5/20/2014 HowStuffWorks "How Brain-Computer Interfaces Work"

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How Brain-computer Interfaces Work
by Ed Grabianowski

Brow se the article How Brain-com puter Interfaces Work

Brain Im age Gallery Introduction to How Brain-Computer Interfaces Work

As the power of modern computers grows alongside our understanding of the human brain,
we move ever closer to making some pretty spectacular science fiction into reality. Imagine
transmitting signals directly to someone's brain that would allow them to see, hear or feel
specific sensory inputs. Consider the potential to manipulate computers or machinery with
nothing more than a thought. It isn't about convenience -- for severely disabled people,
development of a brain-computer interface (BCI) could be the most important technological
breakthrough in decades. In this article, we'll learn all about how BCIs work, their limitations
and where they could be headed in the future.

The Electric Brain

The reason a BCI works at all is because of the way our brains function. Our brains are filled
with neurons, individual nerve cells connected to one another by dendrites and axons. Every
time we think, move, feel or remember something, our neurons are at work. That work is
carried out by small electric signals that zip from neuron to neuron as fast as 250 mph
[source: Walker]. The signals are generated by differences in electric potential carried by ions
on the membrane of each neuron.

Although the paths the signals take are insulated by something called myelin, some of the
electric signal escapes. Scientists can detect those signals, interpret what they mean and
Brain Im age Gallery See m ore brain pictures. use them to direct a device of some kind. It can also work the other way around. For
2007 How StuffWorks example, researchers could figure out what signals are sent to the brain by the optic nerve
when someone sees the color red. They could rig a camera that would send those exact
BRAIN POWER signals into someone's brain whenever the camera saw red, allowing a blind person to "see"
without eyes.
Brain Quiz
Brain Size In the next section, we'll learn about the basics of the interface itself.
Curiosity Project: What is a brain-computer interface?

Launch Video
BCI Input and Output

One of the biggest challenges facing brain-computer interface researchers today is the basic
mechanics of the interface itself. The easiest and least invasive method is a set of electrodes
-- a device known as an electroencephalograph (EEG) -- attached to the scalp. The
electrodes can read brain signals. However, the skull blocks a lot of the electrical signal, and

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it distorts what does get through.

To get a higher-resolution signal, scientists can implant electrodes directly into the gray
matter of the brain itself, or on the surface of the brain, beneath the skull. This allows for
much more direct reception of electric signals and allows electrode placement in the specific
area of the brain where the appropriate signals are generated. This approach has many
problems, however. It requires invasive surgery to implant the electrodes, and devices left in
the brain long-term tend to cause the formation of scar tissue in the gray matter. This scar
tissue ultimately blocks signals.

Regardless of the location of the electrodes, the basic mechanism is the same: The
electrodes measure minute differences in the voltage between neurons. The signal is then
amplified and filtered. In current BCI systems, it is then interpreted by a computer program,
although you might be familiar with older analogue encephalographs, which displayed the
2007 How StuffWorks signals via pens that automatically wrote out the patterns on a continuous sheet of paper.

BRAIN POWER In the case of a sensory input BCI, the function happens in reverse. A computer converts a
signal, such as one from a video camera, into the voltages necessary to trigger neurons. The
Brain Quiz signals are sent to an implant in the proper area of the brain, and if everything works
Brain Size correctly, the neurons fire and the subject receives a visual image corresponding to what the
Curiosity Project: What is a brain-computer interface? camera sees.

Another way to measure brain activity is with a Magnetic Resonance Image (MRI). An MRI
machine is a massive, complicated device. It produces very high-resolution images of brain activity, but it can't be used as part of a permanent or semipermanent BCI.
Researchers use it to get benchmarks for certain brain functions or to map where in the brain electrodes should be placed to measure a specific function. For
example, if researchers are attempting to implant electrodes that will allow someone to control a robotic arm with their thoughts, they might first put the subject into
an MRI and ask him or her to think about moving their actual arm. The MRI will show which area of the brain is active during arm movement, giving them a clearer
target for electrode placement.

So, what are the real-life uses of a BCI? Read on to find out the possibilities.

CORTICAL PLASTICITY
For years, the brain of an adult human was viewed as a static organ. When you are a growing, learning child, your brain shapes itself and adapts to new
experiences, but eventually it settles into an unchanging state -- or so went the prevailing theory.

Beginning in the 1990s, research showed that the brain actually remains flexible even into old age. This concept, known as cortical plasticity, means that the
brain is able to adapt in amazing ways to new circumstances. Learning something new or partaking in novel activities forms new connections between neurons
and reduces the onset of age-related neurological problems. If an adult suffers a brain injury, other parts of the brain are able to take over the functions of the
damaged portion.

Why is this important for BCIs? It means that an adult can learn to operate with a BCI, their brain forming new connections and adapting to this new use of
neurons. In situations where implants are used, it means that the brain can accommodate this seemingly foreign intrusion and develop new connections that will
treat the implant as a part of the natural brain.

BCI Applications

One of the most exciting areas of BCI research is the development of devices that can be
controlled by thoughts. Some of the applications of this technology may seem frivolous, such
as the ability to control a video game by thought. If you think a remote control is convenient,
imagine changing channels with your mind.

However, there's a bigger picture -- devices that would allow severely disabled people to
function independently. For a quadriplegic, something as basic as controlling
a computercursor via mental commands would represent a revolutionary improvement in
quality of life. But how do we turn those tiny voltage measurements into the movement of a
robotic arm?

Early research used monkeys with implanted electrodes. The monkeys used a joystick to
control a robotic arm. Scientists measured the signals coming from the electrodes.
Eventually, they changed the controls so that the robotic arm was being controlled only by
the signals coming form the electrodes, not the joystick.

A more difficult task is interpreting the brain signals for movement in someone who can't
physically move their own arm. With a task like that, the subject must "train" to use the
device. With an EEG or implant in place, the subject would visualize closing his or her right
2007 How StuffWorks hand. After many trials, the software can learn the signals associated with the thought of
hand-closing. Software connected to a robotic hand is programmed to receive the "close
BRAIN POWER hand" signal and interpret it to mean that the robotic hand should close. At that point, when

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Brain Quiz the subject thinks about closing the hand, the signals are sent and the robotic hand closes.
Brain Size
Curiosity Project: What is a brain-computer interface?
A similar method is used to manipulate a computer cursor, with the subject thinking about
forward, left, right and back movements of the cursor. With enough practice, users can gain
enough control over a cursor to draw a circle, access computer programs and control
a TV[source: Ars Technica]. It could theoretically be expanded to allow users to "type" with
their thoughts.

Once the basic mechanism of converting thoughts to computerized or robotic action is perfected, the potential uses for the technology are almost limitless. Instead of
a robotic hand, disabled users could have robotic braces attached to their own limbs, allowing them to move and directly interact with the environment. This could even
be accomplished without the "robotic" part of the device. Signals could be sent to the appropriate motor control nerves in the hands, bypassing a damaged section of
the spinal cord and allowing actual movement of the subject's own hands.

On the next page we'll learn about cochlear implants and artificial eye development.

Sensory Input

The most common and oldest way to use a BCI is a cochlear implant. For the average
person, sound waves enter the ear and pass through several tiny organs that eventually pass
the vibrations on to the auditory nerves in the form of electric signals. If the mechanism of the
ear is severely damaged, that person will be unable to hear anything. However, the auditory
nerves may be functioning perfectly well. They just aren't receiving any signals.

A cochlear implant bypasses the nonfunctioning part of the ear, processes the sound waves
into electric signals and passes them via electrodes right to the auditory nerves. The result: A
previously deaf person can now hear. He might not hear perfectly, but it allows him to
understand conversations.
Dr. Peter Brunner dem onstrates the brain-com puter interface at a
conference in Paris. The processing of visual information by the brain is much more complex than that of audio
information, so artificial eye development isn't as advanced. Still, the principle is the same.
Stephane de Sakutin/AFP/Getty Images
Electrodes are implanted in or near the visual cortex, the area of the brain that processes
visual information from the retinas. A pair of glasses holding small cameras is connected to a
BRAIN POWER
computer and, in turn, to the implants. After a training period similar to the one used for
Brain Quiz remote thought-controlled movement, the subject can see. Again, the vision isn't perfect, but
Brain Size refinements in technology have improved it tremendously since it was first attempted in the
Curiosity Project: What is a brain-computer interface? 1970s. Jens Naumann was the recipient of a second-generation implant. He was completely
blind, but now he can navigate New York City's subways by himself and even drive a car
around a parking lot [source: CBC News]. In terms of science fiction becoming reality, this
process gets very close. The terminals that connect the camera glasses to the electrodes in Naumann's brain are similar to those used to connect the VISOR (Visual
Instrument and Sensory Organ) worn by blind engineering officer Geordi La Forge in the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" TV show and films, and they're both
essentially the same technology. However, Naumann isn't able to "see" invisible portions of the electromagnetic spectrum.

On the next page, find out about the inherent limitations of brain-computer interfaces -- and also learn about some exciting innovations.

THOUGHT CONTROL?
If we can send sensory signals to someone's brain, does that mean thought control is a something we need to worry about? Probably not. Sending a relatively
simple sensory signal is difficult enough. The signals necessary to cause someone to take a certain action involuntarily is far beyond current technology. Besides,
erstwhile thought-controllers would need to kidnap you and implant electrodes in an extensive surgical procedure, something you'd likely notice.

BCI Drawbacks and Innovators

Although we already understand the basic principles behind BCIs, they don't work perfectly.
There are several reasons for this.

1. The brain is incredibly complex. To say that all thoughts or actions are the result of simple
electric signals in the brain is a gross understatement. There are about 100 billion neurons in
a human brain [source: Greenfield]. Each neuron is constantly sending and receiving signals
through a complex web of connections. There are chemical processes involved as well, which
EEGs can't pick up on.
2. The signal is weak and prone to interference. EEGs measure tiny voltage potentials.
Something as simple as the blinking eyelids of the subject can generate much stronger
signals. Refinements in EEGs and implants will probably overcome this problem to some
extent in the future, but for now, reading brain signals is like listening to a
bad phoneconnection. There's lots of static.

Tw o people in Germ any use a brain-com puter interface to w rite 3. The equipment is less than portable. It's far better than it used to be -- early systems were
"how are you?" hardwired to massive mainframe computers. But some BCIs still require a wired connection
Volker Hartmann/AFP/Getty Images
to the equipment, and those that are wireless require the subject to carry a computer that

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can weigh around 10 pounds. Like all technology, this will surely become lighter and more
wireless in the future.

BCI Innovators
BRAIN POWER
A few companies are pioneers in the field of BCI. Most of them are still in the research
Brain Quiz stages, though a few products are offered commercially.
Brain Size
Curiosity Project: What is a brain-computer interface? Neural Signals is developing technology to restore speech to disabled people. An implant
in an area of the brain associated with speech (Broca's area) would transmit signals to a
computer and then to a speaker. With training, the subject could learn to think each of the 39
phonemes in the English language and reconstruct speech through the computer and
speaker [source: Neural Signals].
NASA has researched a similar system, although it reads electric signals from the nerves in the mouth and throat area, rather than directly from the brain. They
succeeded in performing a Web search by mentally "typing" the term "NASA" into Google [source: New Scientist].
Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems is marketing the BrainGate, a neural interface system that allows disabled people to control a wheelchair, robotic
prosthesis or computer cursor [source: Cyberkinetics].
Japanese researchers have developed a preliminary BCI that allows the user to control their avatar in the online world Second Life [source: Ars Technica].

To learn more about brain-computer interfaces, take a look at the links on the next page.

Lots More Information

BRAIN POWER

Related HowStuffWorks Articles

Brain Quiz
Brain Size How Your Brain Works
Curiosity Project: What is a brain-computer How Nerves Work
interface?
How Vision Works
How Hearing Works
How MRIs Work
How Electricity Works
How Cameras Work
How Science Fiction Doesn't Work

More Great Links

The Brain-Computer Interface Project
Wired: This is a Computer on Your Brain
Engadget: The Brain Computer Interface

Sources
CBC News. "Out of the Dark." Jan. 5, 2003. http://www.cbc.ca/sunday/sight/index.html
Cheng, Jacqui. "Researchers help users control Second Life avatars via brain activity." ARS Technica, Oct. 15, 2007.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071015-researchers-help-users-control-second-life-avatars-via-brain-activity.html
Cyberkinetics. "BrainGate Neural Interface System." http://www.cyberkineticsinc.com/content/medicalproducts/braingate.jsp
Greenfield, Susan A. "Brain Story: Unlocking Our Inner World of Emotions, Memories, Ideas and Desires." DK Adult, 2001.
McKee, Maggie. "NASA develops 'mind-reading' system." New Scientist, March 2004. http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn4795-nasa-develops-mindreading-
system.html
Neural Signals. "Speech Restoration Project." http://www.neuralsignals.com/movementrestoration.htm
Pollack, Peter. "Brain control gives hope to the paralyzed." ARS Technica, July 13, 2006. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060713-7262.html
Walker, Richard. "Secret Worlds: Brain." DK Children, 2002.

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