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From: chris@ug.cs.dal.ca (Chris Robertson)
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: Re: Computer thought translation/pickup
Message-ID: <12078@milton.u.washington.edu>
Date: 30 Nov 90 21:23:21 GMT
References: <11924@milton.u.washington.edu>
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Organization: Math, Stats & CS, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada
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In article <11924@milton.u.washington.edu> robertc@sco.COM (Robert Chansky) writ
es:
>
>        This is a request for information.  Someone here posted, not long
>ago, that a simple form of thought translation was possible via EEG equipment
>hooked to computer software.  If someone has any more information about this
>issue I would appreciate hearing from them.  If the equipment isn't too
>expensive, I'd like to fiddle with it and see if I can come up with anything,
>using a neural net approach.



        I dont know if this is what you're thinking of, but i've
        recently read of something in this vein.

        Seems that at some South US school (cant remember) someone
        wanted a hands-free flight simulator.

        Well, the idea is so simple, you'll groan.  Certain classes
        of neurons in the early stages of the optic nerve, just 
        behind the eyeball and beneath the temple, are already
        sympathetic to a frequency somewhere around 13 hz.

        Now the EEG alone is a mess - a DSP nightmare for analysis.
        But what they did is mount four flourescent bulbs around
        the edges of the display and had them flickering at 13 hz
        (or whatever the exact figure) - anyway, this reinforced
        the 13 hz-resonance activity already occuring in the 
        optic nerve.  The signal was then quite easy to pick out
        against the background noise of the EEG.

        Then apparently with a bit of training aided by a simple
        bio-feedback display, one can learn to grossly 'control'
        the strength of these resonances, as well as shift the
        frequency distribution within a very narrow band around 13 hz.
        Like learning a new muscle.  Ever try to wiggle your ears?

        anyway, with 2 parameters of the signal now user controllable
        to a sufficient extent for the computer to distinguish them,
        four separate inputs could be translated into one of 4
        signals.

        Yep, you guessed it - left, right, up, and down.  EXTRA
        cool IMHO.

        So there you go - its gross, but its a start!


                                - Chris Robertson
                                  chris@ug.cs.dal.ca