Scientists connect 3 actual human brains (then make them play Tetris)
Scientists connect 3 actual human brains (then make them
play Tetris)
First Tetris... then what?
BY MARK SERRELS OCTOBER 7, 2018 9:44 PM PDT
Neuroscientists behind the project called it
"BrainNet", a "multi-person non-invasive direct brain-to-brain
interface for collaborative problem solving".
In layman's terms, researchers from the University of
Washington and Carnegie Mellon University figured out a way to connect three
brains (still attached to their human hosts!) and have the owners of said
brains make collective choices together without speaking.
And they tested it by playing Tetris. Because of course
they did.
The team used "electroencephalograms" (EEGs) to
record electric impulses from two human brains and "transcranial magnetic
stimulation" (TMS) to deliver information to a third brain. The end
result: an interface that allowed three human subjects to collaborate and solve
Tetris problems using brain-to-brain communication.
In the test, two "senders" were connected to
EEG sensors and communicated to a third person, the "receiver" via a
TMS helmet with the ability to send flashes directly to the brain.
The two "senders" could see the game of Tetris
being played, the "receiver" could not. The goal: send a message
telling the receiver to either rotate or not rotate the Tetris piece, depending
on how the game was going.
In order to communicate, the senders had to stare at one
of two LED lights. These two lights were flashing at different frequencies,
meaning that different signals were sent from the brain depending on which
light was being stared at. If the receiver received a flash from the TMS
helmet, he had to rotate the block.
Incredibly, five groups of three subjects were able to
successfully perform the task 81 percent of the time.
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