I think this study deserves mention and discussion here.
www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php
Monkey brain rewires to use robotic arm
By STEVE MITCHELL
WASHINGTON, May 10 (UPI) --
WASHINGTON, May 10 (UPI) -- The brains of monkeys who learned to control robotic arms rewired themselves to treat the arms as if they were real -- a finding scientists say has implications for developing limbs to assist handicapped humans.
The findings build upon a 2003 study that found monkeys were able to control robotic arms using only signals from their brains and without moving their own arms.
Miguel Nicolelis and colleagues at Duke University's Center for Neuroengineering analyzed the data to see what was happening to the primates' brain cells as they learned to use the robotic arm to position a cursor on a video screen.
"The monkey's brain incorporates properties of the robotic arm as if it was another arm and changes to adapt to those properties," Nicolelis, a neurobiologist, told United Press International. "Basically, the brain extends the representation of the animal's body and enhances the sense of self. The animal can function using two arms but also can function as if he has a third arm."
This not only expands the limit of the brain's ability to adapt itself to new situations, it also "opens new venues for how to design prosthetics that can be more readily incorporated by the brain," he said.
*****
Experiments in Nicolelis' lab already are building on the neuroprosthetic concept. His team is developing ways patients can receive feedback sensation, either visually or by touch, from neuroprosthetic devices via electrodes running from the limb to the brain. This would make the appendages function more like real limbs by providing a perceptual image in the patients' minds, he said.
*****
Research in other labs also has advanced this concept. In February, a team from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine reported a monkey fitted with a robotic arm controlled by only its brain signals was able to feed itself using the arm. Tiny electrodes implanted in the brain translated the brain signals into movement of the robotic arm.
In Nicolelis' study, which appears in the May 11 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, the monkey's brain was able to adapt to the robotic arm by shifting some of its neurons that previously were used to control its own arms to become more attuned to the function of the robotic arm.
When the researchers analyzed the brain signals collected during the experiment, they found the monkey simultaneously carrying out an activity with its own arm while performing another with the robotic arm.
*****
The findings challenge some experts' views of the brain's plasticity, Nicolelis said. Although it has long been accepted the human brain is uniquely adaptable to functioning in novel situations and learning to use new tools, Nicolelis and his colleagues believe their results push the boundaries of that concept.
They propose the human brain has the unique ability to change its concept of self and this extends to the tools humans use. This is not too surprising since the brain routinely incorporates tools in everyday use into its perception of who people are.
"Everything from cars to clothing that we use in our lives becomes incorporated into our sense of self," Nicolelis said. "So, our species is capable of 'evolving' the perception of what we are."
Steve Mitchell is UPI's medical correspondent. E-mail sciencedesk@upi.com.
{excerpts}
Those who can get the source study and present the data would be highly appreciated.
www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php
Monkey brain rewires to use robotic arm
By STEVE MITCHELL
WASHINGTON, May 10 (UPI) --
WASHINGTON, May 10 (UPI) -- The brains of monkeys who learned to control robotic arms rewired themselves to treat the arms as if they were real -- a finding scientists say has implications for developing limbs to assist handicapped humans.
The findings build upon a 2003 study that found monkeys were able to control robotic arms using only signals from their brains and without moving their own arms.
Miguel Nicolelis and colleagues at Duke University's Center for Neuroengineering analyzed the data to see what was happening to the primates' brain cells as they learned to use the robotic arm to position a cursor on a video screen.
"The monkey's brain incorporates properties of the robotic arm as if it was another arm and changes to adapt to those properties," Nicolelis, a neurobiologist, told United Press International. "Basically, the brain extends the representation of the animal's body and enhances the sense of self. The animal can function using two arms but also can function as if he has a third arm."
This not only expands the limit of the brain's ability to adapt itself to new situations, it also "opens new venues for how to design prosthetics that can be more readily incorporated by the brain," he said.
*****
Experiments in Nicolelis' lab already are building on the neuroprosthetic concept. His team is developing ways patients can receive feedback sensation, either visually or by touch, from neuroprosthetic devices via electrodes running from the limb to the brain. This would make the appendages function more like real limbs by providing a perceptual image in the patients' minds, he said.
*****
Research in other labs also has advanced this concept. In February, a team from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine reported a monkey fitted with a robotic arm controlled by only its brain signals was able to feed itself using the arm. Tiny electrodes implanted in the brain translated the brain signals into movement of the robotic arm.
In Nicolelis' study, which appears in the May 11 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, the monkey's brain was able to adapt to the robotic arm by shifting some of its neurons that previously were used to control its own arms to become more attuned to the function of the robotic arm.
When the researchers analyzed the brain signals collected during the experiment, they found the monkey simultaneously carrying out an activity with its own arm while performing another with the robotic arm.
*****
The findings challenge some experts' views of the brain's plasticity, Nicolelis said. Although it has long been accepted the human brain is uniquely adaptable to functioning in novel situations and learning to use new tools, Nicolelis and his colleagues believe their results push the boundaries of that concept.
They propose the human brain has the unique ability to change its concept of self and this extends to the tools humans use. This is not too surprising since the brain routinely incorporates tools in everyday use into its perception of who people are.
"Everything from cars to clothing that we use in our lives becomes incorporated into our sense of self," Nicolelis said. "So, our species is capable of 'evolving' the perception of what we are."
Steve Mitchell is UPI's medical correspondent. E-mail sciencedesk@upi.com.
{excerpts}
Those who can get the source study and present the data would be highly appreciated.
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