Scientists are getting closer to making telepathy a reality. In a new study published this week, researchers say they have developed a device that can read and translate a person’s inner speech. However, the findings have so far shown only modest success, and many hurdles remain before such devices gain practical applications.
In recent years, scientists Advanced technology It reads and interprets complex brain signals that allow people to talk to another person: a technology that has made it possible for people with speech difficulties to regain a certain level of communication ability. Much of this work involves translating partially voiced or miming speech into words or audio. But scientists at the California Institute of Technology have broken new ground in this burgeoning field, creating a brain-machine interface (BMI) device that can translate inner speech, at least on a basic level.
The researchers recruited two individuals with spinal cord injury to participate in their study. Both had electrodes implanted in their supramarginal gyrus, a region of the brain that previous research has suggested is important for the formation of inner speech.
Over three days, the volunteers were trained to imagine six words (battlefield, cowboy, python, spoon, swim and phone) and two nonsense words (nifjik and pindip) while having their brains monitored. The initial measurements were then fed into a computer model, which attempted to decode and interpret the volunteers’ brain signals. in real time.
As expected, the researchers found distinct brain activity in the supramarginal gyrus when the volunteers absorbed their speech compared to vocalizations. , supporting the idea that it plays an important role in the process. Overall, their model was 79% accurate in predicting the first lesson. 23% accuracy in predicting inner speech and second subject speech.
„This work represents a proof of concept for a high-performance inner-talk BMI,” the authors wrote in their paper. Published Monday in Naturopathy.
Obviously, this research is an early example of the potential of this technology. Given the widely divergent results between the two volunteers, it’s also clear that scientists have more to learn about how our brains work to generate inner speech. We are a long way from using these BMI devices to efficiently translate the thoughts of someone with no external communication skills. Locked-in syndromeIt can be of particularly profound use to these individuals and their loved ones.
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Besides its medical applications, learning to understand brain signals that underlie speech and inner thoughts could lead to even more serious possibilities in the future. Other researchers Interfaces are created For example, people’s brains allow them to communicate with each other from a distance. So combining these different types of brain-machine technologies may one day make mind reading possible.
However, these findings represent an important step forward, and researchers are already working on further improvements. They hope to find out next time. Can its technology reliably distinguish individual letters of the alphabet?
„Maybe we have an internal speech speller that can actually help patients spell words,” said study co-author Sarah Wandelt. said Nature News.
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