Can a brain-computer interface convert your thoughts to text?

Recent research shows brain-to-text device capable of decoding speech from brain signals, creating a breakthrough on the Artificial Intelligence field.

Ever wonder what it would be like if a device could decode your thoughts into actual speech or written words? While this might enhance the capabilities of already existing speech interfaces with devices, it could be a potential game-changer for those with speech pathologies, and even more so for "locked-in" patients who lack any speech or motor function.

"So instead of saying: 'Siri, what is the weather like today' or 'Ok Google, where can I go for lunch?' I just imagine saying these things," explains Christian Herff, author of a review recently published in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.



While reading one's thoughts might still belong to the realms of science fiction, scientists are already decoding speech from signals generated in our brains when we speak or listen to speech.

In their review, Herff and co-author, Dr. Tanja Schultz, compare the pros and cons of using various brain imaging techniques to capture neural signals from the brain and then decode them to text.
The technologies include functional MRI and near infrared imaging that can detect neural signals based on metabolic activity of neurons, to methods such as EEG and magnetoencephalography (MEG) that can detect electromagnetic activity of neurons responding to speech. One method in particular, called electro-corticography or ECoG, showed promise in Herff's study.

This study presents the Brain-to-text system in which epilepsy patients who already had electrode grids implanted for treatment of their condition participated. They read out texts presented on a screen in front of them while their brain activity was recorded. This formed the basis of a database of patterns of neural signals that could now be matched to speech elements or "phones."



When the researchers also included language and dictionary models in their algorithms, they were able to decode neural signals to text with a high degree of accuracy. "For the first time, we could show that brain activity can be decoded specifically enough to use ASR technology on brain signals," says Herff. "However, the current need for implanted electrodes renders it far from usable in day-to-day life."

So, where does the field go from here to a functioning thought detection device? "A first milestone would be to actually decode imagined phrases from brain activity, but a lot of technical issues need to be solved for that," concedes Herff.

Their study results, while exciting, are still only a preliminary step towards this type of brain-computer interface.
Source: Physics Today

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Mind over matter: Our Thoughts may control Robots

We can use the power of thought to control a robot that helps to move a paralyzed hand: a project from the ETH Rehabilitation Engineering Laboratory could fundamentally change the therapy and daily lives of stroke patients.

One in six people will suffer a stroke in their lifetime. In Switzerland alone, stroke affects 16,000 people every year. Two thirds of those affected suffer from paralysis of the arm. Intensive training can -- depending on the extent of damage to the brain -- help patients regain a certain degree of control over their arms and hands. This may take the form of classic physio- and occupational therapy, or it may also involve robots.

Roger Gassert, Professor of Rehabilitation Engineering at ETH Zurich, has developed a number of robotic devices that train hand functions and sees this as a good way to support patient therapy. However, both physio- and robot-assisted therapy are usually limited to one or two training sessions a day; and for patients, travelling to and from therapy can also be time consuming.



Exoskeletons as exercise robots
"My vision is that instead of performing exercises in an abstract situation at the clinic, patients will be able to integrate them into their daily life at home, supported -- depending on the severity of their impairments -- by a robot," Gassert says, presenting an exoskeleton for the hand. He developed the idea for this robotic device together with Professor Jumpei Arata from Kyushu University (Japan) while the latter was working in Gassert's laboratory during a sabbatical in 2010.

"Existing exoskeletons are heavy, and this is a problem for our patients because it renders them unable to lift their hands," Gassert says, explaining the concept. The patients also have difficulty feeling objects and exerting the right amount of force. "That's why we wanted to develop a model that leaves the palm of the hand more or less free, allowing patients to perform daily activities that support not only motor functions but somatosensory functions as well," he says. Arata developed a mechanism for the finger featuring three overlapping leaf springs. A motor moves the middle spring, which transmits the force to the different segments of the finger through the other two springs. The fingers thus automatically adapt to the shape of the object the patient wants to grasp.



However, the integrated motors brought the weight of the exoskeleton to 250 grams, which in clinical tests proved too heavy for patients. The solution was to remove the motors from the hand and fix them to the patient's back. The force is transmitted to the exoskeleton using a bicycle brake cable. The hand module now weighs slightly less than 120 grams and is strong enough to lift a liter bottle of mineral water.

Researching brain processes
Gassert is currently driven by the question of what happens in the brain and how commands pass from the brain to reach the extremities after a stroke. "Especially with seriously affected patients, the connection between the brain and the hand is often severely or completely disrupted," Gassert explains, "so we are looking for a solution that will help patients pass on commands to the robotic device intuitively." The idea is to detect in the brain a patient's intention to move his or her hand and directly pass this information on to the exoskeleton. This may also produce a therapeutic benefit. According to Gassert, a number of studies show that it is possible to strengthen existing neural connections between the brain and the hand with regular exercise. An important component for this is that the brain receives somatosensory feedback from the hand when it produces a command to move.

In order to understand what goes on in the brain, Gassert is carrying out fundamental research with clinicians, neuroscientists and therapists. For their research, the scientists can draw on a number of imaging techniques, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which allows them to map the activities of the whole brain. While this technology allows them to gain fundamental new insights, fMRI is both very expensive and highly complex and consequently not suitable for therapy. "And of course, it's not portable," Gassert adds with a mind to his project. He therefore focuses on simpler techniques such as electroencephalography (EEG) -- and in particular functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), the least expensive of these technologies. Gassert is currently engaged in the challenging task of figuring out whether and how fNIRS can be robustly employed. He is working on this together with a group from the University Hospital, who are contributing their experience in clinical application of the technology.



Fundamental insights
Another question that is still not fully understood is how the brain controls limbs that interact with the environment. "Here, robotics is making a valuable contribution to basic research because it is ideally suited for capturing a movement, perturbing it and measuring the reaction," Gassert explains. For example, the robotics experts have developed an exoskeleton that makes it possible to block the knee for 200 milliseconds while walking and extend it by 5 degrees. With the help of sensors, the scientists measure the forces that are involved and use this data to infer how the brain modulates the stiffness of the knee. These findings then flow into applications such as the control of new, active prostheses.

If the researchers succeed in establishing an interaction between the brain and the exoskeleton, the result will be a device that is ideally suited for therapy. If, on the other hand, the deficits are permanent, a robotic device could offer long-term support -- as an alternative to invasive methods, which are also being researched. These for instance envisage implanting electrodes in the brain and triggering stimulators in the muscles. However, as long as stroke patients can expect to experience a reasonable degree of recovery, the robot-assisted therapy will be the obvious choice.
Source: ETH Zurich

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Our Cognitive process is in danger?

The Internet is increasingly taking over human memory

Our increasing reliance on the Internet and the ease of access to the vast resource available online is affecting our thought processes for problem solving, recall and learning. In a new article published in the Journal Memory, researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz and University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign have found that 'cognitive offloading', or the tendency to rely on things like the Internet as an aide-mémoire, increases after each use.

We might think that memory is something that happens in the head but increasingly it is becoming something that happens with the help of agents outside the head. Benjamin Storm, Sean Stone & Aaron Benjamin conducted experiments to determine our likelihood to reach for a computer or smartphone to answer questions. Participants were first divided into two groups to answer some challenging trivia questions -- one group used just their memory, the other used Google. Participants were then given the option of answering subsequent easier questions by the method of their choice.



The results revealed that participants who previously used the Internet to gain information were significantly more likely to revert to Google for subsequent questions than those who relied on memory. Participants also spent less time consulting their own memory before reaching for the Internet; they were not only more likely to do it again, they were likely to do it much more quickly. Remarkably 30% of participants who previously consulted the Internet failed to even attempt to answer a single simple question from memory.

Lead author Doctor Benjamin Storm commented, "Memory is changing. Our research shows that as we use the Internet to support and extend our memory we become more reliant on it. Whereas before we might have tried to recall something on our own, now we don't bother. As more information becomes available via smartphones and other devices, we become progressively more reliant on it in our daily lives."



This research suggests that using a certain method for fact finding has a marked influence on the probability of future repeat behaviour. Time will tell if this pattern will have any further reaching impacts on human memory than has our reliance on other information sources.

Certainly the Internet is more comprehensive, dependable and on the whole faster than the imperfections of human memory, borne out by the more accurate answers from participants in the internet condition during this research. With a world of information a Google search away on a smartphone, the need to remember trivial facts, figures, and numbers is inevitably becoming less necessary to function in everyday life.

Source: Taylor & Francis

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Neuroscientists discover ways to change our memories

This may sound a bit like science fiction, but researchers have discovered various ways to change, delete, and deploy reports in humans. To understand how this is all made possible, it is first necessary to explain how memories are formed and how each memory is stored in our brain.

With the advances in science, scientists have discovered that every memory we retain is made ​​up of multiple connections through the brain. A memory is formed when certain proteins stimulate brain cells to grow and form new connections, almost like re-wiring circuits. When this happens, the memories are procured into our brains, and will subsequently stay there as long as the functionality in the brain is sustainable.



However, a crucial aspect that many people do not fully comprehend is that long-term memories are not stable. In fact, many times that the memory was checked upon the individual, one’s memory showed signs of malleability, reset stronger, and increased vividness than before. This process is known as re-consolidation, and can explain why our memories may sometimes change slightly over time. For example, if an individual fell of a bicycle, then he/she would recall the memory as bothersome, and consequently, strengthen your memory connections with emotions of fear and sadness. Eventually, that memory of falling off the bicycle can cause and potentially instill fear into an individual. Alternatively, one can empathize with this certain kind of situation as many individuals have certainly had a traumatice experience, but over the years, have laughed over the memory instead.

The process of re-building is an essential point towards changing one’s memories.
Richard Gray of the "Telegraph" explains in a fairly understandable way: "The memories can be manipulated because they are like glass, and when they are created, they melt before solidifying. But when you recall a memory, it melt again allowing you to alter them before they solidify."



One way to change a person’s memories is to make them feel less traumatic about the memory, and avoid associating negative emotions with what had transpired. To make this possible, the Norepinephrine must be blocked. (An organic chemical that functions in the human brain and body as a hormone and neurotransmitter.)

For example, researchers in Netherlands showed that this method could be used to eradicate arachnophobia using Propranolol. (An agent produced by neurotransmitters and blocker of Norepinephrine.) For the research conducted, the scientists gathered three groups of people with arachnophobia. Two out of the three groups were shown spiders in a jar to shoot their fears. Out of those same two groups, Group A was given Propranolol and Group B was given a placebo. Lastly, Group C was given only Propranolol without showing spiders.

A few months later, all three groups were shown spiders while the scientists were measuring each group’s level of fear and types of responses. The groups who were given Propranolol without seeing spiders and a placebo(Group C & B) showed no changes in their levels of fear. Instead, the group that was shown the spiders and given Propranolol (Group A) were able to touch the spiders in the course of days. After 3 months, many of individuals of Group A still felt comfortable holding spiders, and even after a year, the fear did not return.

The same drug (Propranolol) has been tested on more occasions. In 2007, victims of post trauma were allocated into ​​2 groups as one group was given a placebo and the other Propranolol. For 10 days, the patients were asked to describe the memories of their traumatic events. The group that was given propranolol were able to recall events with less apprehension.



A similar technique was employed on mice, which makes them forget a particular sound associated with electric shocks, leaving their memories intact.


To our knowledge, humans that have not yet attempted to completely erase a memory, various ethical, although in theory the right combination of medication and exercise to remember, this is possible.

Ultimately, the most worrying facet about the research is to implement memories in people who have proven to be fairly easy. The psychologist Julia Shaw has shown that a person may remember having committed a crime that they in fact did not commit, and even recall details of the fictional event.

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