## Technologies approaching electronic thought reading

### October 20, 1998

This page lists articles from publications which show how the unclassified "thought reading world" is gradually catching up with classfied thought reading equipment:

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    http://www.mindmouse.com/  The Cyberlink Mind Mouse:
    Hands-Free, Brain-Wave Control for your Computer

    The Cyberlink Mind Mouse

    What is it?

    The Cyberlink Mind Mouse is a revolutionary hands-free
    computer controller which allows you to move and click a
    mouse cursor, play video games, create music, and control
    external devices, all without using your hands.

    How does it work?

    A headband with three sensors detects electrical signals on
    the forehead resulting from subtle facial muscle, eye, and
    brain activity.  This headband connects to an interface box
    which amplifies and digitizes the forehead signals and sends
    them to your computer.  The Cyberlink software decodes the
    forehead signals into ten BrainFingers for continuous cursor
    control. It also decodes eye motion and facial gestures into
    mouse button clicks, keystrokes, and cursor resolution
    control. With a little practice, most or all of these
    commands can be mastered to operate virtually all computer
    functions.

    I can do what...?

    By learning to change the energy levels of your BrainFingers,
    you will be able to do just about anything on a computer,
    except turn it on! The Cyberlink Mind Mouse supports
    hands-free mouse, keyboard and joystick cursor control,
    switch closure, video game control, and music and art
    synthesis.

    ...and it works with my software?

    The Cyberlink Mind Mouse features a Windows 95 Mouse Driver
    for hands-free control of third party software like games,
    business software, Internet browsers, and a range of
    assistive technologies, such as the X-10 Home Controller and
    special needs word- processing and communication software,
    including WiVik2, Words Plus, and Clicker Plus.

    What kind of computer does it take?

    The Cyberlink Mind Mouse has the following PC requirements:

         Pentium Processor
         16 MB RAM
         20 MB Disk Space
         VGA or better Display
         Windows 95

    What comes with the Mind Mouse?

    The Cyberlink Mind Mouse consists of the following
    components:

         Cyberlink Interface Unit
         Cyberlink Headband/Sensor Harness with 3 Sensors
         Cybergel
         Cyber Trainer Software
         Windows 95 "Mouse" Driver
         Cables
         User manual

    How much is it?

    The Cyberlink Mind Mouse is priced at $1495.00 (US$) plus
    shipping. Free upgrades are included for one year.

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    The Times, Sept 2, 1996 p14 (1)
    Title:the power of thought (innovations for paraplegics)
    Author: anjana ahuja
    abstract:

    Peter Gannicott, 36 yr old UK paraplegic who cannot speak ,
    as a result of a motorcycle accident in 1982 , might be able
    to activate his computer and other devices by thinking if
    neurosurgery is successful.  London university's Emeritus
    Professor of Physiology, giles Brindley, ad the Radcliffe's
    Hospital 's chief neurosurgeon, Peter Teddy, have conceived a
    way whereby signals produced by electrodes over the brain
    should be able to operate a computer.

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    SIGHTINGS

        Implants Can Now Allow Humans To Control Computers
                        By Nigel Hawkes
                         Science Editor
                       The Times (London)
                      www.the-times.co.uk

    AN AMERICAN scientist has entered the world of science
    fiction by implanting electrodes in the brains of disabled
    people so that they can control a computer by the power of
    thought.

    The implants have enabled two paralysed people to move the
    cursor on the screen simply by thinking about moving part of
    their body. They were able to convey messages such as "I'm
    thirsty" or "please turn off the light" by pointing the
    cursor at different icons.

    The hope is that eventually patients will be able to
    communicate complex ideas just by thinking about them. "If
    you can run a computer, you can talk to the world," Dr Ray
    Bakay of Emory University in Atlanta, whose team developed
    the implants, said.

    A number of laboratories around the world are working on
    brain implants, but the only devices licensed for use so far
    are bionic ears for the profoundly deaf and chips which can
    control the tremor caused by Parkinson's disease.

    The Emory implants go much further. They consist of two
    hollow glass cones, each the size of a ballpoint pen tip,
    placed into the brain's motor cortex, which controls body
    movements. The cones are covered in chemicals that encourage
    nerve growth, extracted from the patient's knees. Once
    installed, nerve cells grow into the cones and attach
    themselves to tiny electrodes inside.

    The location of each cone is determined by monitoring the
    patient's brain using scanners and identifying the most
    active regions. Once the cones are in place and surrounded by
    nerve cells, the patient is asked to think about moving some
    part of the body, and signals from the electrodes are picked
    up by a small transmitter-receiver, amplified, and used to
    control a computer. Depending upon which nerves grow into the
    cones, each patient may have to think about moving a
    different part of the body to achieve the same effect.

    They are trained by listening to a buzzer which becomes
    faster and louder when they are thinking along the right
    lines.  Dr Bakay says that controlling the cursor soon
    becomes second nature.

    The first two patients, New Scientist reports, were a woman
    with motor neuron disease, who was given the implants 18
    months ago and has since died, and a 57-year-old man
    paralysed by a stroke.

    They were taught very simple commands, with one cone being
    used to move the cursor up and down and the other from left
    to right. If they could give more complex commands, disabled
    people could use them to make the computer speak for them. Dr
    Bakay warns that this could still be years off. But he has
    secured funding from the US National Institutes of Health to
    continue the research with three more patients.

    The British Telecom laboratories near Ipswich have also done
    research into implantable chips, including a possible memory
    chip which would take data from the eye and store it for a
    computer. "There is a raft of wonderful benefits to bringing
    chips and circuits inside human beings," said Dr Peter
    Cochrane, head of research.

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    Communicating with 'thought power'

    "Bionic brain implants allowing a computer to be operated
    by the power of thought, have been developed by American
    scientists," reports BBC News. Read all about it here:

    http://www.news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/
      sci/tech/newsid_193000/193946.stm

    The BBC report states that "the [brain] implant becomes
    naturally 'wired' into the patient's brain as neurones grow
    into the cones and attach themselves to the electrodes
    mounted inside," and that "An FM transmitter under the scalp
    transmits the signal without wires, and...no batteries," to
    operate the cursor on a computer...  hard to believe!

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