Saturday, October 29, 2005
Eureka moment for 'Thinking cap' dawns
Scientists have developed a 'thinking cap' that can read your thoughts and stimulate your creative power, which may eventually help paralysed patients to move robotic arms, or help sufferers of motor neuron disease to type out words on a virtual keyboard.
The device, called a brain-computer interface, detects activity in certain brain areas linked to movement, and uses the signals to mimic that movement in a virtual world. All you have to do is just to think about an activity, like walking or playing.
"Just thinking about movement activates the same neurons as actually moving," Nature quoted Gert Pfurtscheller of Graz University of Technology in Austria, who has been working on the device for around four years, as saying.
The technology detects brain waves by using electrodes placed at strategic points on the scalp; they are positioned over brain areas known to be involved in moving specific body parts. The computer can then distinguish between signals corresponding to different types of movement. By picking up on these bursts of nerve activity, it can decide whether you are thinking about moving your hands or feet, and react accordingly. The scientists tested the device by asking participants to navigate a virtual-reality studio called the Virtual Cave. The subjects sit in a square studio wearing three-dimensional goggles, which project a scene such as a street, complete with pedestrians and buildings. The computer then chooses a task for the participant: either walking forwards or moving their hands. It tells the user what to do
through sound cues.
If the person is asked to think about walking, and they do so in a way that can be picked up by the cap, the virtual character steps forwards. If they fail, the character stays still. When asked to think about moving their hands, staying still rewards successful volunteers. If they fail, the character takes a step backwards.
The scientists hope that the virtual device could help those who are unable to move to interact more easily with others, and it could even enable stroke patients to regain movement by allowing them to 'exercise' their brain's motor centres.
"If they think of moving their hand and they see a hand move, it reinforces the thought," said Pfurtscheller, adding that strengthening the mind might lead to better motor control.
The device, called a brain-computer interface, detects activity in certain brain areas linked to movement, and uses the signals to mimic that movement in a virtual world. All you have to do is just to think about an activity, like walking or playing.
"Just thinking about movement activates the same neurons as actually moving," Nature quoted Gert Pfurtscheller of Graz University of Technology in Austria, who has been working on the device for around four years, as saying.
The technology detects brain waves by using electrodes placed at strategic points on the scalp; they are positioned over brain areas known to be involved in moving specific body parts. The computer can then distinguish between signals corresponding to different types of movement. By picking up on these bursts of nerve activity, it can decide whether you are thinking about moving your hands or feet, and react accordingly. The scientists tested the device by asking participants to navigate a virtual-reality studio called the Virtual Cave. The subjects sit in a square studio wearing three-dimensional goggles, which project a scene such as a street, complete with pedestrians and buildings. The computer then chooses a task for the participant: either walking forwards or moving their hands. It tells the user what to do
through sound cues.
If the person is asked to think about walking, and they do so in a way that can be picked up by the cap, the virtual character steps forwards. If they fail, the character stays still. When asked to think about moving their hands, staying still rewards successful volunteers. If they fail, the character takes a step backwards.
The scientists hope that the virtual device could help those who are unable to move to interact more easily with others, and it could even enable stroke patients to regain movement by allowing them to 'exercise' their brain's motor centres.
"If they think of moving their hand and they see a hand move, it reinforces the thought," said Pfurtscheller, adding that strengthening the mind might lead to better motor control.
