New Brain-Machine Interface Taps Human Smarts to Enhance Computers' Abilities, Instead of Vice Versa. Brain-machine interfaces hold potential for a variety of ends, from helping the neurologically or physically disabled communicate and interact with their environments, to creating thought-controlled computers that augment the brain with computing power. A group of researchers at Columbia are turning that model on its ear, using brain power to augment computing tasks. Their device couples the human brain and computers to perform tasks neither could do as efficiently on their own. The device, known as C3Vision (cortically coupled computer vision) taps into the fast processing power of the brain to help computer programs manage complex problem, particularly those posed by image recognition. An electroencephalogram (EEG) cap on the head of a human user is used to detect neurological signals in the brain. The computer then flashes images up on the screen at a rate of about ten per second.
The system is great at working our problems that computer language has a problem tackling. The Future of Information Modelling. Parametricist Manifesto. The End of Theory. The End of Theory: The Data Deluge Makes the Scientific Method Obsolete. Computers Get Help from the Human Brain. Most brain-computer interfaces are designed to help disabled people communicate or move around.
A new project is using this type of interface to help computers perform tasks they can’t manage on their own. In experiments, researchers used the interface to sort through satellite images for surface-to-air missiles faster than any machine or human analyst could manage alone. “With Google, you have to type in words to describe what you’re interested in,” says Paul Sajda, an associate professor at Columbia University. “But let’s say I’m interested in something ‘funny looking.’ ” Sajda explains that computers struggle to classify images according to this kind of abstract concept, but humans can do it almost instantly. Sajda’s device, called C3Vision (cortically coupled computer vision), uses an electroencephalogram (EEG) cap to monitor brain activity as the person wearing it is shown about 10 images per second. At the speed at which it works, the conscious brain is unable to register a “hit.”