Apr

Sending Messages With Your Brain Via EEG

‘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 (Quicktime, mov file).