When we last wrote about La Jolla, California-based NeuroVigil, the company had received a major amount of funding for its device that would collect and decode brain activity from a single channel EEG. The New York Times has published a piece about the progress of the device, which is now known as the iBrain. The Times piece talks about the results of a recent iBrain experiment involving the famous physicist Stephen Hawking. Hawking, who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, has reached a point in the progression of the disease that he can only communicate through a series of cheek twitches that are detected by a special pair of glasses and translated into word and phrase menu selections on a computer.
Hawking’s experiment involved looking for a change in an EEG signal with a specific thought, in Hawking’s case, scrunching a ball with his hand. The result was indeed a unique signal reading, which shows that the iBrain was successfully able to decode brain activity. Hypothetically, if enough of Hawking’s brain activity is recorded and decoded, the iBrain device could one day allow Hawking to communicate by merely thinking about what he wants to say.
Such a goal is likely many years away, but the iBrain is already being investigated for its use in monitoring ALS and other neurodegenerative diseases, sleep studies, and assessing the efficacy of experimental neurological drugs.
Article from The New York Times: A Little Device That’s Trying to Read Your Thoughts…
More information on the iBrain: NeuroVigil, Inc…
Flashbacks: Neurovigil, Brain Decoding Company, Gets Major Funding…; Neurovigil Archives…