From: bro@eunomia.rice.edu (Douglas Monk)
Subject: Re: Brain/Environment "bottleneck"
Date: 3 Mar 90 04:36:11 GMT
Organization: Rice University, Houston



In article <2193@milton.acs.washington.edu> jtm@cs.cornell.edu (Jan Thomas Mikso
vsky) writes:

>A related issue:  What research has been done in this area? [...]
>Can brains learn to trigger neurons in order to activate a foreign object?

Short answer: yes. Back in the '70s, I recall reading some experimental
reports on implanting fine wires as sensors into muscle fibers in the wrists
of subjects. After biofeedback training, they could learn to activate
individual muscle CELLS on command. The drawbacks that I recall are a long
training period, occasional poor performance rates (such as when fatigued,
etc.), and the fact that the wires would eventually kill the fibers in which
they were implanted, thus requiring reimplantation and a new training period.
I believe they had mapped out strategies around the first two problems, and
the last was the hard part. I recall thinking at the time that typewriters
would soon come with a cable to plug into sockets wired into our wrists,
and we would just have to visualize to type. Looking at my wrists, I see it
hasn't happened yet, despite being technically feasible for 20 years. :-)

Doug Monk (bro@rice.edu)

Disclaimer: These views are mine, not necessarily my organization's.