This week in our news roundup: the Discovery Channel highlights how the UPMC Rehabilitation Institute is using single unit recording to achieve greater accuracy and control with brain computer interfaces; an EEG headset to help prevent strokes has been developed in Israel; measuring pleasure stimuli using a consumer EEG headset from neurofeedback company MyndPlay; and beatboxing as seen through an MRI.
1// Using single unit recording to achieve greater control with a BCI
The team who helped a woman lift a cup using a brain computer interface, at the UPMC Rehabilitation Institute, are now working on a second study that uses single unit recording. What is single unit recording? This is a small grid in the brain that allows researchers to record activity from individual neurons, to achieve an even greater degree of control and accuracy of movement than the first study allowed. For a great description about some of the innovations from UPMC, from one of the researchers involved, check out the video below
2// NeuroKeeper develops EEG headset to help prevent strokes
Israel- based company NeuroKeeper recently announced that they are developing an external EEG headset, which could be used to give early warning signs of a stroke. The company and their advisors believe the headset could identify discrepancies in the users brainwave patterns, providing real time information and saving lives in the future. Reuters reported on the headset as well [Video]: the hope is that NeuroKeeper’s innovations will allow at-risk patients to monitor themselves at home and alert when they need to get to the hospital.
3// On a scale of 1 to 100, measure your pleasure
Our friends at UK-based neurofeedback company MyndPlay took 80 participants, gave them EEG headsets, and helped them through a series of “pleasurable experiments”. These included things like listening to music, winning contests, petting a cat, or eating chocolate. MyndPlay wanted to see what happened in the prefrontal cortex (a key part of our brain’s pleasure center) and what experiments ranked best on a linear scale. Fun, right? Check out the video to see their results:
4//Just for fun: beatboxing as seen through an MRI
The art of hip-hop meets a qualitative study of the human body. Researchers from USC have released a study [links to PDF] with an anonymous beatboxer from the Los Angeles area. They used an MRI to examine the linguistic mechanisms of his craft and how his jaw and head movements provide strategies for vocalization while performing.
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The InteraXon news roundup is published weekly, every Sunday night, to recap trends and breaking news in the world of brain computer interfaces and thought controlled computing. Do you have a story you’d like to submit or share? Contact us at info@interaxon.ca (subject line “News Story”) or leave a comment here.
