Image: iStockPhoto
In Brief
- Surgeons have implanted a novel neural prosthesis into a paralyzed patient’s brain. The high-tech device enables the patient to communicate his thoughts to a computer, which translates them into spoken words.
- Nine people so far have received brain-implanted prostheses. In the past, patients have used these devices to spell words on a computer, pilot a wheelchair or flex a mechanical hand.
- One day implants may enable paralyzed people to move robotic arms or even bypass damaged parts of the nervous system to reanimate unresponsive limbs. In the meantime, the quest to develop implanted neural prostheses is revealing details of how the brain orchestrates movement.
Eight years ago, when Erik Ramsey was 16, a car accident triggered a brain stem stroke that left him paralyzed. Though fully conscious, Ramsey was completely paralyzed, essentially “locked in,” unable to move or talk. He could communicate only by moving his eyes up or down, thereby answering questions with a yes or a no.
Ramsey’s doctors recommended sending him to a nursing facility. Instead his parents brought him home. In 2004 they met neurologist Philip R. Kennedy, chief scientist at Neural Signals in Duluth, Ga. He offered Ramsey the chance to take part in an unusual experiment. Surgeons would implant a high-tech device called a neural prosthesis into Ramsey’s brain, enabling him to communicate his thoughts to a computer that would translate them into spoken words.
This article was originally published with the title Putting Thoughts into Action.
See what we're tweeting about
11 Comments
Add CommentWow.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI was either born 2350 years too late, or 50 years too early.
Thinking is perception—but could it all be perception?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs with all perceptions, there are things beyond our perceptive senses. For example, we can only see a certain amount of visible light, we can’t see infrared; can only hear sounds within a certain range, we can’t hear ultrasonic sounds. This would tend to lead one to believe that you can only think within a range of perception and that there are “unthought” or unthinkable thoughts outside our range of perception. This would be because we could only tune in our perception of thinking within a certain range, like tuning in a radio.
We are mostly conditioned to “tune in” to thoughts in the form of language because that is how others communicate their thoughts to us.
But most of communication is non-verbal. I believe that it is all non-verbal. After all, we must communicate through some means and method not using language to communicate non-verbally.
For example, if I lived on a desert island and I had no word for sand, the beach would still communicate to me “non-verbally” that the beach is sand.
However, we think we think “verbally” because that is how we perceive our thoughts: through the voice in our head, the running conversation we have with ourselves. But then we must also communicate with ourselves “non-verbally” as well, meaning that our thoughts are vastly more and thinking involves vastly more than the running stream of consciousness we have within our minds.
There is both the subconscious and the superconscious. The conscious is merely the “radio” that we use to tune in and “hear” verbally all the vastly incredible more amounts of the non-verbal messages being communicated between the subconscious and superconscious.
If there were a way to focus on and expand the reception, or our range of perception of thought between the subconscious and superconscious, we would be thinking beyond an area that could be communicated with words, i.e., verbally.
Copyright 1986-2008 S.Brandon.
All Rights Reserved.
Nothing may be reproduced in part or in whole without the express written consent of the copyright owner.
bittius - S. Brandon ?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYour Copyright suggest that your comment may be an excerpt of a subject that I have been interested in for years.
Any additions?
For all those interested in this topic, there is a related article in last month's Discover Magazine: http://discovermagazine.com/2008/oct/26-rise-of-the-cyborgs/
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHi bittius, that is very interesting, but I think you may be wandering down the wrong road there.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"You start with thinking is perception" which is not clearly the whole story. Consciousness and perception seem to be more about what area of the brain is currently being focused on, however other areas of the brain can still be busy working (thinking) in the background. This is what allows your consciousness to switch from whatever it is thinking about to something new, only to find a fully formed thought process presented all at once (intuition, etc).... one part of the brain was working on (thinking about) something while the consciousness was focused elsewhere.
And that whole thing about thinking in words... most likely the brain naturally thinks in raw concepts all the time, but once words get associated with those concepts, it becomes easy (or simply habit) to use the words that go with the concepts... and when no words present themselves, the brain is perfectly capable of using the underlying concept. This doesn't seem any type of particular revelation.
Also, this unthinkable thoughts concept... doesn't seem to wash. You can't compare a limitation on our sensory apparatus directly to a limitation in consciousness or thinking in the way you are attempting... sure some brains are more efficent leading some people to be smarter in those areas. Clearly Einstien could think thoughts clearly that I couldn't grasp myself, so for me you could call those unthinkable thoughts I guess, but it isn't some cosmic range of thought that we only see a slice of, it is just a matter of how efficent/smart we are controlling the complexity of the ideas we can deal with.
So I appreciate your attempt here, but whatever you at trying to copywrite your ideas for, you might try some more rigorous analysis.
Best of luck!
One more thanks to science
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thiswow~
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDidn't Stephen Hawkings have a computer like that he spoke with?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHawkings computer allowed him to select letters and words but it was activated by his physical movement.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"unthinkable thoughts", eh? Interesting idea, but putting perception and conciousness as a kind of limit or equal to thought defeats the idea of thought itself. Thought is not really what you percieve in a physical sense, but the underlying idea behind the words. If there were such limits on thought, or if it were indeed a matter of perception, how would people generate completely new ideas? What about the concept of advanced mathematics, which is based soley upon ideas, which are indeed percieved, but not in a strict sense. I suppose that there are "unthinkable thoughts" but if indeed there what would be the point of thinking about it, anyway?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis is an amazing step forward for medical science, but i have a feeling that it won't remain limited to medicinal purposes. If we can tap into raw thought to allow paralyzed people to talk, couldn't we use the same technology to interogate people? It seems a little scary, but that would eliminate the perceived need for torchure completely. This could either be a huge step in the proggrese of human rights, or it could be a huge step toward a Big Brother like government that imprisones its citizens for thinking the wrong things. Let's hope for the former.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this