Prospects for optogenetics to interface with neural prostheses

In the same review I mentioned yesterday, the authors discuss the potential of combining optogenetic stimulation with electrical recording arrays. There are many advantages to the light and opsin-based approach as compared to the electrical stimulation one, including: 1) More (dynamic) control over the size of the area in the CNS affected. 2) The ability [...]

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Prospects for CNS treatment with electrode-based neural prostheses

The use of neural prosthetics is surprisingly widespread. For example, according to the FDA, as of Dec ’10 more than 200,000 patients have received cochlear implants for hearing impairments. A summer ’11 report indicates that over 70,000 patients have been treated with deep brain stimulation (DBS) for movement disorders such as Parkinson’s. DBS has also [...]

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Book notes Neuroengineering

I learned a good amount from reading this collection of articles but it would have been better if the book were collected into a coherent whole instead of being so fragmented. Here are summaries of random parts of the book: Passing electrical current through tissues can stimulate neurons to produce action potentials. In vitro neuron [...]

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Optogenetics for conditioning without external stimuli

Airan and colleagues describe the work that they have done to genetically couple optic receptors to g-proteins (like cAMP) inside neuronal molecules. After developing the coupled receptor, they first show that their technique can recruit the same amount of cAMP after 60 seconds of exposure to light as the cell emits after 5 minute exposure [...]

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Our lazy, enterprising brains

Discover Magazine has a refreshing piece about how it is a good thing that we are delegating some of our mental brainpower to google searches. As the article explains, Scientists have found that when test monkeys spent five minutes learning how to use a rake, some of the neurons in their hands began behaving in [...]

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Mind Flex: Real world brain controlled game by Mattel

PSFK reports: … Mind Flex requires players to wear a headset equipped with sensors that measure brainwave activity in order to levitate a ball and move it through hoops. In this video, a representative explains that the sensors detect and measure theta wave output, which as you concentrate, your brain creates more of.  After measuring [...]

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Less error in EEG feedback training when subjects engage in virtual reality

Ron-Angevin and Diaz-Estrella recently conducted a training session using untrained subjects to test whether they made more errors in a conventional (read: boring) training environment manipulating a 2-D horizontal bar or in a virtual reality environment while attempting to drive a car. In both environments, the subjects could only make responses by visualizing moving their [...]

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Electrode in mute man allows vowel production

That is the report from Nature News. They note that: The electrode is different to others used for brain–computer interfaces, most of which are fixed to the skull rather than within a specific part of the brain. This means that the electrodes can move around, making it difficult to record from the same neurons every [...]

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Directly controlling a functionless arm with cortical neurons

One way for quadriplegic patients to feed themselves and perform other motor activities is to connect an interface to neural populations, and by using a complicated algorithm decode task-oriented activity and determine the parameters necessary for these external devices to work. In a fascinating experiment from the Washington National Primate Research Center published in Nature, [...]

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Machine learning in brain-computer interfacing lecture

This is obviously fascinating stuff. The lecture is by Professor Klaus-Robert Mueller, who works at the technical university of Berlin and has studied mathematical physics and theoretical computer science, in addition to his work on brain computer interfacing (also known as BCI). Here is a link to the lecture, and although the streaming is a [...]

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