Movies are full of examples of Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI for short). For example, in George Lucas’ film, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Luke can control his replacement hand using BCI’s. That might be crazy to think about however, with new technology, BCI’s give us the ability to create amazing things like this. BCI’s have such a big potential to affect the world. They can be used for so many things such as giving people prosthetic arms. In this article, I will be exploring BCI’s and the impact they will have on us in the future.
Scientists have been creating BCI technology for decades, however, it is still not a well-known concept. BCI’s work by using the brain to create and send responses to a computer or a machine. Then the machine can harness and interpret these responses. There is so much we can do with BCI’s. Imagine with BCI’s you will be able to send a message to your neighbor just by thinking it. Or every time there is an alert triggered at your house, you are instantly notified of the issue. BCI can give people access to new prosthetic body parts allowing them to have control just by thinking about it. What we can do with BCI’s is limitless!
With BCI’s there can be both invasive and noninvasive techniques. With invasive techniques, most of the time, surgery is involved to insert a chip into the brain. With non-invasive techniques, you would mostly use electroencephalograms (EEGs for short). EEGs are non-invasive and record the electrical activity generated by the brain. This can be done by placing electrodes at the surface of the scalp. To indicate where the signal comes from EEG’s detect when a group of electrons all fire at once. Also, EEG’s are better than some other methods as they can provide refreshed data in a short amount of time.
When reading EEG signals there are EEG waveforms. Five different waveform intensities can be measured: delta, theta, alpha, beta and gamma waves. Delta waves are associated with regenerative sleep and deep levels of relaxation. They have a frequency of 0 to 4hz. Delta waves are the highest in amplitude and slowest in waves. Theta waves have a frequency of 4 to 8hz. Theta waves are most common when we are daydreaming or sleeping. Alpha waves usually appear when we are relaxing or closing our eyes. It is best recorded on both sides of the head near the posterior region. Alpha waves have a frequency of 8 to 12hz. Beta waves are most commonly found when we are awake. They have a frequency of 12 to 40hz. Gamma Waves are associated with complex tasks, learning, processing, and memory. They have a frequency of 40hz to 100hz.
The Muse Headset (by Interaxon) is an example of an EEG device. Muse is mainly used for meditation and uses EEG’s to read your brain waves. Using muse when you are in a more relaxed state, you would hear the sound of birds. In this state, the muse would be recording alpha waves from your brain. When you’re in a higher state of brain activity (beta or gamma waves) the user will hear storm clouds.
There is also electrocorticography (ECOG) which is an invasive method of BCI’s. ECOG’s use electrodes that are placed on the surface of the brain to record electrical activity from the cerebral cortex. This can be used to help people with different brain issues. People who have epilepsy can use this method to create a map of the brain to see exactly where the problem is occurring. Unlike EEG’s, ECOG’s can easily pinpoint certain areas and has greater precision. Going back to our example of Luke Skywalker and his prosthetic arm, we don't see any EEGs on his head. Therefore, it is likely that he had an ECOG to allow him to gain control of the arm. Considering Star Wars is fiction you might think this is something that could never happen. However, using ECOG’s we can create prosthetic arms that you can control with your mind waves.
Neural Dust is a technology that is used as an alternative to ECOG’s. Neural Dust is a tiny wireless sensor (around 3 millimeters long and 1 millimeter high) that when implanted in the brain can control prosthetics. Neural Dust is still developing; however, they have been very successful with their tests. When implementing the Neural Dust to a rat's nerves they were able to record the electrical signals. With Neural Dust the ultrasound is used to power and read the measurements. Unlike radio waves, ultrasound can penetrate anywhere in the body. One day, Neural Dust will be able to scan and stimulate brain cells.
BCI’s can be used to benefit many people and there is so much potential for them. We can use EEG technology and ECOG technology to create amazing things. There’s a lot that can be done with BCI’s whether it’s helping paralytics or creating a game that you can control using your brain waves. Now with the technology we have today, creating robotic arms that you can control with your mind isn’t as unrealistic as you would have thought. BCI technology will continue to grow and make many of the things we thought we could never do, become a reality.
