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The idea of controlling something outside of your body using just your mind sounds like science fiction, but it’s slowly becoming scientific reality thanks to the brain-computer interface. This is not really new. Some of you may remember in 2005 hearing about researchers who surgically implanted a brain interface in a quadriplegic patient so that his thoughts could move a robotic hand in basic movements.
The discovery of electrical signals in the brain dates back about a century. About 50 years later, researchers demonstrated that a person could move a cursor on a computer screen using only their monitored brain waves – in other words, their thoughts. It was difficult to take the next logical step, typing via thoughts, due to a lack of technology, especially the inability to have a sensor capable of reading brain thoughts in plain letters. In the meantime, eye-tracking software developed in such a way that people with limited mobility, like the late Stephen Hawking, could control the devices using only the movement of their eyes. Some users can type 40-50 characters per minute by simply moving their eyes around a computer screen and choosing letters.
A research group at Stanford recently took a new approach to using brain waves for writing. Rather than thinking of letters or thinking of indicating options on a screen, the researchers returned in some respects to the 2005 study, thinking of hand movements, especially handwriting. Signals from the implanted BCI were analyzed by a training computer. The user thought about writing each letter, and the computer learned the brain waves associated with writing each letter. Obviously, each letter has its own set of hand movements to write it down, but our brains don’t create the exact same measurable signals every time we think about writing that letter. In a way, this is a problem solving, like being at the ophthalmologist’s office and trying to distinguish between the blurry letters on the lowest line of the acuity graph. You can often narrow it down to one or two choices, and the computer was able to do the same and get it right the vast majority of the time. Coupled with an automatic correction program, the user in his study was able to type at a speed of 90 letters per minute with an accuracy of 99%. For reference, the average person types at around 190 characters per minute with a decrease in advanced age.
One of the lessons learned from this study is that more complex movements are easier to distinguish from one another. In hindsight, this seems obvious as researchers ask a series of brainwaves to “code” for a single output, in the same way we wouldn’t mistake a “Q” for a “Z”.
External sensors to read brain waves through the scalp and skull have evolved to make technology wireless. This makes the technology scalable and new applications are developing now that patients do not have to have a neurosurgeon surgically open the head to implant the interface (which most of us, except for ‘Elon Musk, are not enthusiastic). Musk made the news by founding Neuralink, a company with the goal of helping paralyzed people control devices through an implanted computer chip, with the ultimate goal of increasing everyone.
A Spanish start-up called Bitbrain has made a wearable headband that can “read” drivers’ intentions and process a response faster than people can act. His site says his device will activate a car’s brakes 0.4 to 1 second sooner than a person can execute the idea of braking and stepping on the pedal. This tiny fraction of time makes a 100 kilometers per hour (62 mph) difference as it can reduce stopping distance by up to 27 meters (88 feet). This difference can be a life saved.
Finally, entertainment often follows the cutting edge of technology. NextMind is a company that has created a device that allows you to control your computer with your mind. The user wears a headband with a monitor on the back of the head. It detects brain waves from the visual cortex. Objects on the computer screen have a slight visual overlay and when the user focuses on them, it activates the object on the screen. Its interface can also work with VR headsets and one of its first demos was a car racing video game in which the car was controlled by the driver’s thoughts.
Brain interface devices will continue to provide people with severe disabilities with the means to interact with the world, and the technological benefits of this noble goal will benefit us all. Preventing people from dozing off while driving will save lives, your boss knowing you feel like dozing off during a meeting probably won’t, but both cost way more than a dime for your thoughts.
Dr Salvatore Iaquinta is a head and neck surgeon and the author of “The Year They Tried to Kill Me”. It takes you on the Health Highway every fourth Monday.
