Sure, you can don your Jedi robes and wield your plastic lightsaber. Or you can buy the Star Wars Force Trainer or perhaps the slightly more sophisticated Mindflex, games that allow you to move a small ball simply with the power of your mind. Seriously. It's not magic, it's not sleight of hand; it's pure, unadulterated science. Headsets equipped with electrodes sense your brain's activity as you concentrate on moving the ball, and this signal is used to power a small fan that pushes the ball into the air. Concentrate harder and the fan will increase its intensity, making the ball rise higher.
This technology is a simplified version of research being conducted by Pitt's own Andy Schwartz. The basic principle is this: thinking about and planning a body movement involves activity in a specific part of the cortex. This planning activity generates an electrical signal that can be picked up by electrodes. Schwartz and his team have implanted electrodes into this region of monkeys' brains, and, through complex algorithms that I can't even begin to understand, the electrical activity is used to move a mechanical arm in three-dimensional space. The researchers restrain the monkey's arms and present him with a marshmallow. And, just by thinking about reaching out and grabbing the marshmallow, the mechanical arm moves, retrieves the marshmallow, and delivers it to the monkey.
Clearly, this kind of Jedi magic technology has the potential for much more than kids' games. It might even hold the key to helping those with quadriplegia and other forms of paralysis live more normal, independent lives.
Fascinating!
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