News
66/
PUCES
CEREBRALES : DU NEUF !
Published
online: 13 October 2004;
doi:10.1038/
news 041011-9
Extraits
«Paralysed
man sends e-mail by thought Roxanne Khamsi Brain chip reads
mind by tapping straight into neurons. A pill-sized brain
chip has allowed a quadriplegic man to check e-mail and play
computer games using his thoughts.
The
device can tap into a hundred neurons at a time, and is the
most sophisticated such implant tested in humans so far. Many
paralysed people control computers with their eyes or tongue.
But muscle function limits these techniques, and they require
a lot of training.
For
over a decade researchers have been trying to find a way to
tap directly into thoughts. In June 2004, surgeons implanted
a device containing 100 electrodes into the motor cortex of
a 24-year-old quadriplegic. The device, called the BrainGate,
was developed by the company Cyberkinetics, based in Foxborough,
Massachusetts.
Each
electrode taps into a neuron in the patient's brain. The BrainGate
allowed the patient to control a computer or television using
his mind, even when doing other things at the same time. Researchers
report for example that he could control his television while
talking and moving his head. »
http://www.nature.com/news/2004/041011/full/041011-9.html
