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From: FC137501@YSUB.YSU.EDU (Paul M. Mullins)
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: Re: Computer thought translation/pickup
Message-ID: <12147@milton.u.washington.edu>
Date: 1 Dec 90 19:00:35 GMT
References: <11924@milton.u.washington.edu>
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Organization: Youngstown State University VM system (YSUB)
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>        This is a request for information.  Someone here posted, not long
> ago, that a simple form of thought translation was possible via EEG equipment
                             -------------------

> Robert Chansky, smq@ucscb.ucsc.edu, robertc@sco.com, uunet!ucscc!ucscb!smq   .

I belive the original posting (I don't recall the author) did imply
"thought translation," however my posts consisted mainly of pointers to the
literature on "evoked potentials" (and a few specific references for J. Vidal).

NONE of my research indicated the ability to perform what might (reasonably)
be called thought translation.  Rather, certain specific events caused a
reaction which could be measured (in this case by EEGs), hence the name
evoked potentials.  Interpretation of the measured response is, to my
knowledge, an open question.  It could be used for simple interface tasks
such as controlling the display rate of text on the screen for example, but
not to select an icon - unless you cycle through each possibility, providing
semantic feedback, and wait for the user to "react" to one.  This might
be useful for the physically impaired, but better interface tools exist
already (for most of us).

My favorite comparison is voice interfaces, which are becoming quite good,
but still are not widely used.

But enough cold water, I look forward to learning that you have been more
successful.  I will be happy to provide more information on request.

Paul M. Mullins
Dept. of Math. & Comp. Sci.               (216) 742-3796
Youngstown State University               mullins@macs.ysu.edu
Youngstown, OH  44555                     FC137501@YSUB


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