A scientific team has implanted in a person with paralysis a brain-computer interface capable of detecting and decoding finger movementswhich has allowed it, thanks to its degree of precision, play a video game.
The details of this experiment are published in the journal Nature Medicinein an article led by researchers from the American universities of Stanford and Michigan, who recall that among people with paralysis there are still unmet needs of social and leisure activities, such as video games.
The researchersamong them Matthew S. Willsey, Francis R. Willett and Jaimie M. Henderson, developed a brain-computer interface capable of continuously recording the patterns of electrical activity of multiple neurons in the brain to translate complex movements.
These brain-computer interfaces have been recognized as a possible solution for motor recoveryas they could help develop activities such as typing, playing musical instruments or using a video game controller.
The interface was surgically implanted in that brain region responsible for controlling hand movementsin a person with spinal cord injury at the cervical level and almost total loss of motor function of both the upper and lower extremities.
While the participant observed a virtual hand making various movements, their neural activity was recorded. The researchers then used machine learning algorithms to identify the signals linked to specific movements of the fingers.
Using these signals, the system was able to accurately predict finger movementsallowing the participant to control three very different sets of fingers, which included two-dimensional movements of the thumb, in a virtual hand. The authors then expanded the application of this finger control to a video game.
For Eduardo Fernandezdirector of the Bioengineering Institute of the Miguel Hernández University of Elche, the study is “well designed” and of high quality. The researchers implanted a total of 192 electrodes in the person’s left brain hemisphere.explains this researcher – who does not participate in the work -.
“The study presents a significant advance in the field of brain-computer interfaces by achieving continuous decoding of finger movements with a high degree of freedom. The future is hopeful,” he declared. However, this research has been carried out in one personso more studies are still necessary, according to Fernández.
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