Controlling Digital Images with your Brain

A new research partly funded by the National Institutes of Health shows that it is possible to control images on a computer by the power of your mind.

The study basically proved that when the subjects had their brains connected to a computer that displayed two mixed images, they could determine the computer to display one image and discard the other.

At this research took part 12 people who suffered from epilepsy, and had fine wires implanted in their brains to record seizure activity.

The wires were implanted in the medial temporal lobe, which is an area of the brain very important for memory and image recognition.

With recordings from their brain transmitted to a computer, the subjects looked at two pictures superimposed on a computer screen and were told to select one image and focus all their thoughts on it, until the computer displayed it and the other picture faded away.

The researchers updated the computer every one-tenth of a second, according to the input from the subject's brain.

The 12 subjects made nearly 900 attempts and succeeded in 70% of the cases.

They learned the task very fast and often made it out of the first try.

The activity of just four cells in the temporal lobe was enough for the brain recordings and the computer input.

These cells were linked with preferences for familiar objects, animals, landmarks or certain celebrities and Dr Fried's team targeted the recording electrodes their way.

The study's lead author, Itzhak Fried, MD, PhD, a professor of neurosurgery at the University of California, Los Angeles, said that “the subjects were able to use their thoughts to override the images they saw on the computer screen.”

This research is a step forward in the development of brain-computer interfaces – BCIs, which should allow people to control computers or other devices with their thoughts only.

BCIS also hold promise to help paralyzed people to communicate or control prosthetic limbs.

The study was funded in part by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), and it was published in Nature.