Monkeys’ thoughts move computer cursor
Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, March 13, 2002
The Washington Post
Electrodes implanted in a monkey’s brain have enabled the animal to move a cursor on a computer screen just by thinking about it, researchers announced Wednesday.
The announcement is the latest development in a new field of research called neuroprosthetics that could one day help some paralyzed people use their thoughts to control robots and computers.
Researchers elsewhere previously have implanted electrodes in monkeys and people and shown that brain signals can move a cursor. The new work increases the speed and accuracy with which the brain can direct the cursor. Researchers say they are perhaps a decade from perfecting the technique for paralyzed patients.
"We have tapped into the part of the brain that is conceiving of where you want to put your hand," said John Donoghue, chairman of the department of Neuroscience at Brown University, whose team reported the latest work in today’s issue of the journal Nature. "It’s as if there was a thin cable coming from your head and as you thought about the cursor, it went there."
The researchers implanted a set of electrodes in the brains of three monkeys. The electrodes tapped into as many as 30 neurons in the motor area of the animals’ brains, and scientists found a way to mathematically convert the neural pulses into electronic signals.
Earlier experiments had shown that when monkeys are trained to move a cursor over a target on a computer screen using a device like a mouse, scientists can simultaneously use signals from the monkeys’ brains to make a robot move another cursor in an identical fashion.
In the new experiment, researchers switched off the monkey’s mouse. They were able to show the cursor moved to the target only because of signals coming directly from the brain of the animal. A second monkey replicated the experiment.
When the monkeys realized they didn’t have to move their hands to achieve the computer tasks, Donoghue said they occasionally stopped moving the mouse altogether and moved the cursor with their thoughts.
