From Brains to Bytes

Brain-computer interfaces have the potential to change the way we use devices, and there are at least four methods for implementation. By Evan Peck, Krysta Chauncey, Audrey Girouard, Rebecca Gulotta, Francine Lalooses, Erin Treacy Solovey, Doug Weaver, Robert Jacob DOI: 10.1145/1764848.17664858

Science fiction has long been fascinated by brain-computer interfaces (BCI)—the use of sensors to identify brain states. From Andre Maurois’ 1938 story “The Thought- Reading Machine,” in which a professor stumbles on a machine that reads people’s thoughts, to the recent blockbuster Avatar, where humans control surrogate bodies
with their minds, the public is captivated by the interaction between the human brain and the
computers created by those brains.

Although most people are likely to conjure images of Neo’s frightening “head port” from The Matrix before they dream of a university student wearing an elastic cap studded with electrodes, the media has closely followed less sinister, if also less all-powerful, BCI research. In the past year, University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Brain-T witter interface received Time Magazine’s honor as the no. 9 invention of the year. Furthermore, as brain-imaging technology has become more portable and less expensive, the human-computer interaction (HCI) community has begun to bring science fiction closer to reality.

MIND MATTERS

In the larger field of human-computer interaction, we are often concerned with the bandwidth of interaction between a user and the computer. How can we give the computer more information, and more relevant information? How can the computer give us more information without overloading our sensory systems?

Using a mouse in addition to a key-
board increases the bandwidth from
the user to the computer by augment-
ing the type and number of commands
the computer can recognize. An appli-
cation that uses audio increases the
bandwidth from the computer to the
user, by adding to the type of informa-
tion the computer can output. Seen in
this context, brain-computer interfac-
es present an opportunity to expand
the user-to-computer bandwidth in a
unique and powerful way. Instead of
identifying explicit actions, we can de-
tect intent. Instead of evaluating action
artifacts, we can recognize purpose.
Even more interesting, we may be able

“As brain-imaging
technology has
become more
portable and less
expensive, the HCI
community has
begun to bring
science fiction closer
to reality.”

to understand the user’s needs before the user can articulate them.

But this is all far in the future. On the wide continuum between analyzing electroencephalo-graphs to Avatar mind-machines, where are we now? And perhaps more importantly, where are we going?

In this article, we will discuss several directions for research into brain-computer interaction, and the relative merits using these brain measurements to give the user direct or passive control of computer interfaces. We will also introduce projects across the world that offer a glimpse into the future of BCIs.

Imagine the following scenario:

 

It’s 9: 30 p.m., and you’re driving in heavy traffic through Boston, unsure of where you’re going. Your phone is alerting you of text messages that your sister is sending every 30 seconds. Your GPS is commanding you to turn in half a mile, then a tenth of a mile, but still, you cannot tell which of the six exits off the rotary to take. To make things worse, the radio commercials are blaring, but you are focused on the road, and