Researchers Train Minds to Move Matter
From: New York Times - 07/21/2009 - page D6
By: Sandra Blakeslee

New research into brain-machine interaction indicates that a basic rethinking
of brain-machine experiments may be in order. Previous studies involved
giving computer interfaces that translate thought impulses into movements
fresh instructions on a daily basis, but work by University of California,
Berkeley scientists shows that monkeys learned how to move a cursor by
thought using just one set of instructions and an atypically small number of
brain cells that deliver instructions for executing movements the same way
every day. Electrodes are implanted directly into the animals' brains to
record activity from a group of 75 to 100 neurons that help guide movement,
when the monkeys move a hand or arm. The limb is later rendered immobile, and
researchers can predict the monkey's intent by studying the neurons'
activity, and then send the pattern to a decoding algorithm that converts the
brain signals into commands that a machine can perform. The variability
induced by motions of the electrodes and changes in neurons has led
researchers to assume that a new group of neurons would govern the movements
every day, prompting daily recalibration of the decoder and forcing the
animal to relearn the task in each session. Berkeley professor Jose M.
Carmena postulated that an initially random population of 10 to 15 neurons
could be persuaded into forming a stable motor memory. His team trained a
pair of monkeys to move a cursor to targets with a joystick, and then taught
them to move the cursor by thought during several weeks of practice sessions.
The decoder was kept constant as it measured the monkeys' neuron activity,
and then Carmena changed the decoder. The animals used the same small group
of neurons to learn the new task in just a few days, and they had no
difficulty switching back and forth between the two tasks. "This is the first
demonstration that the brain can form a motor memory to control a disembodied
device in a way that mirrors how it controls its own body," Carmena says. 

Read the entire article at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/21/health/21brai.html

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Monkey's Brain Can "Plug and Play" to Control Computer
From: IEEE Spectrum Tech Alert - 07/23/2009

Your brain makes motor memories that let you do things like type and ride a
bike automatically. Now researchers at the University of California,
Berkeley, have shown that monkeys with electrodes implanted in their brains
can develop a motor memory for controlling a computer. Scientists say it’s a
big step forward, because earlier brain machine interfaces required monkeys
(and humans) to relearn how to control the computer every day.   

Read the entire article at:
http://spectrum.ieee.org/robotics/medical-robots/monkeys-control-computer-with-thought

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Links:
Brain-Machine Interface Systems Laboratory
http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/~carmena/

Jose M. Carmena
http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Faculty/Homepages/carmena.html
http://frontiersin.org/neuroscience/profiles/josem.%20carmena/
http://www.christopherreeve.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=ddJFKRNoFiG&b=4448753&ct=5860435