Washington, Nov 10 (IANS) Researchers have
successfully replicated a direct brain-to-brain connection between
multiple pairs of people as part of a scientific study on direct
transmission of signals following the team's initial demonstration a
year ago.
Led by an Indian-origin scientist Rajesh Rao, the study
involved six people and the team was able to transmit the signals from
one person's brain over internet and use these signals to control the
hand motions of another person within a split second of sending that
signal.
"The new study brings our brain-to-brain interfacing
paradigm from an initial demonstration to something that is closer to a
deliverable technology," said co-author Andrea Stocco, research
assistant professor of psychology.
"Now we have replicated our methods and know that they can work reliably with walk-in participants," Stocco added.
The
research team combined two kinds of non-invasive instruments and
fine-tuned software to connect two human brains in real time.
The process is fairly straightforward.
One
participant is hooked to an electro-encephalography machine that reads
brain activity and sends electrical pulses via internet to the second
participant, who is wearing a swim cap with a magnetic stimulation coil
placed near the part of the brain that controls hand movements.
Using this setup, one person can send a command to move the hand of the other by simply thinking about that hand movement.
"We
will expand the types of information that can be transferred from brain
to brain, including more complex visual and psychological phenomena
such as concepts, thoughts and rules," said Rao.
The researchers are also exploring how to influence brain waves that correspond with alertness or sleepiness.
For
example, the brain of a sleepy airplane pilot dozing off at the
controls could stimulate the co-pilot's brain to become more alert.
The
project could also eventually lead to "brain tutoring" in which,
knowledge is transferred directly from the brain of a teacher to a
student.
The study appeared in the journal PLOS ONE.