Neural Decoding: What's on Your Mind?
From: Medical Design - 10/13/2010
By: Chad Bouton

Breakthrough technology helps patients channel thoughts into actions.

Battelle developed a method for recognizing and interpreting signals from the
brain that enables people with certain types of disabilities to control a
wheelchair or a computer cursor with nothing more than a thought. Battelle
and client Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems, Inc developed new ways to
harness the power of a tiny silicon array that is implanted directly into the
motor cortex. Methods are also being developed to potentially restore limb
movement for people who have had a spinal cord injury or stroke or suffer
from ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) or other central nervous system injuries,
thereby opening up a whole new world for these patients. 

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Unable to move his body or speak, a man slowly blinks his eyes in response to
a question. It is his only method of communication, and he can only respond
with “yes/no” answers. He cannot initiate questions.  

Like many others who have ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or Lou Gehrig’s
disease) and other disabling disorders, the patient suffered from locked-in
syndrome, which prevented him from simply expressing his thoughts or
communicating with loved ones around him. But new technology called neural
decoding is offering hope to patients with locked-in syndrome and various
forms of severe paralysis.  

In fact, neural decoding could unlock the patient’s ability to communicate
with others and take control of the world around them.  

This patient was one of the pioneers in the development of neural-decoding
technology. The first ALS patient enrolled in a groundbreaking study called
BrainGate, he and a female patient volunteered for the study with the
ultimate goal of allowing patients to interface with their computers,
communicate more effectively and, if possible, control assistive devices such
as their own wheelchairs merely by thought. 

Read the entire article at:
http://medicaldesign.com/engineering-prototyping/research-development/neural-decoding-on-your-mind-201010/index.html

Links:
BrainGate
http://www.braingate.com/

Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems, Inc
http://cyberkinetics.com/