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Module 1.4b

moving red target, the researchers matched the brain signals with the arm movements. Then
they programmed a computer to monitor the signals and operate the joystick. When a mon-
key merely thought about a move, the mind-reading computer moved the cursor with nearly ENGAGE 1.4-7
the same proficiency as had the reward-seeking monkey. Monkey think, computer do.
Clinical trials of such cognitive neural prosthetics have been under way with people who (15 minutes) Many computer-
have severe paralysis or have lost a limb (Andersen et al., 2010; Rajangam et al., 2016). assistive technologies exist to help
The first patient, a 25-year-old man with paralysis, was able to mentally control a TV, draw people with motor difficulties perform
shapes on a computer screen, and play video games — all thanks to an aspirin-sized chip
with 100 microelectrodes recording activity in his motor cortex (Hochberg et al., 2006). everyday tasks. To illustrate this fact,
Other people with paralysis who have received implants have learned to direct robotic arms have students search the internet to
with their thoughts (Clausen et al., 2017). see what kinds of technologies are
And then there is Ian Burkhart, who lost the use of
his arms and legs at age 19. Ohio State University brain available to help people with motor
researchers implanted recording electrodes in his motor disabilities communicate and interact
cortex (Schwemmer et al., 2018). Imagine the process: with the world. (Hint: Tell students
Researchers instruct Burkhart to stare at a screen that
shows a moving hand. Next, Burkhart imagines moving to use a broad search term such as
his own hand. Brain signals from his motor cortex feed “assistive computer technology for
into a computer, which gets the message that he wants
to move his arm and thus stimulates those muscles. persons with motor disabilities.”) After
Distributed by Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Not for redistribution.
The result? Burkhart, with his very own paralyzed arm, 10 minutes of searching, have students
grasps a bottle, dumps out its contents, and picks up a report the most interesting technology
stick. He can even play the video game Guitar Hero. By
learning Burkhart’s unique brain response patterns, the they found. Tie their examples back
computer can predict his brain activity to help him make Andrew Spear/Redux Pictures into a discussion of the cortex.
Copyright © Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers.
these movements. “It’s really restored a lot of the hope I
have for the future to know that a device like this will be
possible to use in everyday life,” Burkhart says, “for me
and for many other people” (Wood, 2018). (See tinyurl
.com/ControlMotorCortex.)
If everything psychological is also biological — if, for example, every thought is also a
neural event — could microelectrodes someday detect thoughts well enough to enable people
to control their environment with ever-greater precision (see Figure 1.4-14)? Scientists have
even created a prosthetic voice, which creates (mostly) understandable speech by reading the
brain’s motor commands that direct vocal movement (Anumanchipalli et al., 2019).
Figure 1.4-14
Brain–machine interaction
Electrodes planted in the hand
area of the motor cortex, and in
the hand, elbow, and shoulder
muscles, helped a man with
paralysis in all four limbs use his
paralyzed arm to take a drink of
coffee (Ajiboye et al., 2017). Such
research advances are paving
the way for restored movement
in daily life, outside the controlled
laboratory environment (Andersen,
2019; Andersen et al., 2010).

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