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By Andrew Webb

Technology reporter, BBC News

Researchers at Goldsmiths, University of London have developed technology to translate thoughts into musical notes.

The Brain Computer Interface for Music requires electrodes to be attached to the head.

They pick up electrical impulses from the brain which are passed through an electroencephalography (EEG) machine and analysed.

The man behind the project, Dr Mick Grierson, demonstrated the system to BBC News.

When musical notes flash the scientist stares at the display while thinking of a note he wants to play.

When the same note appears it unconsciously triggers a change in his brain activity - a change registered by the computer he was plugged into.

"After a while it will make a decision about which note I am thinking about and it tries to play it," he said.

Dr Grierson has run trials in which 6 out of 8 notes played were the same as those being thought of.

From Engadget:

 

Hey you. Yeah, you, listen in close; we've seen the future here at CeBIT. If you thought that the idea of controlling your gaming rig with only your mind was just a bit too Tomorrowland, then you haven't laid eyes on the "brain-computer interface" developed by Austria's Guger Tecnologies (g.tec).

We're happy to report that in a game of thought-control vs. Engadget man-editor, we were totally pwned at Pong. 10-to-4 if you must know. Our competition sat smug in his stool thinking about where he wanted his paddle to go, as we flailed about helpless with mouse and keyboard in a wake of alpha waves. At least we didn't have to smear gel on our scalp and wear a funny hat -- ha! The system works by cleverly measuring fluctuations in electrical voltage in the brain and then translating them into computer commands. The technology has already been commercialized into the size of an iPAQ Pocket PC for hospitals and research institutes. It costs about $5,000 with a 99 - 100% level of accuracy for "trained subjects." We had our hat handed to us by a person who just started using the system, yesterday. Hell, that's a shorter learning curve than Graffiti.

Although the technology shows great promise in controlling prosthetics and assisting the disabled with communications, we found ourselves (and our new best scientist friends, Christoph Guger and Ingo Niedermayer) eagerly discussing its use as a Second Life controller and of course, in robotics. Be sure to click the read link below for all the details; check the gallery for the gore.

link: http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/16/g-tecs-thought-control-hat/

I just wanted to drop a big note apologizing for the lack of updates to the blog - I have a lot of catching up to do. We were busy moving into our new office and finishing construction. I'll try to post any news that we may have missed during the past two weeks.

Thanks!
Gary @ Mind Modulations

NextFest is Wired Magazine's four-day festival of innovative products and technologies. We blogged about MindBall last year, which is the commercialized version of Brainball. BrainBall is a game created by Interactive Institute. Players of the game have EEG sensors connected to their forehead with a strap. The electrodes in the strap read the players' brainwaves.

Brainball is a game that goes against the conventional competitive concept, and also reinvents the relationship between man and machine. Instead of activity and adrenalin, it is passivity and calmness that mark the truly successful Brainball player. Brainball is unique amongst machines since it is not controlled by the player's rational and strategic thoughts and decisions. On the contrary, the participants are dependent on the body's own intuitive reactions to the game machine.

At first glance, Brainball seems similar to a traditional two player game - two people challenge one and other and take their respective positions at each end of a table that is laid out with two goals and a little ball. The rest of the game's equipment is more special. Both players wear a strap around their forehead that contains electrodes and is wired up to a biosensor system. This system, that is used to measure the body's biological signals, is tightly fastened to the frontal lobes and registers the electrical activity in the brain - so called EEG (electro­encephalo­gram). The players brain activity is graphed in a diagram on a computer screen so that the public can easily follow the players mental processes during the match.


Here's a picture of Buzz Aldrin beating Wired Magazine publisher Jay Lauf in a BrainBall match.

 
Picture taken by Dave Bullock - (Thanks Dave!)

MindBall can be purchased here

Found on Neurofeedback on the Brain Blog

  

An Image Gallery of BrainPaintings can be found here

More on Bill Scott's EEG biofeedback system here

A company called Ambient has developed a device that intercepts signals sent to the voice box from the brain via a sensor laden neck band. They claim to be able to decode these signals and match them to a pre-recorded series of words - even when the words are voiced out-loud. Theses 'words' can then be used to control things via a computer.

They are currently using this system to direct a motorized wheelchair, allowing a paralysed person to navigate without moving or speaking out-loud. Ambient is developing the technology with the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago to help people with neurological problems operate computers and other electronic equipment despite their problems with muscle control.

 

This is the first time (that I know about, anyway) that a device has been able to convert electrical impulses from the brain into actual words. This is different from traditional EEG, which measures brainwaves, as it is analyzing signals outside the brain on their way to the larynx.

Audeo is currently selling a developer kit that allows researchers to develop new applications with their technology. If this works as well as they claim, the possibilities are endless.

 


Check out the rest of this article for a video presentation of the device.

Nancy Leo, a senior at Arizona's Hamilton High School, had her science fair research project selected as one of 18 projects to be presented at the Sixth World Congress on Stress in Austria.

 

Leo's study focuses on HRV (heart rate variability) and salivary cortisol changes that occur during stressors in the laboratory while using biofeedback. She found that an increase in stress resulted in less heart rate variability and an increase in salivary cortisol. She also found that the stress response could be changed significantly with biofeedback.

More from Arizona's East Valley Tribune here

Hungarian researchers are using GSR Biofeedback in a new study using video games.

Laszlo Laufer and Bottyan Nemeth from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics
are using GSR Biofeedback (Galvonic Skin Response, or skin conductance) in a study where they've shown
that a gamer's actions can be predicted up to two seconds before they occur.

 

Laufer says "There are quite a few situations in life where there would be a need to provide a support for making a good decision
at a good time. I have military applications (pilots) in mind, but surely we can find others as well." He also sees it being used in
video games "Another application I have in mind could be called a frustration game" This type of game could detect when a player
was going to act and change gameplay to throw off the player. This type of technology could be integrated into game controlers
easily.

This type of technology (GSR Biofeedback) should be used in more video games, but I'm not too sure that it would be very
successful if used in a manner that would frustrate game players! It could definitely be used to help speed up a person's reaction
time while playing a game.

 

MorrisonDance, a dance troupe founded by choreographer Sarah Morrison, teamed up with a team of engineers

from NASA's Glenn Research Center to create a performance featuring live brainwaves of dancers using the

BrainMaster.

This is actually from September 2005 - but just in case you missed it: (like I did!)

You may have already seen this, but it is new to me. Ken Wilbur narrates a video of his own experience using neurofeedback while navigating various meditative states.

From YouTube:

'We asked Ken to do a short 10-minute commentary on these various meditative states and the corresponding brain-wave patterns that are shown on the EEG machine in the video. Ken enters four meditative states (nirvikalpa closed eyes, nirvikalpa open eyes, sahaj, and mantra-savikalpa), each of which has a very distinctive brain-wave pattern. In his commentary, Ken emphasizes that the patterns shown on this machine may or may not be typical, but they do emphasize that profound consciousness states can be evoked at will, and these show immediate correlation in brain-wave patterns.'