Implant in monkey links mind, machine

ROBERT LEE HOTZ LOS ANGELES TIMES

An experimental brain implant the size of an M&M has allowed a monkey to control a computer cursor by thought alone, Brown University researchers announced Wednesday.

It is the latest advance by scientists trying to perfect a link between mind and machine in the hope that thousands of patients who are unable to move or speak can resume communication with the world around them.

The development heralds a future when the paralyzed and infirm may send e-mail, surf the Web and command other computer resources just by thinking about them.

The device uses a mathematical formula to translate signals from a few motor neurons on the surface of the monkey's brain into movement on a computer screen, with no need for the extensive training previous techniques have required.

"We substituted thought control for hand control," said Brown neuroscientist John Donoghue, the project's senior researcher.

Lead researcher Mijail D. Serruya and his colleagues at Brown tested the device by having a monkey play a simple video game, in which the animal used the cursor to chase a moving target on a computer screen.

The monkey was able to move the cursor "instantly" with as much control as if it were using a computer mouse or a joystick, Serruya said. The monkey wills the cursor to move. The cursor moves.

The animals' hands-free cursor control was almost as fast and accurate as when it used its hands, researchers found. So far, three monkeys have received the implant.

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