Monkey Magic

This game might look simple but considering the player is a monkey using only his mind, all is not as it might first appear. A chip implanted in the primate’s brain senses where it wants to move the cursor, and the grey dot on-screen moves accordingly, chasing the coloured target. The performance is facilitated by a clever new algorithm, which like a cheat code typed into a video game, makes the job far easier. Fusing information about both cursor position and velocity, and simultaneously interpreting signals from several neurons [nerve cells] rather than just one, it gives improved clarity and reliability compared to former models. What’s more, the chip is still working four years after it was implanted. Intercepting the brain waves of paralysed people in the same way could provide a new lease on life, allowing them not only to manipulate computer programs, but also to control robotic limbs.

Written by Anthony Lewis

Anthony Lewis

Writer

Ant was the web editor in the early days of BPoD, and has since worked with the UK’s top science organisations as a writer and multimedia producer. He now splits his time between freelance work and managing multimedia at The Lancet.

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• Vikash Gilja
• Stanford University, USA
• Reprinted by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: Nature Neuroscience Copyright 2012
• Published in Nature Neuroscience 15: 1752–1757