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Sci - fi author take note : Monkeys have check to move a twosome of practical arms directly using their brain .
The finding , which comes from the same grouping that recentlylinked two lowlife brains together , is the latest monstrance of efforts to immortalise sign from the brain and habituate them to run computers or prosthetic limbs . The ultimate goal of this inquiry is to restore physical control to people who are paralyzed .
From typing on a keyboard to open a can , life is full of front that require two coat of arms , neurobiologist Miguel Nicolelis , who led the research , said in a statement .
" Futurebrain - machine interfacesaimed at restoring mobility in humans will have to incorporate multiple limbs to greatly profit sternly paralyzed patient , " say Nicolelis , of Duke University School of Medicine . [ Watch television of rascal control embodiment ]
Spinal cord injuries , stroke and neurodegenerative diseases cause 1000000 of cases of paralysis worldwide . Although these condition chair to harm to the connection between the brain and the muscles , the brainpower areas responsible for muscle movements often stay inviolate .
Over the past decade , researchers have made great stride in developing brain - motorcar interfaces to link up the idea to prosthetic devices . But until now , these arrangement only sought to control a single limb , the researchers said .
scamp arm embodiment
In the cogitation , Nicolelis and his colleagues tape signals from nearly 500 neurons in both hemisphere of rascal brains , using array of tiny electrode implanted in movement - colligate areas of the cerebral cortex — the largest number of neurons recorded and account to escort , the team pronounce .
They trained monkeys to mesh a brace of avatar arms in a practical environment , first with joysticks , and later , using their nous alone . The animate being performed a practical task requiring both implements of war .
Over time , the monkey improved their ability to see the avatar arm with their brain , perform well at the two - armed task . Furthermore , the animals ' brains showed notable reorganization , or plasticity , over time in the brainiac areas from which the investigator recorded .
The findings , detail today ( Nov. 6 ) in the journal Science Translational Medicine , evoke the monkey genius are incorporating the avatar arms into their inner trunk image .
The final result also suggest that ensembles of neurons , rather than individual neurons , form the canonical unit of normal motion controller . Simply summing up the nervous activeness consociate with right or left branch social movement alone did not prognosticate the brainpower activity involved in move both subdivision in concert , Nicolelis said .
head - motorcar connection
In premature field , investigator from the University of Pittsburgh render in 2005 that amonkey could fee itselfusing a prosthetic arm controlled by its brain . And in 2012 , using a system spring up by investigator at Brown University , a person with four paralytic limb operated a psyche - see to it prosthetic limb tograsp a cup and salute from it .
The novel written report ’s finding are part of the Walk Again Project , an international collaborationism that aims to progress a psyche - controlled exoskeleton for paralytic individuals . The group design to exhibit the exoskeleton at the hatchway ceremonial occasion of the 2014 FIFA World Cup .
