Fw: [Mind and Brain] News: Brain-to-brain interface allows transmission oftactile and motor information between rats
- Have received the following content - Sender: Robert Karl Stonjek Receiver: Psychiatry-Research,Cognitive NeuroScience,Mind and Brain Time: 2013-03-01, 00:21:49 Subject: [Mind and Brain] News: Brain-to-brain interface allows transmission oftactile and motor information between rats Brain-to-brain interface allows transmission of tactile and motor information between rats February 28th, 2013 in Neuroscience Enlarge Researchers have electronically linked the brains of pairs of rats for the first time, enabling them to communicate directly to solve simple behavioral puzzles. Credit: Duke University Medical Center Researchers have electronically linked the brains of pairs of rats for the first time, enabling them to communicate directly to solve simple behavioral puzzles. A further test of this work successfully linked the brains of two animals thousands of miles apart?ne in Durham, N.C., and one in Natal, Brazil. The results of these projects suggest the future potential for linking multiple brains to form what the research team is calling an organic computer, which could allow sharing of motor and sensory information among groups of animals. The study was published Feb. 28, 2013, in the journal Scientific Reports. Our previous studies with brain-machine interfaces had convinced us that the rat brain was much more plastic than we had previously thought, said Miguel Nicolelis, M.D., PhD, lead author of the publication and professor of neurobiology at Duke University School of Medicine. In those experiments, the rat brain was able to adapt easily to accept input from devices outside the body and even learn how to process invisible infrared light generated by an artificial sensor. So, the question we asked was, 'if the brain could assimilate signals from artificial sensors, could it also assimilate information input from sensors from a different body?' To test this hypothesis, the researchers first trained pairs of rats to solve a simple problem: to press the correct lever when an indicator light above the lever switched on, which rewarded the rats with a sip of water. They next connected the two animals' brains via arrays of microelectrodes inserted into the area of the cortex that processes motor information. One of the two rodents was designated as the encoder animal. This animal received a visual cue that showed it which lever to press in exchange for a water reward. Once this encoder rat pressed the right lever, a sample of its brain activity that coded its behavioral decision was translated into a pattern of electrical stimulation that was delivered directly into the brain of the second rat, known as the decoder animal. The decoder rat had the same types of levers in its chamber, but it did not receive any visual cue indicating which lever it should press to obtain a reward. Therefore, to press the correct lever and receive the reward it craved, the decoder rat would have to rely on the cue transmitted from the encoder via the brain-to-brain interface. The researchers then conducted trials to determine how well the decoder animal could decipher the brain input from the encoder rat to choose the correct lever. The decoder rat ultimately achieved a maximum success rate of about 70 percent, only slightly below the possible maximum success rate of 78 percent that the researchers had theorized was achievable based on success rates of sending signals directly to the decoder rat's brain. Importantly, the communication provided by this brain-to-brain interface was two-way. For instance, the encoder rat did not receive a full reward if the decoder rat made a wrong choice. The result of this peculiar contingency, said Nicolelis, led to the establishment of a behavioral collaboration between the pair of rats. We saw that when the decoder rat committed an error, the encoder basically changed both its brain function and behavior to make it easier for its partner to get it right, Nicolelis said. The encoder improved the signal-to-noise ratio of its brain activity that represented the decision, so the signal became cleaner and easier to detect. And it made a quicker, cleaner decision to choose the correct lever to press. Invariably, when the encoder made those adaptations, the decoder got the right decision more often, so they both got a better reward. In a second set of experiments, the researchers trained pairs of rats to distinguish between a narrow or wide opening using their whiskers. If the opening was narrow, they were taught to nose-poke a water port on the left side of the chamber to receive a reward; for a wide opening, they had to poke a port on the right side. The researchers then divided the rats into encoders and decoders. The decoders were trained to associate stimulation pulses with the left reward poke as the correct choice, and an absence of pulses with the right reward poke as correct. During trials in which the encoder
Re: Fw: [Mind and Brain] News: Brain-to-brain interface allows transmission oftactile and motor information between rats
I was going to send that article to annoy Craig but then decided to leave him in alone :) On Fri, Mar 1, 2013 at 1:47 PM, Roger Clough rclo...@verizon.net wrote: - Have received the following content - *Sender:* Robert Karl Stonjek ston...@ozemail.com.au *Receiver:* Psychiatry-Research,Cognitive NeuroScience,Mind and Brainpsychiatry-resea...@yahoogroups.com,cognitiveneurosciencefo...@yahoogroups.com,mindbr...@yahoogroups.com *Time:* 2013-03-01, 00:21:49 *Subject:* [Mind and Brain] News: Brain-to-brain interface allows transmission oftactile and motor information between rats ** http://medicalxpress.com/ Brain-to-brain interface allows transmission of tactile and motor information between ratsFebruary 28th, 2013 in Neuroscience [image: Brain-to-brain interface allows transmission of tactile and motor information between rats]Enlargehttp://s.ph-cdn.com/newman/gfx/news/hires/2013/braintobrain.jpg *Researchers have electronically linked the brains of pairs of rats for the first time, enabling them to communicate directly to solve simple behavioral puzzles. Credit: Duke University Medical Center* *Researchers have electronically linked the brains of pairs of rats for the first time, enabling them to communicate directly to solve simple behavioral puzzles. A further test of this work successfully linked the brains of two animals thousands of miles apartę¢ ne in Durham, N.C., and one in Natal, Brazil.* The results of these projects suggest the future potential for linking multiple brains to form what the research team is calling an organic computer, which could allow sharing of motor and sensory information among groups of animals. The study was published Feb. 28, 2013, in the journal *Scientific Reports*. Our previous studies with brain-machine interfaces had convinced us that the rat brain was much more plastic than we had previously thought, said Miguel Nicolelis, M.D., PhD, lead author of the publication and professor of neurobiology at Duke University School of Medicine. In those experiments, the rat brain was able to adapt easily to accept input from devices outside the body and even learn how to process invisible infrared light generated by an artificial sensor. So, the question we asked was, 'if the brain could assimilate signals from artificial sensors, could it also assimilate information input from sensors from a different body?' To test this hypothesis, the researchers first trained pairs of rats to solve a simple problem: to press the correct lever when an indicator light above the lever switched on, which rewarded the rats with a sip of water. They next connected the two animals' brains via arrays of microelectrodes inserted into the area of the cortex that processes motor information. One of the two rodents was designated as the encoder animal. This animal received a visual cue that showed it which lever to press in exchange for a water reward. Once this encoder rat pressed the right lever, a sample of its brain activity that coded its behavioral decision was translated into a pattern of electrical stimulation that was delivered directly into the brain of the second rat, known as the decoder animal. The decoder rat had the same types of levers in its chamber, but it did not receive any visual cue indicating which lever it should press to obtain a reward. Therefore, to press the correct lever and receive the reward it craved, the decoder rat would have to rely on the cue transmitted from the encoder via the brain-to-brain interface. The researchers then conducted trials to determine how well the decoder animal could decipher the brain input from the encoder rat to choose the correct lever. The decoder rat ultimately achieved a maximum success rate of about 70 percent, only slightly below the possible maximum success rate of 78 percent that the researchers had theorized was achievable based on success rates of sending signals directly to the decoder rat's brain. Importantly, the communication provided by this brain-to-brain interface was two-way. For instance, the encoder rat did not receive a full reward if the decoder rat made a wrong choice. The result of this peculiar contingency, said Nicolelis, led to the establishment of a behavioral collaboration between the pair of rats. We saw that when the decoder rat committed an error, the encoder basically changed both its brain function and behavior to make it easier for its partner to get it right, Nicolelis said. The encoder improved the signal-to-noise ratio of its brain activity that represented the decision, so the signal became cleaner and easier to detect. And it made a quicker, cleaner decision to choose the correct lever to press. Invariably, when the encoder made those adaptations, the decoder got the right decision more often, so they both got a better reward. In a second set of experiments, the researchers trained pairs of rats to
