Look into joining the Air Force, then you could work on some really cool
stuff. For example, they already have systems that take over control of an
aircraft when the pilot falls asleep, or "blacks out" or other such thing.
Trucking companies are looking into developing systems that warn when
the driver is sleepy or falls asleep. Humans can also learn to produce
specific types of brain waves, such as alpha waves, which then can be used for
signal or control. So for example, the pilot makes alpha and the plane banks
left, pilot makes beta and the plane banks right, or what have you. Alpha is
readily acheivable in normals and reflects a brain state rather than actual
thoughts. EEG, or Brainwaves, are epiphenomenal. You will never be able to
decipher one's thoughts from any number of squiggles on a page, but you can
say, "this is guy is awake and alert", or drowsy or asleep, or having a
seizure. Computer systems can be developed to recognize such states and to the
extent that one can control the state of one's own brain, then this can be
mobilized for the uses you describe. If what you were thinking was that maybe
you could stick wires in your head and then directly transpose your thoughts
into your word processor, avoiding the need for typing, or some such deal,
well, that would be really cool and anytime I have to train some new student I
desperately wish I could just download my knowledge without doing any
teaching, but sorry, you've been watching too much tv. However your interest
in this stuff is really remarkable, few high school students anywhere have not
near the interest you demonstrate here, keep with it!
In article <60qo4b$bfj at rc1.vub.ac.be> nospamplease.plebrun at fysp1.vub.ac.be
(Philippe Lebrun) writes:>From: nospamplease.plebrun at fysp1.vub.ac.be (Philippe
Lebrun)>Subject: Re: Question on Analysis of Brainwaves
>Date: 30 Sep 1997 11:34:35 GMT
>In article <34301f8b.5419368 at news.tiac.net>,
>Bagelboy at tiac.net (Steven) writes:
>> I'm sorry to bother everyone, but I'm a New York City High School
>> student researching the possibility of integrating your mind with a
>> computer in the future so that your mind controls the computer.
>> Please bear in mind that this is something for way in the future.
>> Does anyone know where I could get some information about analyzing
>> and deciphering brain waves and how this could be used as an interface
>> for a computer?
>Sounds farfetched.
>A lot of work on the analysis of EEG was presented at the World Congress
>on Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering at the beginning of
>this month. A lot of the work was in the field of sleep research, and
>the conclusion was that humans are still better than computers for
>evaluating sleep stages. Maybe in the future your computer could wake
>you up when you doze off on the job!
>ERP research may be a bit more promising, but the extraction of
>information from a single trial of a phenomenon which isn't time-
>locked is currently impossible, but you might check the litterature.
>ERP=event related potentials.
