Is the Continued Research and Development in Brain-Computer Interfaces and EEG Sensors Worth the Effort?
Perception is defined as a way of regarding, understanding, or interpreting the world around us. Humans perceive reality through our five traditional senses; the sense of sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch. The nervous system allows the brain to interpret information gathered from our senses in the form of electrical charges. Sometimes, due to implications or diseases that we receive, our nervous system fails to translate these charges correctly, and we lose one or more of our senses. To combat this issue, neuroscientists have begun researching for a ‘sixth sense’ in humans. It is an idea that an external system – an electroencephalogram …show more content…
Some people are born with nervous system disorders, and others, like Matt Nagle, lose control of their sensory nerves because of viruses, diseases, or accidents. In a Nature journal, titled Neuroprosthetics: In search of the sixth sense, correspondent Alison Abbott exemplifies Nagle, a quadriplegic patient and his new ‘sixth sense’. With the help of neuroscientists and engineers, Nagle was the first human volunteer to receive a neuroprosthetic: more accurately called a brain-computer interface (BCI). A BCI helps translate the electrical signals from the cortex’s neurons, collected from an EEG sensor, into a computer algorithm that operates specific actions. These actions can range from moving a cursor on a computer screen to moving an artificial limb. Nagle could, “move a [computer] cursor to issue different instructions – for example, to open emails or turn down the television” (Abbott, 2006, p. 126). Currently EEG-based neurofeed-back BCIs are not practical; they are not complex enough for everyday use. According to Gharabaghi et al. in a journal called From assistance towards restoration with epidural brain-computer interfacing, EEG-based BCIs are ‘non-invasive’ because of low spatial resolution, “each EEG contact [samples] 105 -108 neurons, a low signal-to-nose- ratio due to signal attenuation caused by the skull, [contaminants from] muscle artifacts, and external electrical activity” (2014). …show more content…
Modern implants make direct contract with the brain or penetrate brain tissue, causing additional risks regarding safety (Gharabaghi et al., 2014). To combat the issue of low spatial resolutions in EEG BCIs, electrocorticographic (ECoG) BCIs are implanted in the patient. Although ECoG BCIs overcome the technological limitations of EEG-based BCIs – ECoG sensors are implanted directly next to the neural signal source rather than sit outside the skull – there are many harmful risks from using an ECoG BCI. A major limitation in ECoG sensors comes from the inability to test on human subjects. Because ECoG BCIs require neurological implants, finding patients willing to undergo the procedure is difficult. In addition, those who received ECoG implants had numerous clinical impairments including “seizures, pain, nausea, [and the need for] medications” (Schalk, 2011, p. ). Ultimately, any ECoG BCI will always require an invasive procedure (Schalk,
Perception is defined as a way of regarding, understanding, or interpreting the world around us. Humans perceive reality through our five traditional senses; the sense of sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch. The nervous system allows the brain to interpret information gathered from our senses in the form of electrical charges. Sometimes, due to implications or diseases that we receive, our nervous system fails to translate these charges correctly, and we lose one or more of our senses. To combat this issue, neuroscientists have begun researching for a ‘sixth sense’ in humans. It is an idea that an external system – an electroencephalogram …show more content…
Some people are born with nervous system disorders, and others, like Matt Nagle, lose control of their sensory nerves because of viruses, diseases, or accidents. In a Nature journal, titled Neuroprosthetics: In search of the sixth sense, correspondent Alison Abbott exemplifies Nagle, a quadriplegic patient and his new ‘sixth sense’. With the help of neuroscientists and engineers, Nagle was the first human volunteer to receive a neuroprosthetic: more accurately called a brain-computer interface (BCI). A BCI helps translate the electrical signals from the cortex’s neurons, collected from an EEG sensor, into a computer algorithm that operates specific actions. These actions can range from moving a cursor on a computer screen to moving an artificial limb. Nagle could, “move a [computer] cursor to issue different instructions – for example, to open emails or turn down the television” (Abbott, 2006, p. 126). Currently EEG-based neurofeed-back BCIs are not practical; they are not complex enough for everyday use. According to Gharabaghi et al. in a journal called From assistance towards restoration with epidural brain-computer interfacing, EEG-based BCIs are ‘non-invasive’ because of low spatial resolution, “each EEG contact [samples] 105 -108 neurons, a low signal-to-nose- ratio due to signal attenuation caused by the skull, [contaminants from] muscle artifacts, and external electrical activity” (2014). …show more content…
Modern implants make direct contract with the brain or penetrate brain tissue, causing additional risks regarding safety (Gharabaghi et al., 2014). To combat the issue of low spatial resolutions in EEG BCIs, electrocorticographic (ECoG) BCIs are implanted in the patient. Although ECoG BCIs overcome the technological limitations of EEG-based BCIs – ECoG sensors are implanted directly next to the neural signal source rather than sit outside the skull – there are many harmful risks from using an ECoG BCI. A major limitation in ECoG sensors comes from the inability to test on human subjects. Because ECoG BCIs require neurological implants, finding patients willing to undergo the procedure is difficult. In addition, those who received ECoG implants had numerous clinical impairments including “seizures, pain, nausea, [and the need for] medications” (Schalk, 2011, p. ). Ultimately, any ECoG BCI will always require an invasive procedure (Schalk,