Ever thought you could communicate with someone just by thinking of what you wanted to say? Sounds like the plot to a sci-fi movie? Now researchers have now developed a successful way to transmit words from one person’s brain to another.
According to PLOSone, a scientific journal, an international team of scientist is declaring a successful brain-to-brain data transfer between a person sitting in Trivandrum to a receiving person in Strasbourg, France, a distance of 8000Km.
The research team transmitted words from one person’s brain to another by mapping electrical currents in the brain and the spine. Every time you have a thought, your brain produces weak but distinct electrical signals corresponding to it. First, researchers used EEG to translate greetings, such as hola and ciao, into code. Then this was sent from a participant in Trivandrum to Strasbourg, France. A computer installed at Strasbourg translated the message from code to words and implanted them into the receiver’s brain through light electrical stimulation.
Participants didn’t report feeling any pain in the process, and only saw flickers of light in their peripheral vision—but they did hear the message. Brain stimulation techniques are carried out using non-invasive computer-brain interfaces. Researchers then conducted a second experiment in which thoughts where transmitted from two participants, one in Spain and one in France.
The results weren’t perfect. An error rate of 15% (11% on the decoding end and 5% on the initial coding end) was reported. However, it’s still a remarkable progress. Previously, EEG communication had proven successful with rats, but not with humans.
This is the first time humans have sent a message ‘almost directly’ into each other’s brains. We Trivandrumites can take pride in the fact that world’s first brain-to-brain email was sent from our Trivandrum.
