Neuroscientists are exploring a brain interface that would let you make cellphone calls just by thinking of the number you want to dial.
Giving a whole new meaning to hands-free cellphone use, neuroscientists at the University of California, San Diego, say they've discovered a way to dial a cellphone just by thinking of a phone number. Here, a guide to the mind-bending new study:
How does this brain-dialing work?
Researchers had users sit in front of a screen displaying a keypad. The numbers on the keypad each flashed at a slightly different frequency. Special electrodes attached to the users' scalps detected those frequencies and relayed the brain activity to a cellphone equipped to decode the signals. In the end, users could dial just by thinking of a number on the screen. The study was published in the Journal of Neural Engineering.
Would the interface work for anyone?
Yes. From our experience, anyone can do it, says researcher Tzzy-Ping Jung, as quoted in Technology Review. But getting the system to work well takes some practice, and some people are better at it than others, says Mike Masnick at TechDirt. Of the 10 subjects asked to dial a 10-digit phone number, seven of them reached 100 percent accuracy. But Jung himself only succeeded around 85 percent of the time.
Rest of article: http://theweek.com/article/index/214263/the-future-of-cellphones-dialing-with-your-thoughts
Giving a whole new meaning to hands-free cellphone use, neuroscientists at the University of California, San Diego, say they've discovered a way to dial a cellphone just by thinking of a phone number. Here, a guide to the mind-bending new study:
How does this brain-dialing work?
Researchers had users sit in front of a screen displaying a keypad. The numbers on the keypad each flashed at a slightly different frequency. Special electrodes attached to the users' scalps detected those frequencies and relayed the brain activity to a cellphone equipped to decode the signals. In the end, users could dial just by thinking of a number on the screen. The study was published in the Journal of Neural Engineering.
Would the interface work for anyone?
Yes. From our experience, anyone can do it, says researcher Tzzy-Ping Jung, as quoted in Technology Review. But getting the system to work well takes some practice, and some people are better at it than others, says Mike Masnick at TechDirt. Of the 10 subjects asked to dial a 10-digit phone number, seven of them reached 100 percent accuracy. But Jung himself only succeeded around 85 percent of the time.
Rest of article: http://theweek.com/article/index/214263/the-future-of-cellphones-dialing-with-your-thoughts
