The Brain Tweets on Twitter
A University of Wisconsin biomedical engineering doctoral student posted a message on Twitter, a popular social media network, simply by thinking about it.
His message “using EEG to send tweet” was the result of using a brain-computer interface system that consisted of a electrode-studded cap which was wired to the computer.
The student, Adam Wilson, wore the cap and then focused on the computer screen where the keyboard as displayed. (watch video)
Justin Williams, a UW-Madison assistant professor of biomedical engineering and Wilson’s adviser, describes how it works…
“The way this works is that all the letters come up, and each one of them flashes individually, And what your brain does is, if you’re looking at the ‘R’ on the screen and all the other letters are flashing, nothing happens. But when the ‘R’ flashes, your brain says, ‘Hey, wait a minute. Something’s different about what I was just paying attention to.’ And you see a momentary change in brain activity.”
Wilson’s ability to send a 23 character message via twitter is great news for patients suffering from ‘locked in’ syndrome due to diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), brain-stem stroke or high spinal cord injury. It offers possibilities in new and manageable ways for these patient’s to combine brain-computer interface technologies with modern communication tools.
(source)
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