Brain link lets people choose images by thought alone

** Note:  this post is meant to provide a model for current NYOS Biology students to view & learn from, as they are developing their own article-reviewing skills.  Plus, it's an awesome article!  This review was written during the 2010-11 school year.**

Stephen C. -- Twelve epilepsy patients who had previously had electrodes implanted in the medial temporal lobes (among other areas) of their brains for monitoring purposes were brought in to be part of an experiment testing the feasibility of a groundbreaking new neuroscience technology. This technology monitors minute patterns in brain activity that relate to specific topics. The researchers at the California Institute of Technology that lead the experiment talked to the test subjects to find out what subjects would ring the loudest mental bells with them. These topics were used as templates for the selection of 100 images per person. The subjects were then shown the images so that the system might learn. Later, the subjects were shown two of the images superimposed against each other, and were told to, without using anything but their minds, choose one of the images and bring it to the foreground. The neural patterns their brains expressed were identified by the computer and used to determine which image to show. The volunteers were successful 70% of the time.


The implications of something like this are amazing. While we have for some time now been able to tap into the less meticulous signals sent by the motor cortex to in order to help someone control a robotic limb, never before have individual neurons been isolated and associated with specific concepts. Unlike some other recent breakthroughs, there is no real negative side to this. It’s not like some criminal could sneak into your house, implant electrodes in your brain, and hook you up to a super advanced computer rig to monitor what you’re thinking without your knowledge. Trust me, you’d notice. However, this does present several possibilities for helping disabled people interact with modern technology such as computers and cell phones. Think about it, someone with no use of their hands could type on a computer or dial a phone just by thinking of the letters/numbers they want to type. If the system was made to be smaller, soldiers on the battlefield could use their minds to trigger weapons or explosives, removing the need to be right near the danger. It would also allow for split-second action as opposed to having to take the time to fiddle around with switches and buttons. Overall, this will create a whole new meaning for the term “hands-free.”


Link:  Brain link lets people choose images by thought alone