Men vs Monkey

At last we have (almost) at egality with our spitting biological image Mr. Monkey. 3D BCI is the name of our game and we can do it without those sticky acupuncturesqie pesky needles that scientists in our cage call deep brain electrodes, in our cerebral cortex. How about that, Mr monkey !!

Thanks to Dieter D. for pointing this one out .

Control of a two-dimensional movement signal by a noninvasive brain–computer interface in humans Jonathan R. Wolpaw* and Dennis J. McFarland

Laboratory of Nervous System Disorders, Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health and State University of New York, Albany, NY 12201-0509 Edited by Emilio Bizzi, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, and approved November 2, 2004 (received for review May 17, 2004) Abstract Brain-computer interface (BCI) technology can restore communication and control to people who are severely paralyzed (Clin. Neurophysiol. 113:767-791, 2002 for review). BCIs use brain signals recorded from the scalp (EEG), the cortical surface (ECoG), or within the cortex. Despite strong evidence to the contrary (PNAS 101:17849-17854, 2004), it has been widely assumed that only intracortical signals can control complex movements. The present study shows that scalp-recorded EEG can provide humans with three-dimensional (3-D) movement control, which has not yet been achieved in humans even with intracortical signals. To date, four adults (one with a spinal cord injury) have mastered this control. They developed three independent EEG control signals (i.e., one for vertical movement, one for horizontal movement, and one for movement in depth) and used these signals simultaneously to move a cursor to a target located in one of the eight corners of a virtual 3D cube on a video screen. Each person achieved impressive control of three independent control signals. They moved to the target in median times of 1.6-4.9 s and completed 56-93% of trials. They performed as well when the cursor started at variable positions as they did when it always started in the center. Their EEG control could not be accounted for by concurrent EMG activity. The 3-D performance of the best user was comparable to that of the best monkey in Taylor et al. (Science 296:1829-1832, 2002), which used intracortical electrodes. The results imply that noninvasive EEG-based BCIs can support the complex operations of robotic arms or neuroprostheses. Thus, people with severe disabilities should be able to control such devices without needing to have electrodes implanted in their brains.