Brain Waves Doing Wonders

In a revolutionary experiment performed on a 14-year-old boy, from St. Louis was able to play the two-dimensional video game without so much as lifting a finger. With a technique that takes data from the surface of the brain, this research validates the expectancy of communication of man without any physical interferance.

The stunning innovation was led as an extension to the epilepsy cure done on the 14-year old in the Washington University. The team, led by neuroscientist Dr. Eric Leuthardt and biomedical engineer Daniel Moran, used a device planted on the surface of the boy's brain to read his brainwaves, which controlled the Atari game "Space Invaders."

Researchers used a technique that takes data from the surface of the brain.

The boy already had grids implanted to monitor his brain for epilepsy. The brain wave reader, known as an ECoG (electrocorticographic) device was connected to a computer program that linked the video game to the grids. He was then asked to move his hands, talk, and imagine things. The researchers correlated these movements to the different signals send by the brain.

They then asked the boy to play "Space Invaders" by moving his hand and tongue and then to imagine those movements without actually performing them.

In Space Invaders players control a roving laser cannon and try to shoot rows of aliens that move back and forth across the screen. The objective is to kill the aliens before they get to the bottom of the screen. Once they land, the game ends. The aliens can also shoot at the cannon, so the player has to try and evade the shots.

"He cleared out the whole Level One basically on brain control. He learned almost instantaneously. We then gave him a more challenging version in two-dimensions and he mastered two levels there playing only with his imagination." Dr. Eric Leuthardt said.

Biomedical engineering graduate student Tim Blakely programmed "Space Invaders" into the brain interface computer. The controls were tied to the signals received from the ECoG. When the boy imagined wiggling his fingers or his tongue, the video game ship moved right or left.
The results surprised the scientists. Not only was the boy able to understand the two dimensional control imagining controls in minutes, he displayed excellent control over the game.

The incident definitely tales us back to the classic 1984 science fiction movie "The Last Starfighter" -- the first film where all special effects are computer generated -- a teenage video game wizard from Earth named Alex is recruited to pilot a Starfighter space ship against an alien armada and save the universe from evil.

It seems that the gap between fiction and reality is taking the backseat, the fiction is obviously loosing out as technology marches ahead unshakably.