Capturing Thinking As It Happens
June 15, 2004 | Source: KurzweilAI
A team led by UC San Diego neurobiologists has developed a method of interpreting brain EEG signals that allows for real time visualization of thought and action. It has the potential to advance our understanding of disorders like epilepsy and autism.
Thought processes occur on the order of milliseconds but current brain imaging techniques, such as functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging and traditional EEGs, are averaged over seconds. This provides a blurry picture of how the neural circuits in the brain are activated. In addition, EEG electrodes indiscriminately sum all of the electrical signals they detect from the brain and non-brain sources, like muscles in the scalp and the eyes.
The researchers used a mathematical technique called Independent Component Analysis (ICA) to separate out the signals from non-brain sources, making it possible to identify the electrical signals in the brain that correspond to the brain telling the muscles to take an action.
The research will be detailed in the June 15 issue of the journal Public Library of Science Biology.
Software for performing the EEG analysis is openly available at no cost.