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"What if you could control your phone just by thinking?\u00A0 The Siri hoax\u00A0we reported on a few weeks back got our science team thinking about how viable brain-computer interfaces (BCI) really are. We selected a few consumer-ready applications that allow mind control of your phone, computer and, er, your fuzzy new animal ears, using inexpensive off-the-shelf hardware. We also included two recent breakthroughs from neuroscience labs that highlight where this technology is going.\r\n\r\nAre you ready to fly through virtual worlds by thinking or to watch the orgasmic brain in three dimensions? A mind controlled Siri may have been a hoax but all of the examples below are as real as cat ears are fuzzy.\r\nOff-the-Shelf and Into Your Mind\r\nThe Neurosky Mindwave and Emotiv EPOC headsets are available now for $99 and $299 respectively and developers are using them to get creative, and kooky. Before we get into the applications, though, lets take a quick look at how this hardware works:\r\n\r\n\r\nThe Electric Brain\r\n\r\n[caption id=&amp;quot;attachment_289075&amp;quot; align=&amp;quot;aligncenter&amp;quot; width=&amp;quot;250&amp;quot; caption=&amp;quot;The Emotiv EPOC tracks electricity at the brain&amp;amp;#039;s surface&amp;quot;][/caption]\r\n\r\nThe brain is made up of billions of neurons that communicate with each other to create thoughts and moods. When these neurons interact, or \u201Cfire\u201D, they create a tiny electrical discharge. Each firing produces a minute amount of electricity, but when millions fire at once, the electrical activity can be measured at the scalp. Neuroscientists have discovered that certain basic states of mind, like focused concentration, actually create waves of neural discharges in consistent areas of your brain!\r\n\r\nThis regional specificity is known as neuroplasticity, and is often pithily summarized as \u201Cneurons that fire together wire together\u201D. The most distinct of these states, like relaxation and surprise, can be measured reliably from electrical activity on the scalp via a process known as electroencephalography, or EEG.\u00A0 Recently, companies like Neurosky and Emotiv have created consumer-grade hardware that reads EEG without the usually needed conductive gel \u2013 allowing for EEG on the road. So, what can you do with cheap, portable EEG?\r\n\r\n\r\n1: Necomimi \u2013 Express your inner self, in real time, with your own fluffy telepathic cat ears\r\nIf you\u2019ve been jealous of your cat\u2019s ability to express nonchalance, surprise and interest with a subtle twitch of the ears, Japan\u2019s \u201CNeurowear\u201D has just the thing for you \u2013 behold the Necomimi!\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&amp;amp;amp;v=w06zvM2x_lw\r\n\r\nThese fluffy ears are hooked up to a modified NeuroSky Mindwave and respond to changes in attention and mood. Time Magazine picked the ears as one of its\u00A0fifty best inventions of 2011 alongside powerhouses like Siri and Lytro. Before you question their value, keep in mind Neurowear\u2019s assessment of the public\u2019s reaction to the ears at the latest Paris Tech Expo: \u201CMany people tried necomimi and necomimi made them happy!\u201D\r\n\r\n2: Tug of Mind \u2013 Mental toughness training on your iPhone\r\nIceland-based MindGames\u2019 \u201CTug of Mind\u201D uses a Bluetooth Mindwave variant called X-Wave, to take mental control to the iPhone. Tug of Mind has you testing your control of relaxation and attention against a virtual opponent. Your ability to control your mind changes the expression on the opponent\u2019s face \u2013 which you can upload yourself.\u00A0 Mindwave developer Deepa Iyengar explained that children at demos \u201Cwait a half hour to get a chance to try the games [and then show] intense concentration and relaxation in the midst of a noisy event\u201D.\u00A0 Iyengar, like many of the early developers of consumer brain computer interaction, is especially excited about the potential of the apps for reversing attention-deficit trends: \u201CWhat might it be like to have a generation of kids grow up having this kind of practice at concentrating?\u201D she asked.\r\n\r\n\u00A03: Neurophone \u2013 No more fingers\r\nDartmouth scientists Andrew Campbell and Tanzeem Choudhury used their grant from the National Science Foundation to create the NeuroPhone. Hook your iPhone up to a standard Emotiv EPOC headset and you can use their application to choose a caller from a list by thinking alone \u2013 no hands. \u00A0The app uses a powerful recognition signal called \u201CP300\u201D \u2013 it occurs about 300 milliseconds after viewing an image \u2013 to identify when the contact shown is the one you want to call.\r\nIn the Lab: Helicopters and Orgasms\r\n4: Be the Helicopter: Mind Control Technology Goes 3D\r\nBiomedical engineering professor Bin He and his lab have created the first EEG interface that allows users to control virtual objects in three dimensions.\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&amp;amp;amp;v=EumtMewe2Ko\r\n\r\nThis video\u00A0from the University of Minnesota shows a grad student wearing the swim-cap-style EEG reader flying the virtual helicopter through obstacles. According to New York State\u2019s BCI expert Gerwin Schalk, He\u2019s application, published in PloS in October, adds a whole new level to the one or two dimensional capabilities of the non-invasive hardware:\r\n\u201CTraditional approaches [similar to the NeuroPhone] have used a structured environment where characters flash and you determine the preferences of the user from the brain signal.\u00A0 This is a binary approach. The approach of He uses proportional signals, allowing for multiple dimensions of control\u201D\r\n5: The orgasm brings brain scientists a \u201Cfantastic opportunity\u201D\r\nNon-invasive brain-computer hardware, while wearable, can\u2019t hold a scented candle to the enormously powerful (and expensive) technique of functional magnetic resonance imaging. \u00A0Arguably the most exciting recent development in this field is this animated look inside a woman\u2019s brain during orgasm.\r\n\r\nThe study by Rutgers scientists was presented at the annual \u201CSociety for Neuroscience\u201D meeting in November. One of the researchers, Nan Wise, described the orgasm to UPI as \u201Ca fantastic opportunity to examine the connectivity of the brain\u201D because so many different regions are involved. Some preliminary 3D brain imaging has indeed been done with the portable EPOC and a Nokia N900, so your perhaps your mobile 3D mind imager isn\u2019t so far off in the future.\r\n\r\nMoore\u2019s Law + The Human Brain = ???\r\nThere are thousands of other BCI applications, from mind controlled bicycles to the inevitable brain activated angry birds, that are available and working today. As the technology gets cheaper and more powerful, we can expect the applications to get increasingly useful and probably even weirder. We\u2019ll leave you with one of our favorites for 2011: here\u2019s an RPI MFA student floating around the studio via telepathic control.\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGvsDD50cb8&amp;amp;amp;t=52s\r\n\r\nAre your fuzzy ears twitching?"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://thenextweb.com/gadgets/2011/12/03/5-working-brain-computer-apps-orgasms-helicopters-and-more/>