The electrode pads are going against the sky this time. Recent technology has discovered that electrode pads can actually be used in the human brain. A few days ago, scientists claimed that by implanting special electrode pads into the human brain or placing them on the scalp, people can control computers through consciousness. The mouse pointer on the screen. Early research experiments suggest that this latest research is more mature and complete than the brain-computer interaction technologies (BCIs) established by previous researchers.

 This technique includes two methods: implanting electrode stacks in the brain or attaching electrodes to the scalp. Through this technology, human conscious thinking can control robotic arms, drive wheelchairs, type text messages, and walk in the virtual world. According to Irving Schack, a neuroscientist at the Wadsworth Center of the New York Department of Health, one day in the future, brain-computer interaction technologies (BCIs) can completely change the lives of people with paralysis or neurological disorders, enabling them to walk or communicate with each other. However, he also emphasized that there are still unresolved problems with this method, and the electrodes established by these two methods still have inherent difficulties that are difficult to overcome.

　　The electrodes placed on the scalp can only detect the radio waves passing through the head, and the weak signals formed are easily affected by the interference of the main current and other sources. The method of implanting electrodes into the brain can form a clear signal strength, but this method does not allow the human body to fully teach and receive. Shaker explained, “When electrodes are implanted in brain tissue, the human brain instinctively tries to get rid of these electrode sheets. As time goes by, the signal strength of the electrodes implanted in the brain will also decrease.”

　　 Currently, Schack and colleagues from the Albany School of Medicine, the University of Washington in St. Louis and Seattle, and the University of Wisconsin are designing a third method with less harmful effects. They used a polymer sheet containing electrode grids with a diameter of 2 mm distributed on part of the scalp at a distance of 10 mm. This method is called electroencephalography (ECOG). This method is often used to diagnose patients with severe epilepsy. Shaker said, "This kind of electrode grid is as thin as a piece of paper. The electrode recording signal is similar to the method of placing an electrode on the scalp, but the signal obtained by this method is more precise and clear."

　　The patient can consciously control the mouse pointer after half an hour of study

　　 In a recent experiment, 5 patients learned to control the two-dimensional mouse pointer on the computer screen using their brain consciousness. Shaker said that these five patients all learned how to control the mouse pointer with their consciousness within 30 minutes, and they behaved as if electrodes were directly implanted in the brain. In other studies, researchers have shown that electrodes using this method can read human arm and finger movement information through brain consciousness.

Highly demanding human experiments require permanent implantation of electrode grids in the brain. Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis are testing a new design method developed by colleagues at the University of Wisconsin and are currently The monkey conducts an experiment.

　　 Shaker said in an interview with a reporter from "New Scientist" that if the above research design is successful, the next step needs to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Then, these electrode grids can be implanted or attached to the brain tissue with the lowest degree of "invasion of the brain." Klaus Robert Müller, who is engaged in the research of brain-computer interface electroencephalography (EEG) attached to the scalp at the Technical University of Berlin, Germany, said, "No matter what, in the future, the cortical EEG technology will become a brain-computer interaction. The main method of technical clinical selection, and has a wide range of applications." He also pointed out that it is of great significance to realize that the two-dimensional mouse pointer can be controlled by consciousness within 20 minutes! Although the implantation of electrodes in the brain can be easily achieved, after all, this method is an invading brain strategy. Mueller said, "For many patients, the electroencephalogram recording method is their first choice, but for healthy people, the non-brain-invasive scalp-attached electrode method is the most ideal."

      Maybe in a few years, it will be possible to realize that everyone's brain and body will have electrode pads implanted, and then people will become half-humans into machines.