Using Your Head: Researchers Demonstrate Power of Brain Waves

People who are so paralyzed that they cannot even speak may some day gain control over their surroundings by using their thoughts alone, thanks to technology being developed at the University.

Jessica Bayliss, a computer science graduate student, has successfully demonstrated that the use of key brain waves may be enough to control household electrical devices such as thermostats, telephones, and stereos.

So far, the experiments have been tested only in virtual reality in a laboratory, but Bayliss is the first to show that the specific, relatively weak brain waves can be detected even though a person is distracted by many other things in the environment.

The National Institutes of Health is supporting Bayliss's research because it may someday give back a measure of control to those who have lost the ability to move. By merely looking at the telephone, television, or thermostat and wishing it to be used, a person with disabilities could call a friend or turn up the heat on a chilly day.

The team is confident that the technology will make the jump to the "real world," eventually enabling people to look around an actual apartment and take control in a way they couldn't before.

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