• Question: will we ever be able to text through or play games through our thoughts

    Asked by 923astg49 to Darren on 18 Nov 2016.
    • Photo: Darren Rhodes

      Darren Rhodes answered on 18 Nov 2016:

      Hi!

      So.. in hospitals, it is now possible to use human-computer interfaces to listen to the thoughts of patients. There are some patients who have ‘locked in’ syndrome, that is, patients are fully awake and conscious, but they cannot move any part of their body. Doctors can now attach electrodes to the heads of these patients and tell them to concentrate of thinking of ‘left, ‘right’, ‘up’ and ‘down’. Analysing the differences in brain patterns for each of these types of thoughts allows doctors to ask question to the patients and get a response. For example, a doctor can ask ‘can you hear me?’ and ask patients to think of up for ‘yes’ and down for ‘no’.

      So if we can fo this now, I think it’s very possible in the future that we will be able to play games through our thoughts. It is a long way off, but there is the science to suggest it can happen!

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