Brainet – three brains working together
Neuroscientists have combined the brains of monkeys into a distributed network
A network consisting of the brains of three monkeys.Image here and below: Miguel A.L. Nicolelis et al.
/ Nature Scientific Reports
A group of neurophysiologists from Duke University has proposed a new paradigm in the construction of brain-computer interfaces. Scientists have combined the brains of three monkeys into a single distributed system capable of performing various functions in parallel and synchronizing their efforts to achieve results without using direct communication. The work was published in the journal Scientific Reports (Ramakrishnan et al., Computing Arm Movements with a Monkey Brainet, in the public domain).
Scientists have successfully conducted three experiments with rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). All monkeys were implanted with electrodes that controlled the movements of the brain, which were connected to one computer in parallel. In total, neurophysiologists have recorded the activity of more than 700 neurons in the brain of macaques.
Each monkey underwent a preliminary training on how to control an animated avatar hand on the screen. With the help of the "power of thought" monkeys were taught to move the hand in two and three dimensions to "touch" the target (see video). Individually, all macaques successfully coped with this task.
In the first experiment, distributed control, two monkeys had to simultaneously control an avatar with one hand in two–dimensional space, while each of them could control both coordinate axes – X and Y, but only in one of the halves of the screen. Therefore, in order to have time to touch all the goals appearing in different corners and receive a reward (fruit juice), the macaques needed to synchronize the work of their brains and turn them into a single "superbrain". After several weeks of training, the time required to perform the "touch" was reduced by about a third.
The first version of the experiment
In the second, more complex experiment, two macaques also moved a virtual hand in two–dimensional space, but this time each monkey could only control movement along one of the axes - x or y. This required even more complex and subtle mutual adjustment. However, after three weeks, the monkeys managed to learn how to interact effectively with each other.
The second version of the experiment
In the last experiment, three macaques had to control an avatar hand in three-dimensional space. At the same time, each monkey could control movement only on two of the three axes (for example, X and Y, X and Z, Y and Z). In order to receive the reward, it was necessary that the brains of at least two monkeys worked synchronously at any given time.
The third version of the experiment
In the video below, you can see a visualization of a series of experimental samples of already trained macaques, where each colored dot represents the trajectory of one of the three monkeys, and the black one represents their resultant, the movement of the avatar hand.
Scientists hope that their discovery will not only enable experienced users of mind-controlled exoskeletons and avatars to train other newcomers directly, but will also allow them to create bioneurocomputers by directly switching the brains of many living animals.
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14.07.2015