Interfaces

This NewScientist Blogs article reports two Hungarian researchers have discovered that a gamer's button presses can be predicted 2 seconds before they make them, through measurements of skin conductance. From the article: "wo Hungarian researchers have come up with a cunning way to create the most frustrating computer game imaginable.

Laszlo Laufer and Bottyan Nemeth at the Budapest Univesrity of Technology and Economics have discovered that a gamer's button presses can be predicted 2 seconds before they make them, through measurements of skin conductance.

This trick might ultimately have some important applications, like speeding-up a person's reaction time. But it could also conceivably be used to make computer games that predict a player's actions and adapt in order to frustrate them.

This BBC News article reports a Pac-Man-like computer game that delivered electric shocks to gamers has been used to shed light on how the brain reacts to imminent danger. From the article: "Scans showed the different regions of the brain used by volunteers as the level of threat in the game increased.

The scans showed that activity switched from the front of the brain to the middle as anxiety turned to panic.

Writing in the journal Science, the researchers said the change was crucial for an animal's survival.

"Without fear, animals would not react to threats," said Dr Dean Mobbs of University College London and one of the authors of the paper.

"This is a poor survival strategy and makes it more likely that the animal will be eaten and not pass on its genes."

Fight or flee

This ZDNet's Emerging Technology Trends Blog article takes a look at the EyePoint system that uses both eye-tracking technology and keyboard hot keys to reduce our dependency on the mouse while surfing on Internet. From the article: "In a recent article, Computerworld reports that Stanford University computer scientists have developed a new way to interact with our computers. The EyePoint system uses both eye-tracking technology and keyboard hot keys to reduce our dependency on the mouse while surfing on Internet.

This Science Daily article reports U.S. scientists are developing chips that, implanted in one's brain, could allow an amputee to control an artificial arm by thinking about it. From the article: "The science fiction-like technology being developed at the University of Florida might also control epileptic seizures by interpreting signals in the brain and stimulating neurons to perform correctly.

Using a $2.5 million National Institutes of Health grant, University of Florida researchers are creating a "neuroprosthetic" chip designed to be implanted in the brain. The researchers are studying the concept in rats but expect to develop a prototype within four years that could be tested in people.

This short Virtual Worldlets article takes a look at the fundamental concepts and techniques needed for a future, brain interface based, total immersion. From the article: "In order to link a mind to a virtual body, which will be controlled by the same subconscious and conscious impulses as a physical body should be, the link connecting the mind to the physical body, save for autonomous finctions, is likely to require severing or blocking for the duration of the virtual immersion.

This NewScientistTech article is about the use of brain-computer interfaces in virtual worlds. It also presents the European consortium PRESENCCIA that has the goal of creating a virtual world through which a person can navigate using just their imagination. From the article: "A simulated world that can be explored simply by thinking about putting one foot in front of the other might offer new rehabilitation possibilities for disabled patients.

This is the vision behind a project that connects a brain-computer interface (BCI) to an immersive virtual world.

This 1up article relates the opinion of experts across the video game industry about the next 20 years of everything from game-design trends to the evolution of your living room. "It all hinges on thoughts and impulses not on button presses. The biggest obstacle we're facing now is one of interface. We need a significant advance in this area for gaming to truly allow for an interactive landscape of dreams." says Cliff Bleszinski, lead designer of Epic's Gears of War. From the article: "The guy who designed one of last year's biggest blockbusters hits the hay each night dreaming about the ultimate game.

This NewScientistTech article reports a liquid that sets into a conducting web around brain cells might solve the problem of wiring up medical implants to nerves or the brain, US researchers say. From the article: "Connecting electrodes to the nervous system is difficult because the tissue becomes inflamed when in contact with metal. This creates a layer of electrically insulating scar tissue that makes it harder to send or receive signals.