This was on CBS last Sunday... December 18, 2012 Jan Scheuermann uses a robotic arm, wrist and hand to feed herself in this video provided by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Scheuermann, a quadriplegic, controlled the arm using a brain-computer interface following surgery to implant electrodes on her brain. Check the videos segments ...http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57559331/paralyzed-woman-uses-mind-to-move-robotic-arm/
or http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57586455/breakthrough-robotic-limbs-moved-by-the-mind/ Jim Matiya Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to a life around...Leo Buscaglia > Subject: Re: [tips] Moving A Computer Cursor With Your Thoughts > From: pkbra...@hickorytech.net > Date: Wed, 12 Jun 2013 09:28:33 -0500 > To: tips@fsulist.frostburg.edu > > Strictly speaking, they have shown that brain activity in response to spoken > instructions can be detected and linked to a computer, and some interesting > observations about the interactions among the various brain structures > involved. Thoughts are an inference. > BTW -- monkeys can do it to. > Can they think? > > On Jun 12, 2013, at 5:53 AM, Mike Palij wrote: > > > Researchers at the University of Washington have shown that after > > implanting electrodes into human brains, the persons with the implants > > were able to learn how to move a cursor on a computer screen just > > with their thoughts. The UW has posted this press release describing > > the research in some detail; see: > > http://www.washington.edu/news/2013/06/11/new-tasks-become-as-simple-as-waving-a-hand-with-brain-computer-interfaces/ > > And the website CNET has a popular media article that is a closer > > approximation to everyday English here: > > http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57588839-76/mind-controlled-cursor-may-be-easier-than-previously-thought/ > > > > For those who are hardcore and settle for nothing but the original > > source, the research was published in the Proceedings of the National > > Academy of Sciences (PNAS) and it is available online prior to its > > paper publication; see: > > http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/06/05/1221127110 > > > > What I think is really intriguing is the process that seems to be going on > > when one is learning the basic action. The CNET article expresses this > > best: > > > > NOTE: participants were persons with severe epilepsy. > > > > |While physicians were studying neuro activity to investigate seizure > > |signals, a separate team of bioengineers was simultaneously on the > > |lookout for exactly how the brains of the seven volunteers behaved > > |as they learned to move a cursor using their thoughts alone. It turns > > |out that, in as few as 10 minutes, activity went from being centered > > |on the prefrontal cortex, which is associated with learning new skills, > > |to areas seen during more automatic functions, such as waving one's > > |hand or kicking a ball. > > | > > |In other words, in just a matter of minutes these brains behaved as > > |if they had already mastered these Jedi mind tricks. > > | > > |"What we're seeing is that practice makes perfect with these tasks," > > |Rajesh Rao, a UW professor of computer science and engineering > > |and a senior researcher involved in the study, said in a school news > > |release. "There's a lot of engagement of the brain's cognitive resources > > |at the very beginning, but as you get better at the task, those resources > > |aren't needed anymore and the brain is freed up." > > | > > |Rao and colleagues, who call this "distributed cortical adaptation," > > |published their findings online Monday in the Proceedings of the > > |National Academy of Sciences. They say that the electrodes on the > > |volunteers' brains picked up the signals that directed the cursor to > > |move and sent them to an amplifier and then laptop for analysis, > > |which in just 40 milliseconds resulted in updated cursor movement > > |on the screen. > > > > Now what I find fascinating is not that one can move a cursor with one's > > thoughts but that the process of learning how to do such an action first > > starts in the prefrontal cortex (where a cognitive "program" is probably > > assembled that will layout what needs to be done) and then this information > > is sent to what I assume are the somatosensory areas and the temporal > > lobe (see the figures in the CNET article -- it is a larger version of the > > image provided in the UW press release). I haven't read the PNAS > > article yet so my explanation above may be a little off but the notion that > > learning an action process starts in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and then is > > transferred to another brain area (freeing up resources in the PFC) is > > interesting and one wonders whether this works in other types of processes > > (e.g., I have always had problems with claims that certain types of > > working memory were located in specific cells in the PFC, like the feature > > detectors in the occipital cortex -- I though that that was just too much > > processing for a single cell to do). > > > > -Mike Palij > > New York University > > m...@nyu.edu > > Paul Brandon > Emeritus Professor of Psychology > Minnesota State University, Mankato > pkbra...@hickorytech.net > > > > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: jmat...@hotmail.com. > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13283.28aec02f231f4c4baa9a4a58ae139710&n=T&l=tips&o=26028 > or send a blank email to > leave-26028-13283.28aec02f231f4c4baa9a4a58ae139...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. 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