Big Brain Revolution by Tempest Dr Michelle;

Author:Tempest, Dr Michelle;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
Published: 2019-11-29T00:00:00+00:00

Since then, things have moved up another notch with BrainNet, which succeeded in collaborative problem solving without participants seeing or speaking to each other.13 BrainNet first showed off its skills using the shape-stacking game of Tetris. The BrainNet interface allowed three different people to collaborate and solve a task using direct brain-to-brain communication. Two out of the three players were called ‘Senders’.

The Senders were monitored using real-time EEG data and their brainwave signals decoded to extract decisions about whether or not to rotate a block before it was dropped to fill a line. This information was transmitted over the internet to the brain of the third player, called the ‘Receiver’, who could not see the game screen. The instruction was delivered to the Receiver’s brain via magnetic stimulation of the visual cortex, at the back of the brain. The Receiver used this information to decide whether to turn the block or keep it in the same position.

A second round of the game gave the Senders one more chance to validate and provide feedback to the Receiver’s action. Amazingly, BrainNet worked to transmit correct decisions from Senders to Receiver and win the Tetris game.

Brainwave activity monitoring has also found some success in the clinical domain, helping people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).14 ADHD is a chronic condition which begins in childhood, marked by persistent inattention, hyperactivity and sometimes impulsivity. Diagnosis is significantly increasing in children, with ADHD rates going up by 42% over the last decade.15

A bespoke computer game has been designed to help. The game makes use of a Bluetooth-connected headband with EEG sensors, and aims to help sufferers learn to concentrate by focusing on their brainwave feedback.16 Players use their brainwaves to control an avatar to complete a task, such as running around an island in the shortest time possible. The more attentive the player is, the faster the avatar runs.

The data suggests that the gaming intervention ‘makes the brain in ADHD children more similar to the brain of children who are developmentally normal without ADHD’.17 There is still much to be learnt about the potential uses of neurofeedback for diagnosis or therapeutic purposes. Researchers at the University of California at San Diego School of Medicine are in clinical trials with respect to EEG studies to test and treat schizophrenia. Early indications seem to suggest that some of the symptoms of schizophrenia could be alleviated using specialised EEG-based cognitive exercises designed to strengthen auditory processing.

Gregory Light, associate professor of psychiatry leading this research, said, ‘This could improve their quality of life, and possibly reduce common symptoms of schizophrenia such as hearing voices.’18

Other research uses larger equipment, such as functional MRI (fMRI) scans which measure blood flow around the brain. A group led by Jack Gallant at the Brain Imaging Centre of the University of California used fMRI data from the visual cortex of thousands of test subjects who were shown various objects, including scissors, bottles and shoes. They fed this data into a machine learning AI device and over time the system learnt to identify correctly which object a new test subject was looking at.

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