Moving By Thinking: Towards a Cortical Neural Prosthetic
K. Shenoy, D. Meeker, R. Anderson, H. Sherberger, B. Pesaran, S. Cao, J. Burdick, California Institute of Technology.
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- Monkey experiments
- Cortical control signals
- Motor cortex- problems, so: higher up the cognitive chain to where motion plans are first formed
- Using Utah Array, implanted in monkeys brains
- The direction of reach, when the monkey extends his arm whilst playing a video game with food rewards, can be determined by reading the firing activity of the neurons.
- The background 'buzz' in the brain, picked up by the sensor array, is only there when there is info, but shuts down when the movement begins.
- A good 200milliseconds of reaction time can be eliminated by these means.
- Unfortunately, invasive surgery is still needed.
- There is general laughter at the unacceptability of such invasive surgery to the military.
- A hope for a new scanning technique to obviate such a need is expressed.
- The information regarding these experiments is not included on the CalTech website because of Animal Rights groups' opposition to invasive brain surgery on monkeys.
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