Brain-to-Brain Interface Allows Transmission of Tactile and Motor Information Between Rats 1000s of Miles Apart
Researchers electronically linked the brains of pairs of rats for the first time, enabling them to communicate directly to solve simple behavioral puzzles. A further test of this work successfully linked the brains of two animals thousands of miles apart – one in Durham, N.C., and one in Natal, Brazil.
Neuroprosthesis Gives Rats the Ability to ‘Touch’ Infrared Light
Researchers have given rats the ability to “touch” infrared light by fitting them with an infrared detector wired to microscopic electrodes implanted in the part of the mammalian brain that processes tactile information. The study demonstrated that a novel sensory input could be processed by a cortical region specialized in another sense without “hijacking” the function of this brain area.
Researchers Describe Technology that Lets Spinal Cord Injured Man Control Robot Arm with Thoughts
Researchers describe how an electrode array sitting on top of the brain enabled a 30-year-old paralyzed man to control the movement of a character on a computer screen in three dimensions with just his thoughts. It also enabled him to move a robot arm to touch a friend’s hand for the first time in the seven years.
Brainwave Training Boosts Network for Cognitive Control and Predicts Mind Wandering
Using several neuroimaging methods, a team of researchers working at the University of Western Ontario have now uncovered that functional changes within a key brain network occur directly after a 30-minute session of noninvasive, neural-based training.
Controlling Your Computer With Your Eyes
Millions of people suffering from multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s, muscular dystrophy, spinal cord injuries or amputees could soon interact with their computers and surroundings using just their eyes, thanks to a new device that costs less than £40 (~$63).
Paralyzed Individuals Use Thought Controlled Robotic Arm to Reach and Grasp
NIH-funded study shows progress in brain-computer interface technology. In an ongoing clinical trial, a paralyzed woman was able to reach for and sip from a drink on her own – for the first time in nearly 15 years – by using her thoughts to direct a robotic arm. The trial, funded in part by the [...]
Mini-sensor Measures Magnetic Activity in Human Brain
A miniature atom-based magnetic sensor developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has passed an important research milestone by successfully measuring human brain activity. Experiments reported this week in Biomedical Optics Express verify the sensor’s potential for biomedical applications such as studying mental processes and advancing the understanding of neurological diseases. NIST [...]
New Brain-Machine Interface Moves a Paralyzed Hand
New technology bypasses spinal cord and delivers electrical signals from brain directly to muscles. A new Northwestern Medicine brain-machine technology delivers messages from the brain directly to the muscles – bypassing the spinal cord – to enable voluntary and complex movement of a paralyzed hand. The device could eventually be tested on, and perhaps aid, [...]
How to Control a Prosthesis with Your Mind
New brain-machine interfaces that exploit the plasticity of the brain may allow people to control prosthetic devices in a natural way. Imagine a piece of technology that would let you control an apparatus simply by thinking about it. Lots of people, it turns out, have dreamed of just such a system, which for decades has [...]
Feeling Robotic Arms Improves Brain Machine Interfaces
Proprioception feedback of a robotic arm helped improve the performance of monkeys using brain machine interfaces to control a computer cursor. When the monkeys were fit with exoskeletons that provided arm movements synchronized with the cursor movement, control of the cursor improved by 40%.
