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Teen Plays Videogame With Brain Signals

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the now-that-is-next-gen dept.

SkyFire360 writes "A team of ECoG (ElectroCorticography) researchers from Washington University in St. Louis successfully wired a young man's brain up to a computer and began reading the neurological firings in his brain. After analyzing the action potentials created when a neuron fires, they were able to get two-dimensional control of a cursor. Taking the research one step further, they decided to connect an old Atari 2600 to the signal processing computer to see if the young man could control the videogame system."

23 of 204 comments (clear)

  1. Sadly by SuperKendall · · Score: 3, Funny

    Sadly the first game hooked directly to his brain was Yars Revenge, and now the poor lad just goes around headbutting walls.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Sadly by Rob+T+Firefly · · Score: 3, Funny

      It could have been worse, they could have given him the old "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" game.

      --
      Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
    2. Re:Sadly by Soygen · · Score: 2, Funny

      You could hardly control ET with a joystick, let alone with your brain.

    3. Re:Sadly by Paperweight · · Score: 2, Funny

      What happens when he plays one of those literally impossible NES games and in his frustration tries to break the controller in half?

    4. Re:Sadly by Rob+T+Firefly · · Score: 4, Funny
      After succumbing to severe brain damage, his body would be dumped in the New Mexico desert, flattened by a steamroller, and covered in concrete.
      Actually, he'd continuously try to get up out of the pit, but he'd keep falling back in immediately upon reaching the top.
      --
      Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
  2. Uh oh... by BMonger · · Score: 4, Funny

    Can you make a Beowulf cluster of... teens?

    1. Re:Uh oh... by kfg · · Score: 4, Funny

      Can you make a Beowulf cluster of... teens?

      Just go to a mall and observe.

      KFG

    2. Re:Uh oh... by AdamThor · · Score: 3, Funny

      Beowulf cluster of teens would work poorly.

      1/IQ(tot) = 1/IQ(t1) + 1/IQ(t2) + 1/IQ(t3) ...

      --
      -- "Oh. This guy again."
    3. Re:Uh oh... by Kuj0317 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Unfortunately, the networking overhead causes the computation power of the group to be significantly less than that of any given individual.



      I am old. And bitter.


    4. Re:Uh oh... by kfg · · Score: 3, Funny

      Unfortunately, the networking overhead causes the computation power of the group to be significantly less than that of any given individual.

      And the output is psuedorandom - at best.

      KFG

  3. Im posting... by cmburns69 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm posting this with my mind. I hope I dont get modded down. Oh crap, I can't silence my inner monologue! Oh crap! crap! crap... *carrier lost*

    --
    Online Starcraft RPG? At
    Dietary fiber is like asynchronous IO-- Non-blocking!
    1. Re:Im posting... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      I'm posting this with my mind. I hope I dont get modded down. Oh crap, I can't silence my inner monologue! Oh yeah! pr0n! pr0n... *carrier lost*

      Fixed your post ^_^

  4. Um... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I hope you're talking about drinking beer...

  5. Dang. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    That means the Nintendo Wii is out-of-date already. *sigh*

    1. Re:Dang. by Shadowlore · · Score: 2, Funny

      Next Nintendo will be mind controlled and called the Mii

      --
      My Suburban burns less gasoline than your Prius.
  6. I can already use brain signals to play games... by cobrajs · · Score: 3, Funny

    With this new system I developed, I can play games with brain signals! I send a brain signal to my finger to press the correct key, and presto! The avatar moves!

  7. Uh oh.. the mi-go are here. by Channard · · Score: 2, Funny

    I guess we'll hear teens talking on X-Box Live about their bitchin' new brain cylinders next.

  8. O'Reily E-Meter hacks by rHBa · · Score: 2, Funny

    Blast away those thetans by wiring your E-Meter into space invaders.

  9. Re:Did they figure it out, or did he? by Doctor+Memory · · Score: 5, Funny
    What I worry about is the long term effects of purposely sending "interrupt" signals to your body parts. Has this ever been studied before?
    Google for "blue balls"...
    --
    Just junk food for thought...
  10. Nostalgia (read: man, I feel old) by joeslugg · · Score: 2, Funny

    I had to snicker at how TFA had to invest a few paragraphs to fully describe Space Invaders for those young-uns who may not even have heard of it. A screenshot may have helped.

    Oh, btw - "Atari" was a home video game system. It's on Wikipedia. No, really - go look it up...

  11. Re:I bet that made you all happy by couchslug · · Score: 2, Funny

    The distributed storage model seems to be working fine, and is more fault-tolerant.
    Thanks for your concern!

    --
    "This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
  12. Re:at last by Kozar_The_Malignant · · Score: 2, Funny

    Depends... For Liesure Suit Larry, it is inserted... never mind.

    --
    Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
  13. Re:not even close to the same but ... by StarfishOne · · Score: 2, Funny

    I am honored to meet the inventor of the Pong Polygraph test. :)