Sending Messages With Your Brain Via EEG 99
An anonymous reader writes "From a University of Wisconsin-Madison announcement: 'In early April, Adam Wilson posted a status update on the social networking Web site Twitter — just by thinking about it. Just 23 characters long, his message, 'using EEG to send tweet,' demonstrates a natural, manageable way in which "locked-in" patients can couple brain-computer interface technologies with modern communication tools. A University of Wisconsin-Madison biomedical engineering doctoral student, Wilson is among a growing group of researchers worldwide who aim to perfect a communication system for users whose bodies do not work, but whose brains function normally.' A brief rundown of the system: Users focus on a monitor displaying a keyboard; the interface measures electrical impulses in the brain to print the chosen letters one by one. Wilson compares the learning curve to texting, calling it 'kind of a slow process at first.' But even practice doesn't bring it quite up to texting speed: 'I've seen people do up to eight characters per minute,' says Wilson. See video of the system in action."
Eye tracking? (Score:5, Insightful)
So it wouldn't work very well for the blind and its not pulling the letters out of the brain, its just a more sophisticated eye tracking device, similar to the goggles in apache helicopters? Why not just fit patients with those for a faster input method?
I see a way to speed it up. (Score:4, Insightful)
Instead of flickering one row or column at a time, flicker ALL the letters simultaneously in different patterns. The brainwave trace should follow the one you're watching and the wait for it to be identified and confirmed will be much shorter.
= = = =
How is this better than eye tracking?
Optimization (Score:5, Insightful)
"The interface consists, essentially, of a keyboard displayed on a computer screen. "The way this works is that all the letters come up, and each one of them flashes individually," says Williams. "And what your brain does is, if you're looking at the 'R' on the screen and all the other letters are flashing, nothing happens. But when the 'R' flashes, your brain says, 'Hey, wait a minute. Something's different about what I was just paying attention to.' And you see a momentary change in brain activity."
Their "cognitive click from flash recognition" interface sounds an awful lot like the retrace timing system used for the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NES_Zapper [wikipedia.org].
I'm curious what kind of language optimization has been added, if any. Do they use predictive text of some sort?
Also, it seems a waste to limit the input to a display of a static keyboard (other than ease of use for people who know where to look for certain letters.) Why not have a dynamic interface, something alongs the lines of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dasher/ [wikipedia.org]?
Re:8 characters a minute is excellent. (Score:3, Insightful)
If they are not already in contact with him about this, they probably don't deserve to see any profit from it. This is the first thing I thought of since the stories are right next to each other.
I'm also interested to know if they can improve this to work even when people can't see the keyboard etc.
Re:8 characters a minute is excellent. (Score:4, Insightful)
The eyes probably couldn't be steered accurately enough. His muscular control was a mess when I saw him in person in the late 1980s, and it won't have improved since.
On the other hand, if they tune into the neurons that control his arm, they may be able to anticipate what he is going to type. That might help accelerate things for him. It's a bit much to be able to decode the language centres sufficiently to record thoughts directly, but it will eventually get to that point.
Once it is possible to decode his thoughts directly, he would be able to communicate as fast as he can think. Which means that it'll be a babble because he thinks far too fast. On the other hand, it will help him to turn out papers at a fantastic speed.