Brain-Computer Interfaces

• Biological Cognitive Enhancement
• Whole brain emulation
• Wireheading
• Neuralink 

• Biological Cognitive Enhancement
• Whole brain emulation
• Wireheading
• Neuralink

Other attractive future application includes the upload of the whole content of the brain, and thus the mind, to a computer. Although still speculative, it [seemsseems http://singularity.org/files/CoalescingMinds.pdftheoretically possible]possible.

Other attractive future application includes the upload of the whole content of the brain, and thus the mind, to a computer. Although still speculative, it seems[seems http://singularity.org/files/CoalescingMinds.pdftheoretically possiblepossible].

Other attractive future application includes the upload of the whole content of the brain, and thus the mind, to a computer. Although we are still far from that scenario, there are quite a few arguments which makespeculative, it interest to think of.seems theoretically possible.

Other attractive future application includes the [http://www.sim.me.uk/neural/JournalArticles/Bamford2012IJMC.pdf "upload"upload of the whole content of the brain]brain, and thus the mind, to a computer. Although we are still far from that scenario, there are quite a few arguments which make it interest to think of.

Different ways of measuring the brain and kinds of BCIs

Practical applications

A Brain Computer Interface (BCI) is the generic term used to describe any kind of system that serves as a communication bridge between the brain (human or not) and an artificial module. It’s a field of research in which wide investment has been made since the 1970’s, especially in the clinical fields and systems’ enhancement.ergonomics. Generally speaking, any kind of brain activity that can be recorded can be used as a means of communicating with another system. Through the use of statistical classification techniques it’s possible to associate certain states or characteristics of the recorded signal – which the experiment subject learns to control - to any procedure, usually mediated by a computer.

Throughout the evolution of Cognitive Neuroscience, manyMany techniques have been developed to help us look and better understand the way the brain works. They range from imaging techniques (like MRI, fMRI, fNIRS or PET), to electrophysiological ones (like EEG, EcG or MEG). While the first category is usually used to obtain high resolution images of brain structures and the second one to register and analyze the electrical activity produced by the brain, with a high temporal resolution – which is why they are the ones mainly used in the field of BCI’s. In pair with such methods, although a different area in itself, includes brain implants capable of communicating directly with the neuronal tissue - neuroprosthetics.

As mentioned above,Of all the different means avaliable, the registering of the electroencephalographic (EEG) activity is the most developed and extensively researched of this fields. It allows us, in a non-invasive way allows usway, to peak the brain functioning with a high temporal resolution – furthermore, it is now well established that different brain states produce distinct observable activity. With the help of electrodes placed on the scalp, it is possible to feed this activity and their respective variations and patterns to any system capable of classifying and detecting them in real time and act accordingly (making this a field highly interconnected to that of machine learning).

FollowingThe field of BCIs has followed closely the developments in signal processing and classification, along with the increasing computational power available, the field of BCI’savailable. It was firstly researched as a communication means (for people unable to move, for instance) through the detection of ERPs – event related potentials, small variations of amplitude associated to the presentation of certain stimuli - as well as a way of automatically detecting epileptic seizures. Also, much owing to the first and major financers of such research, the DARPA, the use of BCIs has been always closed associated to the military field, mainlyfield. This has allowed insights regarding the detection of mental states of fatigue and attention variations, which has led...