Can one person communicate with another without talking, gesturing, or using any part of their body other than the brain? Far from looking like a science fiction movie, a new study carried out by scientists at the University of Washington (USA) has successfully completed an experiment using the brain-brain interface or BBI ( brain-brain interface e). The experiment has shown that two human brains can be directly linked and allow guessing what is in the mind of the other .
How does this system work? The technology combines neuroimaging and neurostimulation to allow brains to communicate directly through neural coding . With this interface, the content of the “sending brain” is extracted from its neural signals, digitized and then recoded in the “receiving brain”. To test the experiment, the volunteers were invited to participate in a question and answer game by transmitting signals from the brain through the Internet.
“ This is the most complex brain-to-brain experiment ever done in humans. It uses conscious experiences through signals that are experienced visually, and requires two people to collaborate ”, explains Andrea Stocco, leader of the study.
Experiments were conducted with participants inco c pairs in two laboratories located more than 1.5 kilometers away. Their brains were connected to an EEG machine that recorded brain activity. Next, an object was shown to the first subject and the second (the receiving brain), a list of 20 possible objects and questions associated with them. The results revealed a success rate of 72% . The proportion of errors, according to the experts, could be due to a simple failure in the interpretation of what their brains captured.
“They have to interpret something that they are seeing with their brains. It is not something they have ever seen ”, clarifies Chantel Prat, co-author of the work.
The study has been published in the journal PloS One.
