Scientists at the Tubingen University in Germany have discovered a way to control computers just by thinking. The German team, led by Dr Niels Birbaumer, developed the method while trying to find a way to enable sufferers of motor neurone disease to communicate. The disease most famously afflicts Steven Hawkings, Professor of mathematics at the UK’s Cambridge University, and leaves victims with fully conscious minds but paralyzed bodies.
Birbaumer’s team used a specially developed neuro-sensor called an electroencephalogram (EEG) to read the electrical signals resulting from the brain activity of patients suffering motor neurone disease. The signals were then interpreted by a computer. The team found that patients could be trained to alter their ‘brainwaves’ so as to move a cursor and indicate ‘yes’ or ‘no’ responses to questions.
However, the training is very slow – taking up to 12 sessions, five minutes per day – and not all subjects are able to learn to use the EEG. Though the technology could have significant impact on the way we control computers in the future, such applications are a long way off.
