WIKIPEDIA, JOSHUA FURMANUsing sensors that detect brain activity, people can now move virtual cursors, remote-controlled helicopters, and robotic arms, just by thinking. These brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) do not involve any actual movement on a user’s part, and can even benefit paralyzed or locked-in patients for whom movement is impossible.
But new research from the University of Washington in Seattle suggests that we learn to use BCIs in the same way that we learn other motor skills, like riding a bicycle or throwing a ball. At first, it takes deliberate conscious effort and involves a network of many different brain regions. As people practice, however, the tasks become easier and almost automatic, and the network becomes much less active.
In this study, published today (10 June) in PNAS, volunteers used a BCI to move an on-screen cursor. But lead scientist Jeremiah Wander says the results will be useful in training people to use more complex BCIs, like those that control realistic artificial limbs. “The learning burden on the user is so much greater than it ...
