Thoughts wander in Virtual Reality

Source:
http://www.trnmag.com/Roundup/2005/TRN_Research_News_Roundup_10-3-05.html#thoughtswanderin


Thoughts wander in Virtual Reality

Devices that allow for direct brain-computer communications are advancing
on two fronts: devices implanted in the brain, and external electrodes
that pick up the brain's electrical signals. In general the external
devices are safer and cheaper, but the implants provide more control.


Typically, users are able to control their brain waves in a way that moves
a cursor up and down and side to side on a computer screen.

Researchers from Graz University of Technology in Austria, University
College of London in England, Guger Technologies OEG in Austria and the
University of Graz in Austria have expanded the amount of control
available via external electrodes with a means of detecting changes in
brain signals when users imagine moving their feet and translating the
effect into walking motion within a virtual reality environment.

The system is distinguishes brain signals produced by thinking about
different types of movements, including right hand, left hand, foot and
tongue, and converts the information to control signals. Three test
subjects were able to move forward through an immersive virtual street
scene by imagining walking.

This type of interface promises to enable those who are disabled, and
could eventually give and people whose hands and voices are otherwise
occupied another way to assess computers.

(Walking from Thoughts: Not the Muscles Are Crucial, but the Brain Waves!,
Presence 2005, London, September 21-23, 2005)

In a related development, members of the same research team have developed
a portable brain-computer interface for use in virtual environments. The
battery-powered interface, which includes a diskless Pocket PC, makes it
possible for people to physically move while using brain signal control.

(Integration of a Brain-Computer Interface into Virtual Environments,
Presence 2005, London, September 21-23, 2005)