Re: BCI Gaming

[Guest guest]

Stefan,I have still never seen anything solid in this area. There are claims (Emotiv's among the most recent), but nobody I know of has actually done anything with this. I don't know exactly how you would, since the ability to " think " of something and have it be recognizable seems to me to be an incredibly over-simplification of what I see in brains.

Neurofeedback works with general energy patterns, not in specific thoughts. It is like standing outside a gymnasium where a basketball game is being played and listening to the sound of the crowd. You might know that someone had made a basket, but you couldn't tell who it was or maybe even for which team or what the score was. The EEG is very largely made up of " background noise " , which is an important part of the brain's communication system and may give us information about HOW the brain is thinking, but you would have to pick tiny signals out of that noise--if you knew where to look--to know WHAT the brain was thinking.

As you indicate, we have a lot more control over--and it is much easier to read--eye and muscle movements, so it is possible to program a device to recognize specific activity in those areas and link it to what the client wants (e.g. move your eyes left for " yes " ). Not so with the brain.

I suppose that anything that did in fact allow the brain to provide " control " to an external device would, if that device were within the range of the client's perception, result in a form of feedback. I don't think we have to worry much about it for a long time--if ever.

Pete

Hello Pete

Please excuse this question – it is not exactly main-stream NFB, although

I am sure, should be of interest to many.

I have no practical, hands-on NFB experience and my time is mainly

consumed by hardware development as you know. I have, however, followed

this group's postings religiously for at least a year. From this I have

learned that typical NFB protocols should be applied over a period of 20

sessions and that some treatments such as those for ADD/ADHD require at

least 50 sessions. Yet, changes can sometimes be seen after a single

training session. I have also learned that NFB does not always result in

the good, as wished for, results. In fact, a wrong training protocol can

have serious consequences. The recent postings by 'JW' here and on the

biofeedback group being an example.

There has been a lot of talk about BCI (Brain Computer Interface)

technology for gaming and for the purposes of "control" for things such as

a wheelchair, computer mouse, etc.

There is a lot of confusion in the media regarding this technology.

Specially, there is confusion between EEG enabled control and EMG/EOG

enabled control. The much reported demo of the Audeo (Texas Instruments)

"a neckband that translates thought into speech" for instance, is a device

that makes use of EMG only and has nothing to do with EEG.

Emotiv EPOC also just released a statement announcing that they have

delayed the launch of their BCI gaming product "due to issues of it

actually working".

If a true EEG-based BCI is used for purposes of control, it results in the

"loop being closed". Although the application is for purposes of control,

it can result in (unintentional) neurofeedback, can it not? The use of

said technology could thus have good and bad NFB side effects, depending

on the "client's" mental (QEEG) state? It could even be possible for a

positive NFB response to turn negative due to excessive, repetitive

"training" resulting in over-training?

Are there sites and/or protocols that can be regarded as safe for purposes

of control and that do not have any NFB consequences?-- Van Deusenpvdtlc@...http://www.brain-trainer.com

305/433-3160The Learning Curve, Inc.