Brain Computer Interface (BCI) is a new technology striding towards drastically improving the lives of people living with a disability that hinders independent communication. Strokes and neurological diseases like Lou Gehrigs and Cerebral Palsy can result in what is called ‘locked in syndrome’, where the mind is intact but the body is significantly paralyzed. BCI technology, which refers to a device that picks up braings signals and transmits that information to a computer, can serve as the key for those locked in.

With a BCI, it is possible to move a cursor, mind-type a word, or possibly move a mechanical arm. Brain signals are picked up from the scalp, the surface of the brain or inside the brain. The Wadsworth Center of the New York State Department of Health has developed a non-invasive BCI suitable for independent home use under the research of Dr. Jonathon Wolpaw. The Wadsworth BCI is non-invasive because it reads electroencephalography (EEG)- brain signals from the scalp. Non-invasive BCIs may increase accessibility to the technology because the need for surgery has been eliminated, dramatically reducing costs and making it suitable for the home. Currently beginning clinical trials, the home BCI is a nylon cap with eight electrodes placed on the head with an electro gel conductor. The system is hooked up to a computer and with minimal training most users could move a cursor, type, or use any Windows-based program without moving a muscle.

I learned about the training required for this system from Scott Hamel, a six-year veteran volunteer for the Wadsworth Center. Hamel, who had a spinal cord injury affecting the lower half of his body, started volunteering because of his interest in the technology and his desire to help others. Hamel began his time as a test subject in 2000, when the BCI was only capable of one-dimensional movement, the technology limited to moving a cursor up or down. To get Hamel started, the researchers at Wadsworth made some suggestions on what he should imagine so he could make the cursor move. To move the cursor up Hamel imagined curling the toes on his left foot. To move the cursor down, he would imagine his wife Cindy scraping her finger nails on the palm of his hand and it would move the cursor down. Like learning a task that involved muscle control, learning to use a BCI is an acquired skill that requires practice and observation of, and feedback for what works and what doesn’t work. Users get feedback for correct strategies when the cursor moves in the right direction or when it hits the target. Users use observation to make the appropriate adjustments, and on the other end, the BCI system is designed to adapt to the user. For word processing an onscreen keyboard lights up individual letters, modeled after a program called the P300. The computer records the test subject’s “aha” moment when the desired letter is highlighted. After flashing each letter in the alphabet a few times, the computer learns to recognize the user’s “aha” brain activity – and can discriminate and display the user’s choice. The BCI adjusts to the specific user’s brain signal and is eventually able to pick up on the desired letter the first time.

Hamel continued working with the Wadsworth Center as it moved past one-dimensional movement to two-dimensional in the mid-90s. Reaching two-dimensional capability surprised the scientific community and earned the research team an award and a grant from the Altran Foundation, a French philanthropist company that holds an annual international scientific competition for technological innovations that promotes human benefit. At the time most BCI systems were invasive, requiring surgery to place sensors in the brain or on the surface of the brain. It had been suggested by some that a non-invasive BCI would be similar to listening to a symphony from outside the concert hall. Achieving two-dimensional control made it clear that the Wadsworth BCI was a significant scientific achievement.

Currently the Wadsworth BCI is capable of three-dimensional control and is placed in a small number of homes of people who are almost completely paralyzed and have lost the ability to communicate in conventional manners. The goal is to be able to place the technology in homes of the many who cannot easily communicate to give them more independence and connect them again to their loved ones and the world. The three-dimensional control is also being used to explore the possibility of EEG controlled prosthetic limbs and wheelchairs, though this is still in the exploratory level.

Could this technology be used for a less noble cause? Will this lead to something worse than wire-tapping phones- EEG-tapping brains? According to Hamel, this is unlikely since you are trained to control your EEG consistently and imagine motor skills like leaning on the right or left foot. The system then responds to those established controls, it cannot interpret thoughts or desires. BCI is simply a computer, working only with a user inputting information and a technician giving feedback on how to best send that information. However, only time can really tell how technology will be used in the future. For now, we can be happy that some unique and inspiring voices that otherwise may have been lost will be heard.

Source: Wadsworthcenter.org