Scientists at the University of Washington’s Institute of Learning and Brain Sciences have now made it possible for humans to transmit thoughts from one brain to another using the Internet.
Scientists were able to achieve this by arranging a question and answer game session between two participants. The brain interface utilized in the experiment was very simple. It works by linking two participants to an EEG machine that logs in the electrical activity going on in their brains. Anything related to thought in the human finds is fundamentally an electrical signal moving between neurons. Thus, by recording the electrical activity, the machine was able to register the thoughts going on inside the mind of one person.
When a person A was shown the picture of any random object, the other person B was expected to guess the object whose picture was shown to the former. The person B who was labelled as the ‘Inquirer’ in the experiment had to guess the object seen by person A.
Thus, the former attempts to do so by requesting a question to the latter who has to answer either a Yes or a No by looking at one of two blinking LED lights on the monitor that flash at different frequencies. An answer of Yes or No would send a signal over the internet to the inquirer and communication would thus be complete without the participants having used any audible or visual cues.
According to the study’s lead author, Andrea Stocco, “This is the most complex brain-to-brain experiment, I think, that’s been done to date in humans.” The results show that the experiment was largely a success with a 72 percent success rate, where the inquirer was able to correctly guess the communication being sent by the respondent over the internet.
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