New Technology Can Be Operated by Thought
Physically disabled people can compose and send emails and operate a television by thought thanks to advances in brain-machine interface (BMI) technology, and further breakthroughs may even make the mental operation of prosthetic limbs a reality in time. “By permitting the subject to adaptively recode the generated neural activity, the overall performance of the [BMI] device is dramatically increased,” says the University of Pittsburgh’s Andrew Schwartz. “Furthermore, as we have progressed in this work, it has become apparent that the basic idea of ‘intention’ during learning is very important and can be addressed by the direct observation of the neuronal transformations taking place during this fundamental processing.” Thought-controlled operation of PCs by severely handicapped patients has been facilitated by a brain computer interface (BCI) developed by the Wadsworth Center in Albany, N.Y., and Wadsworth Center researcher Eric Sellers says the system can conceivably function with little technical oversight and offer significant improvements to communication and quality of life. Meanwhile, Washington University School of Medicine researchers have developed a BCI that allows individuals to mentally control a cursor on a computer screen, a wheelchair, and a robotic arm, and a current focus is the use of the BCI to improve the rehabilitation of stroke and brain injury patients using data demonstrating that one hemisphere of the brain can compensate for functions impaired by damage to the other hemisphere. The project involves repurposing the interface to respond to signals from only one hemisphere. University of Chicago graduate student Dennis Tkach and fellow researchers are concentrating on the modification of BMI systems for use by paralysis victims through the harnessing of congruent neural activity.
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Science Daily (11/09/07)
