James Brooks

BME 281 Presentation 1

What are BCI?
 Brain-computer
interfaces are direct
pathways of
communication between
the brain and some
external device.
 Robotic arms
History
 1924 – Invention of Electroencephalography (EEG, Hans
Berger)
 Identified “brain waves”, led to brain mapping
 1969 – UWash School of Medicine “showed monkeys could
control biofeedback meter arm with neural activity [2]”
 1970s – research into teaching monkeys to control their
firing patterns and get rewards
 Developed algorithms for neural firing patterns
 1980s – found a relationship function(cosine-based) for
electrical responses and corresponding movement in rhesus
macaque monkeys
Medical Rehabilitation Uses
 Brain damaged by stroke
 BCI used to teach patient
how to move muscles to
which the brain has
forgotten how to control
Communication
 Communication with
patients that have
motor-neural disabilities
 Locked-In Syndrome
 Attach patient to BCI,
output as cursor
movement
Gaming
 Mindflex – EEG
controlled obstacle
course (2007)
 OCZ Technology (2008)
created a device for
playing games controlled
by EMG
 NeuroSky – Star Wars
Force Trainer (2009)
Invasive(I) BCI
 Most accurate signal
 Accuracy fades over
time
 Damage to the brain,
bodies defenses attack
foreign object, scar tissue
 Most risky
 Can cause damage to
brain, leaves brain
exposed
Non-Invasive(NI) BCI
 Less accurate signal
 Cranium alters the signals that are picked up from the
brain, can cause problems
 Less risky
 Brain isn’t exposed, less risk to overall health
Partially Invasive BCI
 More accurate than NI-BCI, more risky
 Less accurate than I-BCI, less risky
 Placed under the skull, but not in the brain
 Electrocorticography, like non-invasive EEG
 This technique was used when the neural differences
between vowels and consonants were discovered
Ethical Considerations
 How can you obtain consent for a BCI from someone
that can’t communicate?
 Do the benefits outweigh the risks?
 What happens if someone wants to keep a thought
secret and BCI detects it?
 What is the limit of what we will do with BCI?
 Could people use BCI to interrogate someone?
Future
 Gaming
 Remote control through the brain of devices
 Internet access for the brain
 Neural controlled prosthetics
References
1. Andersson P, Pluim J, Viergever M, Ramsey N. Navigation of a
Telepresence Robot via Covert Visuospatial Attention and Real-
time fMRI.
<www.springlink.com/conttent/41458747m3t57461/fulltext.pdf
>
2. Wikipedia: Brain-Computer Interfaces.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain-computer_interface>
3. Kaufmann T, Völker S, Gunesch L, Kübler A. Spelling is Just a
Click Away- A User-Centred Brain-Computer Interface
Including Auto-Calibration and Predictive Text Entry.
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3400942/>
4. Kübler A, Neumann N. Brain Computer Interfaces—the Key for
the Conscious Brain Locked in a Paralyzed Body.
<www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16186045>