Computer-Aided Brains: Scientific American
1/12/11 1:51 PM
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Head Lines | Mind & Brain
Computer-Aided Brains
By Brad Stenger | September 21, 2005 |
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For years, innovators have tried to devise
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computerized gadgetry to aid the brain.
Advances have come slowly, but new work
unveiled in recent months has sparked
enthusiasm.
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Computer scientist Roel Vertegaal of
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Queen's University in Ontario has crafted
headphones that replicate the brain's
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unconscious noise filter, which handles the
so-called cocktail party effect. In a crowded
setting, two people in a conversation use
eye contact to help them focus on each
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other's words and tune out background
noise. Vertegaal's "attentive headphones"
have a camera attached to an accompanying computer that tracks a person's gaze as
a cue for interaction. The technology could one day help people in trains and in
coffee shops work on their laptops more productively by minimizing the effects of
distractions.
At Microsoft Research in Redmond, Wash., psychologist Mary Czerwinski has tested
a prototype of a helmet that, as she says, "projects infrared light into the brain from
the scalp and measures optical changes as the light is reflected back out." The
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Computer-Aided Brains: Scientific American
1/12/11 1:51 PM
manufacturer, Archinoetics in Honolulu, developed the wireless helmet for the
military to try to gauge a soldier's mental workload, helping him or her act on
reason rather than impulse in tense situations. Czerwinski foresees consumers
possibly using such headgear to navigate shopping malls and supermarkets. At
demos, individuals are sometimes wary about donning the helmet, but Czerwinski
says resistance to such interactive hardware is waning as people adopt wearable
technology, such as heart rate monitors.
Other advances could make driving safer. At Drexel University, computer scientist
Dario Salvucci has developed a computer model that predicts how a driver's
concentration on the road may be compromised by other cognitive tasks, such as
listening to the radio or talking on a cell phone. Car companies have been trying
Salvucci's software, along with a driving simulator, as a test bed for new accessories
that do not distract drivers.
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Computer-Aided Brains: Scientific American
1/12/11 1:51 PM
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