Brain-computer interfaces, hypnosis, Mind Machines, synchrony, migraine and publicity of science
Posted by: ringo-ring on: August 28, 2009
Francois Vialatte is a researcher at Brain Science Institute RIKEN. He works on deciphering brain signals for creating better Brain-Computer interfaces and tools that can diagnose Alzheimer’s at early stages. Learn more about his research.
On this interview BCI researcher Francois Vialatte answers some unpleasant questions surrounding BCI research, such as does BCI really has its future? Also we discuss current problems with publicity of science, potential hypnotic effects of BCI and possibility of entering altered state of mind while playing BCI games.
Identify person by unique brain activity
Posted by: ringo-ring on: August 16, 2009
“Brain-wave signatures, represented as the EEG signals of a person … are different from one individual to another, even when they perform the same thought or task”, “A brain-based biometric can be as strong as DNA-based biometric”
Brain of each human being is completely unique. Its structure is highly influenced not only by our DNA but also by everything we experience in our life. You can find people even with the same DNA – but life history is something that cannot be duplicated.
So brain activity is unique biometric every person has. And such biometrics are used in access control systems when security is needed. Simply, you can use your biometric as a password to gain access to resources protected from everyone except you. And brain activity has a lot of advantages over other biometrics traditionally used in access control systems (such as fingerprints). Here are the most important ones:
- Brain activity is secure. In case of fingerprints, for example, we leave biometric in every place we touch with our hands, so everyone who needs to attack the system can collect & replicate it. Brain, in contrary, is safely hidden inside a skull.
- Brain activity is changeable. You cannot influence other biometrics – your iris pattern, DNA, heart beats, fingerprints – are determined by nature and there is no easy way to modify them. If system based on these biometrics is compromised once, it is compromised forever. Brain activity, conversely, can be easily changed just by simple thought.
DIY EEG Devices or Cheap EEG – 2
Posted by: ringo-ring on: July 10, 2009
- In: Things| hardware
- 2 Comments
As blog’s stats shows a lot of us today are dreaming of a cheap EEG device – most traffic is coming from Google searches “cheap eeg”, “cheapest eeg hardware” and the like =) From cheap EEG devices available, cheapest are those you build yourself. Currently there are various DIY EEG hardware designs & building instructions available on the Internet. Here is a short survey on what we have.
Downloadable EEG data
Posted by: ringo-ring on: July 8, 2009
I was hunting for such databases for a while while preparing my project. Here is what I collected.
Software & resources for GRE Preparation
Posted by: ringo-ring on: July 2, 2009
Yesterday passed GRE with 1270 result (I want more.. 
Quantitative section is rather easy – at least for CS graduate. But Verbal is always tough for non-native speakers, you need to learn a lot of awkward words! There are word lists on Internet containing ~5000 words or so, if you learn all of them you’re well prepared for Verbal section… but it’s not as easy.
Here is nice tool that helps a lot – Vocaboly - with it you can learn GRE words by playing. It also contains conventional methods like flash cards, tests, etc. – all u need to prepare well – but playing is the easiest method to remember a lot without putting much effort into. It is the best tool for vocabulary learning I found (there may be better softwares, but they cost a lot of $$..)
Writing your own soft for a really cheap EEG hardware
Posted by: ringo-ring on: June 15, 2009
- In: Projects
- 8 Comments
(A signal shown here was taken while twisting electrodes in hands. This is not EEG =)
As a geek I’ve always dreamed of a day when my computer will really become extension of my mind – all boundaries like the need to use mouse, keyboard and other awkward interfaces to explain my idea to machine will be gone. When mind will fuse with technology, and obtain all if its computing power, logic accuracy, incredible amounts of memory… and many other good things we could only dream of.
Fortunately, advances in technology in last years show we’re quickly moving in this direction. If you watch news you know today it’s possible to control machines using only your mind. It’s done by using brain-computer interfaces.
Surely it’s more interesting to try brain-computer interfacing yourself then just to watch it in news. But here comes the roadblock: you need special hardware – an EEG device – to make the connection, and it’s not cheap. When I googled for EEG hardware, I found unfortunately prices start from 3000$ and go up to tens of thousands of bucks 
((
