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[AI] Researchers reconstruct 3-D hand movement using brain signals
- From: Cid Boechat <cidboechat AT gmail.com>
- To: Arquitetura da Informação (em Português) <aifia-pt AT lists.ibiblio.org>
- Subject: [AI] Researchers reconstruct 3-D hand movement using brain signals
- Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2010 14:53:31 -0300
Researchers reconstruct 3-D hand movement using brain signals
Study suggests future portable prosthetic devices for movement-impaired
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Washington, DC — Researchers have
successfully reconstructed 3-D hand motions from brain signals recorded
in a non-invasive way, according to a study in the March 3 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience.
This finding uses a technique that may open new doors for portable
brain-computer interface systems. Such a non-invasive system could
potentially operate a robotic arm or motorized wheelchair — a huge
advance for people with disabilities or paralysis.
Until
now, to reconstruct hand motions, researchers have used non-portable
and invasive methods that place sensors inside the brain. In this
study, a team of neuroscientists led by José Contreras-Vidal, PhD, of
the University of Maryland, College Park, placed an array of sensors on
the scalps of five participants to record their brains' electrical
activity, using a process called electroencephalography, or EEG.
Volunteers were asked to reach from a center button and touch eight
other buttons in random order 10 times, while the authors recorded
their brain signals and hand motions. Afterward, the researchers
attempted to decode the signals and reconstruct the 3-D hand movements.
"Our results showed that electrical brain activity acquired
from the scalp surface carries enough information to reconstruct
continuous, unconstrained hand movements," Contreras-Vidal said.
The
researchers found that one sensor in particular (of the 34 used)
provided the most accurate information. The sensor was located over a
part of the brain called the primary sensorimotor cortex, a region
associated with voluntary movement. Useful signals were also recorded
from another region called the inferior parietal lobule, which is known
to help guide limb movement. The authors used these findings to confirm
the validity of their methods.
This study has implications
for future brain-computer interface technologies and for those already
in existence. "It may eventually be possible for people with severe
neuromuscular disorders, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS),
stroke, or spinal cord injury, to regain control of complex tasks
without needing to have electrodes implanted in their brains," said
Jonathan Wolpaw, MD, of the New York State Department of Health's
Wadsworth Center in Albany, who was unaffiliated with the study. "The
paper enhances the potential value of EEG for laboratory studies and
clinical monitoring of brain function."
The findings could
also help improve existing EEG-based systems designed to allow
movement-impaired people to control a computer cursor with just their
thoughts. These systems now require that users undergo extensive
training sessions. Contreras-Vidal said the length of this training
could be reduced and more effortless control achieved using the methods
in this study.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-03/sfn-rr3030110.php
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Cid Boechat - Webdesign e Design de interfaces
-
[AI] Researchers reconstruct 3-D hand movement using brain signals,
Cid Boechat, 03/03/2010
- Re: [AI] Researchers reconstruct 3-D hand movement using brain signals, Julio Protzek, 03/03/2010
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