{"id":1962,"date":"2015-09-25T03:15:59","date_gmt":"2015-09-25T03:15:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kurzweilai.net\/?p=262688"},"modified":"2015-09-28T17:13:26","modified_gmt":"2015-09-28T17:13:26","slug":"first-brain-to-brain-telepathy-communication-via-the-internet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/2015\/09\/25\/first-brain-to-brain-telepathy-communication-via-the-internet\/","title":{"rendered":"First brain-to-brain ‘telepathy’ communication via the Internet"},"content":{"rendered":"
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University of Washington graduate student Jose Ceballos wears an electroencephalography (EEG) cap that records brain activity and sends a response to a second participant over the Internet (credit: University of Washington)<\/p><\/div>\n

The first brain-to-brain telepathy-like communication between two participants via the Internet has been performed by University of Washington researchers.*<\/p>\n

The experiment used a question-and-answer game. The goal is for the “inquirer” to determine which object the “respondent” is looking at from a list of possible objects. The inquirer sends a question (e.g., “Does it fly?) to the respondent, who answers “yes” or “no” by mentally focusing on one of two flashing LED lights attached to the monitor. The respondent is wearing an electroencephalography\u00a0(EEG)<\/a> helmet.<\/p>\n

By focusing on the \u201cyes\u201d light, the EEG device generates send a signal to the inquirer via the Internet to activate a magnetic coil positioned behind the inquirer\u2019s head, which stimulates the visual cortex and causes the inquirer to see a flash of light (known as a \u201cphosphene<\/a>\u201d). A “no” signal works the same way, but is not strong enough to activate the coil.<\/p>\n

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Remote brain-to-brain communication process (credit: A. Stocco et al.\/PLoS ONE)<\/p><\/div>\n

The experiment, detailed today in an open access paper<\/a> in\u00a0PLoS ONE<\/em>, is the first to show that two brains can be directly linked to allow one person to guess what\u2019s on another person\u2019s mind. It is “the most complex brain-to-brain experiment, I think, that\u2019s been done to date in humans,\u201d said lead author\u00a0Andrea Stocco<\/a>, an assistant professor of psychology and researcher at UW\u2019s\u00a0Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The experiment was carried out in dark rooms in two UW labs located almost a mile apart and involved five pairs of participants, who played 20 rounds of the question-and-answer game. Each game had eight objects and three questions. The sessions were a random mixture of 10 real games and 10 control games that were structured the same way.*<\/p>\n

Participants were able to guess the correct object in 72 percent of the real games, compared with just 18 percent of the control rounds. Incorrect guesses in the real games could be caused by several factors, the most likely being uncertainty about whether a phosphene had appeared.<\/p>\n

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UW team\u2019s initial experiment in 2013: University of Washington researcher Rajesh Rao, left, plays a computer game with his mind. Across campus, researcher Andrea Stocco, right, wears a magnetic stimulation coil over the left motor cortex region of his brain. Stocco\u2019s right index finger moved involuntarily to hit the \u201cfire\u201d button as part of the first human brain-to-brain interface demonstration. (credit: University of Washington)<\/p><\/div>\n

The study builds on the UW team\u2019s\u00a0initial experiment<\/a>\u00a0in 2013, which was the first to demonstrate a direct brain-to-brain connection between humans, using noninvasive technology to send a person\u2019s brain signals over the Internet to control the hand motions of another person. Other scientists had previously connected the brains of rats and monkeys, and transmitted brain signals from a human to a rat, using electrodes inserted into animals\u2019 brains.<\/p>\n

The new experiment evolved out of research by co-author\u00a0Rajesh Rao<\/a>, a UW professor of computer science and engineering, on\u00a0brain-computer interfaces<\/a>\u00a0that enable people to activate devices with their minds. In 2011, Rao began collaborating with Stocco and Prat to determine how to link two human brains together.<\/p>\n