Scientists Send Brain Signals Through The Internet.

Two scientists from the University of Washington claim to be the first to demonstrate brain-to-brain communication. Rajesh Rao sent his brain signal to the brain of Andrea Stocco through the internet, causing him to move his hand.

In my previous post, I wrote about  headphones that can read minds using a built-in electroencephalography-enabled sensor. However, in the case of a brain-to-brain communication, an EEG device captures the brain signal, and by the help of a brain-computer interface this signal is transmitted to another brain.

A press release on University of Washington website described the demonstration as follows:

"The team had a Skype connection set up so the two labs could coordinate, though neither Rao nor Stocco could see the Skype screens. Rao looked at a computer screen and played a simple video game with his mind. When he was supposed to fire a cannon at a target, he imagined moving his right hand (being careful not to actually move his hand), causing a cursor to hit the "fire" button. Almost instantaneously, Stocco, who wore noise-canceling earbuds and wasn't looking at a computer screen, involuntarily moved his right index finger to push the space bar on the keyboard in front of him, as if firing the cannon. Stocco compared the feeling of his hand moving involuntarily to that of a nervous tic.”

Actually, this cybernetic telepathy was not all that easy. Rao had to spend a lot of time training his mind with feedback from the computer to emit the brainwave for moving the right hand so that it could be detected by the brain by means of the brain-computer interface. The software detects the right signal and sends it via the internet to a computer that is connected to a transcranial magnetic stimulation device, which is positioned on the exact spot of the brain that controls the right hand. When there is a change in the magnetic field, the stimulation device induces an electrical current that is similar to the brain’s electrical signal. This signal is then sent through the cortex of the brain and excites the neurons, thereby simulating a natural-like response from the body of the receiver.

(Retrieved from CNET). #cybernetics #noninvasive_human-to-human_brain_interface #telepathy).