Bloomsburg University
Department of Communication Studies
James Tomlinson

Implant Transmits Brain Signals Directly to Computer

New York Times Online - Cybertimes     October 22, 1998
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ATLANTA -- An implant that enables direct communication between the brain and a computer, à la "Star Trek," is allowing a paralyzed, mute stroke victim to use his brainpower to move a cursor across a screen and convey simple messages like hello and goodbye.

Researchers at Emory University, who planted the device into the 53-year-old patient's brain, say they believe the implant is the first device that allows direct communication between the brain and a computer.

"Of all things people lose, the ability to communicate is the most frightening thing -- to know what you want to say and not to be able to say it," said Dr. Warren Selman, a neurosurgeon at University Hospitals of Cleveland, who is not involved in the research. "This is the first step to unlocking that."

The device in the man's brain amplifies his brain signals. Those signals are then transmitted to a laptop computer through an antenna-like coil placed on his head. Like a computer mouse, the brain signals can move a cursor across the computer screen and point at icons with messages like "See you later. Nice talking with you." The man can also use the cursor to tell others that he is hungry or thirsty.

"It's like we're making the mouse the patient's brain," said Dr. Roy Bakay, one of two Emory University doctors who developed the technology.

Eventually, researchers hope to use the technology to teach patients to write letters, send e-mail and turn lights off and on via computer.

The patient, identified only as J. R., suffered a brain-stem stroke and is dependent on a ventilator at the Atlanta Veterans Affairs Medical Center. His brain functions normally, but its signals do not reach their intended destination.

Six months ago, Dr. Bakay and Dr. Phillip Kennedy implanted a tiny glass cone in the man's brain. A substance that encourages nerves to grow prompted the brain's nerves to link up to electrodes in the cone, forming what Dr. Bakay calls a little brain inside the cone. The electrodes can transmit electrical impulses produced by the brain to a computer.

To train the patient's brain, researchers told him to think about grabbing a glass. The cone is implanted in an area of the brain that can produce signals designed to cause movement.

Dr. Selman expressed caution about using the technology on anyone except patients with long-term paralysis.

"You'd hate to put something in somebody in an area they're going to recover," he said

Rats Control Robot by Thought Alone

By Maggie Fox
Reuters WASHINGTON (June 23, 1999)
It sounds like something out of science fiction -- a rat with a small electrode sticking out of its head decides it wants a drink and, without touching anything at all, gets a robotic arm to bring it some water.

Still, a team of neurobiologists say their rats can control a machine with brainpower alone, and they think their technology may someday help paralyzed people.

''The people in the lab started calling the experiment the 'thinking about drinking experiment,' John Chapin of Hahnemann Medical College in Philadelphia, who led the research, said in a telephone interview. ''But we don't know whether rats think.''

Whatever the rats are doing, they are controlling the robotic arm without touching anything, said Chapin, who worked with colleagues at Duke University in North Carolina.

Reporting in the July issue of the journal Nature Neuroscience, they said they implanted tiny electrodes, no thicker than a hair, into the brains of six rats.

''It doesn't hurt the animal,'' Chapin said. ''All there is is a little plug coming out of the animal's head. He runs around the cage and everything.''

The electrode is recording the activity of neurons -- on average 46 -- which Chapin found was important to making the experiment work. Earlier studies that recorded the activity of just one or a few brain cells did not work.

''We trained the rat initially to put his paw on a lever and to press the lever down. When the lever got pressed down there was a robot arm that moved over to a water dropper and then brought the water back to the animal's mouth,'' Chapin said.

The rats had to carefully control the lever -- if they only pushed the lever halfway, it would only bring the arm halfway to them.

Chapin's team then recorded the brain activity associated with the movement of pressing the lever.

''We have an electronic device that converted those patterns of activity in the brain of the animal into a single electronic signal that could move the robot arm,'' Chapin said.

Soon they disconnected the lever from the robot arm and hooked it up to the converting device alone.

They found, as other researchers have, that the brain activity controlling the movement came before the actual movement.

''When control of the robot arm was switched to the brain, the robot arm went over and brought water to the animal's mouth before the animal even started to move,'' Chapin said.

''After a couple of days, the animals began to recognize that and they stopped actually pressing the lever.''

Chapin said if the technique can be proven safe and reliable in animals such as monkeys, which have bigger and more complex brains than rats, it might eventually be tested in people with severe paralysis.

''If this really becomes a workable thing, I think there are a lot of people that could use it,'' he said.

It is important to record the signals from many neurons and not just a few, Chapin said. Of the six rats tested, he added, just four could get the arm to work. ''Two rats would do it a few times and then they would stop,'' he said.

''The reason was we were not recording enough neurons in those animals. The robot arm would jerk around a lot and it wasn't smooth. When the animal tried to get his mouth around it, it would kind of bop him on the nose. They didn't like it.''

For complex movements, such as those made by an artificial limb, even more neurons will be required, he said.

''In principle, it should be possible to tap this information and control a prosthetic limb,'' Dr. Eberhard Fetz of the University of Washington in Seattle wrote in a commentary on the findings.

REUTERS 11:01 06-23-99

ALSO NOTE:  At the University of Tubingen in Germany - it is reported that 7 paralyzed patients (people suffering from ALS - Lou Gehrig's Disease, are using a "thought translation device" which allows them to amplify their brain waves in suchaa way that they can communicate with a computer and see the results on a monitor.   Scientists at  Cal-tech (as well as Emory University)  are using implanted electrodes to assist test subjects with communicating with computers.   

See Newsweek April 5, 1999 page 64 ("Thinking Will Make It So") for a good article with links.

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