Brain, Medicine

What are YOU thinking?

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So, I’ve been writing for a while about brain research. And, how some (a lot?) is being used to determine criminal behavior. Lie detection (here and here, among others- check out lie detect on the index) and legal/criminal thought and action are among the most insidious applications. Today, I will talk about one that has a benign application- except for what it really means. I guess that means you have to read this post to the end.

Most folks talk silently in their brain when they read a sentence. (I don’t. But, I do when I write a sentence, usually.) So, that really means you are listening to yourself read. When that happens, there is brain wave activity. Which means it may be possible to “read” those brain waves and “construct” talk.

Think about it for a second. Isn’t that what lip readers do? They watch the mouth and determine what sounds may be emanating. Or, watch a teenager (or accomplished guitarist) watch his or her favorite band on the stage. They are watching (typically) the hand and fret action of that guitarist- so they can go home and play the same way. (They wish, but that’s a whole different blog discussion.) One can do the same thing watching a piano being played- seeing the key depressions will let one know what notes are being played. (Of course, the foot action is a different matter.)

The trick is to discern how the brain converts speech into information to be stored. We know that sound activates the ear to transmit the information to sensory neurons. From there, the brain transmits and processes the information to discern the verbal or aural message. But, where is the vital center, the brain region, that translates these waves into speech?

Drs. Pasley (UC Berkeley), David (Maryland), Mesgarani (U Md, UCSF) , Flinker (UC Berkeley) , Shamma (U Md), Crone (Johns Hopkins), Knight (UC Berkeley/SF), and Chang (UC SF) collaborated on this effort, building on work that Pasley started in Dr. Ralph Freeman’s labs (UC Berkeley). They have managed to measure the activity of neurons and correlated those electrical impulses with changes in blood flow via transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). TMS involves the transmission of magnetic pulses (from a wire coil on the scalp) through the skull; there short, weak currents are induced in the brain, which affect neural actions. By coupling that with other measurements (oxygen sensors, optical imaging), one can discern changes in blood flow that are concurrent with this activity.

journal.pbio.1001251.s009   <–This will let you hear the words read AND the reconstruction

The research was enabled by 15 subjects who agreed to have the research done- and after they already had (up to 256) electrodes on the cortex (surface) of the brain,  already in place to help their neurosurgeons pinpoint the location that lead to the seizures they were having (they were suffering from epilepsy or brain tumors). The focus of this research was on the brain’s auditory system (the superior temporal gyrus). The neuronal responses were then recorded, as various words were read to the subjects. The recordings were then analyzed via two different algorithms (one was MUCH better than the other), which used how long the word took to state and the volume changes between syllables, among other characteristics. The ‘voicegrams’ they developed were able to replicate the sounds the patients heard so they could be recognized.

This process could let those people unable to speak truly able to communicate. Imagine what someone like Stephen Hawking could accomplish with a device such as this. Instead of painstakingly using a computer to type his words, his thoughts could instantly (or nearly so) be transmitted via speech.

Now, if this works well, there’s another side to this coin. It means that someone can ask you questions and determine your thoughts- by reading those waves and changing the thoughts into speech. Or, one could “eavesdrop” on your thoughts while you were listening to another person. (Think what that could do to marriages!)

But for now, this process is still in the infant stages- simply, a proof of concept. The initial results from the 15 patients were phenomenal- 90% accuracy for the few words tested. But, there’s a long road ahead to get that to work for whole sentences and more. And, even longer to translate the brain’s waves of what one thinks (rather than says) into external speech. It may also require the implantation of sensors into the brain- which means the more nefarious uses could be harder to achieve.

Roy A. Ackerman, Ph.D., E.A.

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35 thoughts on “What are YOU thinking?”

  4. Pretty amazing concept. It sounds like it could really help a lot of people. Of course you know that someone will use it for nefarious means don’t you? 😉 I wonder how long it will be before we end up with the microchips in our heads at birth!
    Bonnie recently posted..Nothing Can Hold You Back

  5. Ok, I am going all teenager on this piece and saying this “Damn cool!” I love this! (Read it like I am the shrieking shrilling kind!)

    Yes, it could destroy marriages but imagine what it could do for getting answers out of criminals; for getting inside information from gang members or captured members of terrorist or anti-social organization (Have I watched too many movies….? ) Or for understanding the thought patterns of schizophrenics, or autistic children or any one who has difficulties in verbal expression! Or plain ol’ babies…we could finally get “into the mind” of the 2 year old! 😉

    Okay, it might be thinking too far; but if we get key words out of it; we might be able to put that to some use! Am I making sense here or did I grow up on too much of sci-fi…

    Who knows this just may be Inception 2! 🙂

    (WIDE EYED HAJRA SAYING THANK YOU ROY)
    Hajra recently posted..Will they call you over for a bloggers party?

    1. And, what about, in your geographical region, regimes deciding to interview those who are working for change, to determine who else is involved in such efforts?
      Or, where the next demonstration against the government will be?
      These are the situations one must prevent when developing such technology, Hajra…

      Roy

    1. I think, Suerae, they may not have been as brave as they were willing to help advance the science. They already were “wired”; they were anticipating surgery to reduce their chances of having seizures. And, now, they were convinced this research would help develop technology to aid those who no longer could communicate.
      But, I guess it’s my position that we need to consider how research can be subverted- as well as promoted- to insure the best uses are developed.

      Roy

  11. So this process will pick up words but what about emotions, tone, images, context? And how WILL it frame words into phrases and sentences as it seems to me that so many words fly through my head before I actually frame a thought, sometimes reframe and then express it. How will an external person know, without the context of the individual’s life, how to pull together the words into complete thoughts and know what the “final draft” would have been?

    Fascinating but I think I’ll let people speak for themselves.
    Tambre Leighn/coaching by tambre recently posted..The Healing Power of Helping Others

    1. Well, I doubt it will be able to pick up emotions- unless we integrate facial expressions into the system, Tambre. But, the official goal of the effort is to let those unable to communicate to transmit their thoughts without typing (pecking?) one character at a time. The scary part is if the government elects to use this device to discern what we think of them. (Is it a crime if they detect the use of four and seven letter words in a description of a Congressperson or Senator????)

      Roy

  14. I would love to see this technology perfected soon. I have a good friend with two autistic sons who can’t speak. For now, they communicate using their iPads. It’s amazing what we can do with technology. As far as others being able to know what I’m thinking, that thought is terrifying! 🙂 Interesting post.
    Lisa Kanarek recently posted..All Dressed Up: Ready for the Next Event

  15. This article has a warm spot in my heart for those who suffer with ALS, otherwise known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. The teacher who first impacted my life succumbed to the horrifying debilitating effects a few years ago. And so has Richard Olney, the scientist who spent the last 18 years searching for a cure. Imagine what could be learned from the brain that still works at or near full-potential when the body shuts down. Thanks for offering a glimmer of hope that science is getting closer to uncovering more ways to communicate — regardless of the possible “eavesdropping.”

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