Communications of the ACM
Mind-Controlled
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Brain-computer interfaces have enabled patients to execute basic thought-controlled tasks in the lab, but researchers say the technology is close to enabling people to carry out simple everyday tasks, such as tying shoes and pulling zippers.
Current designs for monitoring the electrical firings of single motor cortex neurons constitute electrode arrays implanted in the brain, linked to a computer that decodes recorded neural signals to move a cursor on the screen, or even a robotic limb. However, over the next few years, paralysis patients will attempt to learn how to manipulate virtual hands or robotic appendages to reach, push, grasp, or eat, and researchers hope to train users to carry out movements of increasing complexity as the trials progress.
Some brain-computer interfaces attempt to capture electrical signals using grids of electrodes on the surface of the dura mater, rather than implanting electrodes within the brain itself. The electrode grids can pick up the signals of neuron groups, and these neural assembles have synchronized activity that generates local field potentials, broadcasting what the brain is doing. The assemblies can adjust themselves to signal for particular movements through training.
From Science News
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