Computers That Read Your Mind
From: Economist Technology Quarterly - 12/06/2003 - Vol. 369, No. 8353, P. 6 

Researchers at Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Architecture and
Software Technology (FIRST) and the Benjamin Franklin University Clinic are
attempting to develop a non-invasive brain-computer interface (BCI) that
allows users to control computers by thought, and thus far have enabled
volunteers to play video games using a electroencephalograph (EEG) connected
by external electrodes. The BCI is significant because the users do not need
a lot of training to operate the system, whereas most BCIs require roughly
200 hours of practice. Such a BCI, if perfected, could give paralyzed people
the ability to manipulate a cursor and type messages, lead to a whole new
class of video games, and help accelerate vehicle braking and steering time.
A practical BCI device must be able to determine the user's intention from a
single brain-wave reading, rather than averaging it from hundreds of
readings, which is the traditional way to produce textbook brain-wave
samples, notes FIRST's Klaus-Robert Muller. The EEG as well as the brain
generate background noise that can complicate single-trial readings, so the
FIRST team has designed a program to filter out such noise, similar to how
the brain's reticular activating system functions. The commercialization of
the BCI depends on making the EEG cheap and portable enough to be sold as a
peripheral, while the electrode-based EEG connection needs to be made faster
and even less invasive. Muller says the use of conductive gel should be
eliminated. A non-invasive, gel-free method significantly reduces the
voltages of brain signals, so a powerful low-noise amplifier is needed to
take up the slack.

Links:
http://ida.first.fraunhofer.de/bbci/index_en.html
http://www.globaltechnoscan.com/2ndJuly-8thJuly03/brain_wave.htm