[tt] Paralysed man's mind is 'read'

[B.K. DeLong]

I wonder if the signals being read in the brain are similar or the
same sent to the voicebox that NASA and DARPA are currently
translating through subvocal recognition[1]. It would be interesting
to see if there is any comparative correlation.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subvocal_recognition

On Nov 16, 2007 1:59 PM, Eugen Leitl <eugen at leitl.org> wrote:
>
> Paralysed man's mind is 'read'
>
> Scientists say they may be on the brink of translating into words the
> thoughts of a man who can no longer speak, after a pioneering experiment.
>
> Electrodes have been implanted in the brain of Eric Ramsay, who has been
> "locked in" - conscious but paralysed - since a car crash eight years ago.
>
> These have been recording pulses in areas of the brain involved in speech.
>
> Now, New Scientist magazine reports, they are to use the signals he generates
> to drive speech software.
>
> Although the data is still being analysed, researchers at Boston University
> believe they can correctly identify the sound Mr Ramsay's brain is imagining
> some 80% of the time.
>
> In the next few weeks, a computer will start the task of translating his
> thoughts into sounds.
>
> "We hope it will be a breakthrough," says Joe Wright of Neural Signals, which
> has helped develop the technology.
>
> "Conversation is what we're hoping for, but we're pretty far from that."
>
> Reading minds
>
> Experts in the field of neuroscience agreed it was an exciting advance.
>
> "It hasn't come completely out of the blue," said Professor Geraint Rees, a
> neuroscientist at University College London.
>
> "We have been moving towards decoding primitive vocabulary for a while now.
> But this is certainly an interesting development, although invasive
> techniques, where something is out in someone's brain, such as these will of
> course carry risks."
>
> Reading people's minds remains a far-off prospect, however.
>
> "There is a huge difference between a technique like this, which is able to
> pick up signals the subject wants to be picked up, and being able to delve
> deep into the mind," says Professor John Dylan Haynes of the Max Planck
> Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences.
>
> "It's very exciting that we are starting to be able to translate some basic
> thoughts, but we are a lot further away from a universal mind reading machine
> than some people hoped - or feared - we may be five years ago."
>
> Story from BBC NEWS:
>
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/7094526.stm
>
> Published: 2007/11/15 00:06:27 GMT
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>



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