Tiny Electronic Chip, Interacting with the Brain, Modifies Pathways for
   Controlling Movement
From: University of Washington News and Information - 10/24/2006
By: Leila Gray

Researchers at the University of Washington are developing an electronic chip
that may help establish new nerve connections in the section of the brain
that controls motion. The most recent findings state that induced brain
changes in monkeys can last over a week. Rehabilitation of patients with
brain injuries, stroke, or paralysis, stand to benefit from this technology,
described in the study entitled "Long-Term Motor Cortex Plasticity Induced by
an Electronic Neural Implant." The inspiration for the study comes from the
theory that the brain's nerve signals can be harnessed to create change in
itself, just as these signals have been redirected and used to control
mechanical devices outside the body. A self-contained device with a tiny
computer chip, called a Neurochip, "records the activity of motor cortex
cells," explains Dr. Eberhard Fetz, professor of physiology and biophysics.
"It can convert this activity into a stimulus that can be sent back to the
brain, spinal cord, or muscle, and thereby set up an artificial connection
that operates continuously during normal behavior. This recurrent
brain-computer interface created an artificial motor pathway that the brain
may learn to use to compensate for impaired pathways." When neighboring sites
are connected in the motor cortex, long-lasting changes occur, specifically,
the motion evoked from the recording site transformed to resemble those
evoked from the stimulation site. Synchronous activity generated by the
brain-computer interface in these sites may be the cause of this
strengthening. The effect of conditioning occurs only if the delay between
recorded activity and stimulation is brief enough. After a day of continuous
conditioning using the interface, conditioning will last for several days
with the circuit turned off. 

Read the entire article at:
http://uwnews.washington.edu/ni/public/article.asp?articleID=27624
http://www.sciencenewsdaily.org/story-80920427.html

Links:
Implantable chip to establish new nerve connections in brain area that
   controls movement
http://www.news-medical.net/?id=20748

Electronic chip, interacting with the brain, modifies pathways for
   controlling movement
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-10/uow-eci102406.php

Neural implant induces reorganization of neural circuits
http://neurophilosophy.wordpress.com/2006/10/23/neural-implant-induces-reorganization-of-neural-circuits/