The Mind-Machine InterfaceComputers and the Wired Brain

Sasha KrolAllison Nishitani

Alicia Nugent

• How does the brain work?• How can machines interface with the

brain?

Wikimedia Commons, Users: Jmarchn

Outline

• Sasha: how machines communicate with the brain

• Allison: how the brain controls machines

• Alicia: how machines control the brain

Outline

Neurons make up the brain

Reprinted by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: Livet et al., Nature 450, 56-62 (2007)

Dendrites

Axon

Cell body

Neuron structure

National Insitute of Aging ww.nia.nih.gov

Membranes Store Charge Channels Pass Charge

Ions Carry Charge/Current

Neurons are like batteries

Chemical Gated Charge Gated

Channels regulate current acrossthe membrane

Outside of Neuron Inside of Neuron Outside of Neuron Inside of Neuron

ClosedOpen

Neuron

Dendrites

Axon

Inside of NeuronOutside of Neuron

Can use electricity to activate neurons

Inside of NeuronOutside of Neuron

Wikimedia Commons, Users: Jmarchn

Machines can collect informationand transmit it to brain

How the brain sees

Eye

Optic nerveBrain – Visual Area

Wikimedia Commons, User: Wiley

The retina

Collects LightProcess Info

Retinitis PigmentosaMacular Degeneration

Rods and Cones

Wikimedia Commons, User: MesserWoland; Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852 - 1934)

Blind to sight

Zrenner et al. Subretinal electronic chips allow blind patients to read letters and combine them to words. Proc Biol Sci (2011) vol. 278 (1711) pp. 1489-97

Retina implant

Zrenner et al. Subretinal electronic chips allow blind patients to read letters and combine them to words. Proc Biol Sci (2011) vol. 278 (1711) pp. 1489-97

Chip

Summary

• Neurons receive chemical signals at their dendrites

• This triggers a cascade of channel openings, sending an electrical signal down their axon

• Machines can trigger neuron signaling and record neuron activity