Washington, Dec 7 (IANS) Neuroscientists have taken the first few steps towards a mind-machine interface, says a new study.
For instance, researchers have shown how brain waves can be used to type alpha-numerical characters on a computer screen. By merely focusing on the “q” in a matrix of letters, that “q” appears on the monitor.

These findings represent concrete progress toward a mind-machine interface that may, one day, help people with a variety of disorders — such as Lou Gehrig’s disease and spinal cord injuries — control devices such as prosthetic arms and legs, among others, say researchers.

“This study constitutes a baby step on the road toward that future, but it represents tangible progress in using brain waves to do certain tasks,” says Jerry Shih, the study’s lead investigator and neurologist at the Mayo Clinic.

Shih and other Mayo Clinic researchers worked with Dean Krusienski, from the University of North Florida on this study, conducted on patients with epilepsy.

These patients were already being monitored for seizure activity using electro-corticography (ECoG), in which electrodes are placed directly on brain surface to record electrical activity produced by the firing of nerve cells.

Shih wanted to study a mind-machine interface in these patients because he hypothesized that feedback from electrodes placed directly on the brain would be much more specific than data collected from electro-encephalography (EEG), in which electrodes are placed on the scalp.

Most studies of mind-machine interaction have occurred with EEG, Shih says. Because these patients already had ECoG electrodes, researchers could test their fledgling brain-computer interface.

In the study, the patients sat in front of a monitor that was hooked to a computer running the researchers’ software, which was designed to interpret electrical signals coming from the electrodes.

The patients were asked to look at the screen. Every time the square with a certain letter flashed, and the patient focused on it, the computer recorded the brain’s response to the flashing letter.

The patients were then asked to focus on specific letters, and the computer software recorded the information. The computer then calibrated the system with the individual patient’s specific brain wave, and when the patient then focused on a letter, the letter appeared on the screen, says a Mayo Clinic release.

“We were able to consistently predict the desired letters for our patients at or near 100 percent accuracy,” Shih says. “We find our progress so far to be very encouraging,” he says.

These findings were presented at the 2009 annual meeting of the American Epilepsy Society Dec 4-8.