read my blog lately?
This is totally rediculous! If there were any validity to the claims of psychics, there would be intense scientific interest but no one would be deprived of thier life and liberty over it. The truth is, most psychics have such muddled thinking processes, they cant understand the basics of the scientific method and therefore dismiss it out of hand. Check out randi.org and if you do have psychic powers, collect your million dollars.
Tell that to mr. Steven Hawking and see if he's amused. To us this may be little more than a toy, but for some disabled it may be the only way to control a computer, perhaps even the only effective way to communicate with their environment.
Visit http://ringbreak.dnd.utwente.nl/~mrjb/growingbettersoftware to download your free copy of the book
I can't remember the original captains name but he was a quadrapalegic and could control 3 lights with using only his mind for communication. Life imitates art
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 obviates implications that go far beyond the simple control of gadgets. Helping to correct ADD with this approach illustrates the effect that the brain doesn't just adapt; it actually changes its physical structure as it learns this new behavior. Our brains have specialized uses for specific areas and groups of cells. What happens to someone who uses one of these frequently, with one or more of the electrodes placed over a spot that is involved in some unrelated function? How will it change you when you grow connections from voluntary motor functions right into your pituitary gland? You may inadvertently throw 50 or more hormone and endocrine systems WAY out of whack. OTOH, IF the designers of the sensor cap pay attention to the impact long term use will have, high resolution biofeedback tied to the reward system of a game can be powerful. It may be possible to enhance neural growth in valuable ways. When an adult is learning a new language, there is a point when they switch from mentally translating to/from a language they know to actually thinking in the new language. This is a discernible change in which sections of the brain are involved before and after this point of fluency has been attained. This sensor cap could help facilitate that change. Personally, I'd like it to teach me to hold the same brain patterns as a meditating Zen master. The best ones always look so happy.
On the one hand you take life too seriously, and on the other, you do not take playful existence seriously enough. Seth
The work is pretty neat. They put a sock thing on your head and measure your brainwaves. Apparantly not everyone can be trained to use the system. There was a long screening process where they looked for people with brain patterns that they could read. I signed up for the screening but I was never called; I guess they got all the volunteers they needed. My friend went in for the screening; they make you wear the reader thing on your head while you concentrate on a dot moving through a very simple maze. Evenutally you get to try to control the dot; that's as far as my friend reached. I know that eventually they move you up to an actual "Armitron" toy that they wired up to the monitors. It is very cool research.
This stuff isn't geared to replacing your keyboard and mouse. The hook is the promise of developing the technology for better artificial limbs; but think about it. If a disabled person can control their own artificial arm with brainwaves; why not a big crane? Why not a crane on a battleship or out in orbit?
Getting electrical signals to OR from the brain through an intact skull is going to be a lossy process. In the case of getting signals out, this is apparently manageable. But as for getting signals IN, it's not going to work -- this way at least. This doesn't rule out some much more precise (and much more advanced) tech in the future, but this isn't going to work for making zombies.
Besides, is drilling a hole in the head of your zombie really THAT bad?
Mal-2
How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
Carl Sagan was a great guy and all, but you seem to not understand the basics of the scientific method.
The scientific method is a process for proving something as definitely untrue or possibly true. You observe a phenomenon, form a hypothesis that you believe explains this phenomenon, use that hypothesis to predict the outcome of experiments designed to recreate this phenomenon with a minimum of variables, perform experiments designed to see if your prediction is correct, and thats it.
At no time is anything "extraordinary" in the scientific method. Lets say that we observe that a person is able to guess what is written on a card with uncanny accuracy. We produce a hypothesis that this person is able to predict the outcome of selecting a random card. We predict that if we perform an experiment consisting of shuffling a deck of cards, then asking for the name of the top card, then drawing the card to see if it matches, then shuffling the deck again, that this person will name the card correctly 100% of the time.
Then we perform the experiment, and either our predictions are right or our predictions and hypothesis are wrong. Nothing "extraordinary" happens in this process because to the scientific method, everything is either false or maybe true.
If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
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.
But, .. You are in a coma and this is all a simulation. We have been testing on you for several years now. Does it not seem real to you? The slashdot forum is the only way we have found so far to communicate with you.
Can you hear us?
Hello!?
(try to keep those dirty thoughts to yourself from now on, you really embarrased your mother last time she was here to visit you.)
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
Um, no. Part of the scientific method is to perform experiments in which measurable results are observed in the real world in a repeatable fashion.
Why these results occur is often explained by a theory, which apparently is what you refer to above. However, why ESP works would be a strictly secondary issue alongside it's actual existence, if observed. Fairly simple experiments should be able to demonstrate telepathy if it exists - see the famous Duke University experiments for example.
I hope that cleared things up a bit for you.
Galileo: "The Earth revolves around the Sun!"
Score: -1 100% Flamebait
First off, my clinical experience is in epilepsy not ADHD, but a quick skim of the journals would indicate that EEGs are starting to be used in this area.
The trouble is, an EEG can only show brain activity and it is then up to a skilled neurophysiologist to analyse the record and make a clinical decision. Such conditions as epilepsy, post-concussion syndrome, and tumours may show noticeable activity (although tumour detection has obviously been increased by the use of MRI and CT). Activity that is pathomnemonic (due to one condition and no other) is few and far between, so a patient may have epileptiform activity (spike/spike and wave) in the EEG and yet never suffer an epileptic seizure. So to extend this and claim that it can be used as a tool to confirm things such as the above is a little strong.
Specifically to ADHD/ADD, doctors are still uncertain about what constitutes the syndrome of ADHD as it varies depending on which diagnosis criteria you use (DSM-IV or ICD-10), so the use of EEGs to confirm diagnosis seems early to say the least.
In short, EEGs are very good for some conditions but not sensitive or specific enough for others.
http://openeeg.sourceforge.net/
We don't know what conciousness is made of. Thus we do not know its true limitations. And that's not voodoo talking. That's the scientific community.
"Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
--Dr.W.Edwards Deming
Although, technically, you *can* speak into headphones (hooked into a mic jack) to make a recording.
Information wants to be free.
Entertainment wants to be paid.
You just want to be cheap.