What is Artificial Intelligence?

The left brain image shows the area of compromised white matter (blue area) among poor readers relative to good readers at the beginning of the study. The center brain image shows the area where the structural integrity increased (red/yellow area) among poor readers who received the instruction, and it is very similar to the initially compromised area. The right brain image shows that following the instruction, there were no differences between the good and poor readers with respect to the integrity of their white matter.

Dyslexic children are poor readers. Possibly because their brains' neural networks are wired differently than that of normal children. Cognitive scientists say, they are picture readers, so they learn to read very slowly when words are not defined by pictures and sounds.

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, Timothy Keller and Marcel Just have found evidence of possible brain rewiring after an intensive remedial sessions to improve reading skills in young children. The evidence showed an improvement in dyslexic brain's structure with respect to the white matter, the brain tissue that carries signals between sections of grey matter, where information is processed.

The experiment commenced by scanning the brains of 72 children using fMRI, 47 of them were good readers and 25 were poor. The good readers did not receive the 100-hour remedial training, while the group of poor readers underwent the remedial reading session.

After completion, all the 72 subjects' brains were re-scanned. The 47 good readers did not show an increase in the brain tissue while the other 25 showed the white matter in their brains has increased significantly correlating to an improvement in their reading skills. "The children who showed the most white matter change also showed the most improvement in reading ability, confirming the link between the brain tissue alteration and reading progress", researchers said.

Click here to read more about First Evidence of Brain Rewiring, Behavioral Training, Remedial Reading Treatment and Dyslexia.

It was in the news in mid-November 1999, a car accident left a 16-year old teenager totally paralyzed. Erick Ramsey could not move any part of his body; could not blink his eyes and could not even speak a single letter. He was a total wreck 10 years ago. But, now he is like a little child learning his first two words "mama" and "dada".

Thanks to neuroscience genius, Dr. Philip Kennedy, a pioneer in the field of brain-computer interface (BCI) research. He dedicated his expertise in order to develop a system that interprets Erik Ramsey's thoughts and translates them into speech. If successful, this would be the first brain-computer interface with the speech technology.

Several electrodes were connected directly into the boy's premotor cortex, a region of the brain that controls movement of the mouth, lips, tongue, and jaw. Kennedy developed a matrix of six words: heat, hid, hat, hut, hoot, and hot. that represented the major English vowel sounds. During the tests, he made Erik think of these words by saying in his mind the word uh-ee. As he does, a green cursor jumps across the matrix from hut to heat, and a sound booms out of the speaker "uuuhahuuuuhaheeeeeeee." That was the sound of Erik's brain, saying those words.Read more.

With Erick making a good progress in the BCI speech system, another scientist joined the project in 2006. Frank Guenther, a computational neuroscientist at Boston University, helped Kennedy develop a computer decoder that could turn those patterns into a prosthetic voice.

Click here to read more about Brain-Computer Speech Decoder, Erik Ramsey, Brain Implant, Neuroscience, and Prosthetic Voice

Read the full Erick Ramsey story.

simulated game using brain waves (by Melissa Folks, learning specialist)

Video games and/or computer games are said to disturb the learning behaviors of children in school. Contrary to what is believed to be the villain in children's poor performance in school, is actually helping kids focus more in their studies. But, of course, these computer games should be educational, meaning it shouldn't include any violent scenes.

Several mind over game studies have already proven their hypothesis. And in a recent experiment conducted at a London primary school for children with learning and attention difficulties, scientists studied the learning behaviors of children by making them concentrate over their own brain waves as they see them on the computer.

Two electrodes were attached one to the ear and other to the scalp. Electrodes were used to measure electrical activities of the part of the brain where millions of neural activity occurs. The captured electrical signals are seen as "waves".

The study suggests that "lots of theta waves mean you're drowsy, low to medium frequency beta waves are good for calm, focused attention and flexibility, while lots of high frequency beta waves mean you're excited or anxious"

Furthermore, when the brain finds the right balance of all three wave patterns simultaneously, the subject is said to have success in the simulated game, that is in a maze his or "her character is going around eating dots, making beeps and getting points". This is called neurofeedback.

Click here to read more about Brain Games, Neurofeedback, Brain Waves

researcher tapping the soil moisture sensor to the tree trunk

Interactive telecommunications had gone a notch higher with this new innovation. Who would possibly think that trees can now inform their owners what they 'feel'. But for the love of nature, scientists have developed a sensor that measures the moisture-level of the plants. Once the sensor detects low-moisture level, it sends electrical signals to a wireless device that would send a text message to their owners saying "I am thirsty!" or "You over watered me".

Israeli researchers at the Volcanic Center and Agriculture Ministry have developed a new sensor that monitors moisture levels in plants and trees, that signals real-time alerts to farmers' mobile phones or computers when watering is needed.

The portable sensor shaped like a hammer, has a monitor that is tapped onto tree trunks or roots. Unlike other models, which are implanted in the leaves, this new device is more effective in monitoring water levels because it gathers information from the roots or stems via electrical signals.

According to Dr. Eran Raveh and Dr. Arieh Nadler, experts in plant biology and ground science, "We have a water crisis here in Israel and need a way to irrigate more accurately, and it will be extremely useful to farmers growing fruits and vegetables to cut down irrigation expenses by up to 50 percent".

Click here to read more about Interactive Telecommunications and Soil Moisture Sensor.

brain waves and heart rythyms are now used in biometrics to identify a person

Since the 9/11 incident, most American and European establishments have doubled their efforts in securing their establishments from identity thefts, which could be terrorists. This is very hard to accomplish, as most of these suspected "terrorists" use more sophisticated disguise technologies than the commercial biometrics technology presently used. The most common biometrics currently integrated in the security systems of most establishments nowadays are finger print analysis, face and voice and Iris scan analysis.

Although, it is sad to note, face, voice and finger biometrics can be faked. That is why scientists are continually seeking for ways to improve on the currently used biometrics. In Europe, researchers at HUMABIO, an EU-funded project, have combined biometrics' methodologies and the latest sensor technologies to capture brain patterns and use them to identify a person. Accordingly, brain patterns are unique for every person which make them impossible to be fraud.

typical EEG readings

In its early stage, the project had already developed the prototype headgear with two electrodes to read brain patterns. Using EEG and ECG technologies, HUMABIO will be able to extract the biometric profile of individuals, based on physiology and behavior characteristics. This information will be stored in a database and then compared to profiles created in real time, when individuals enter the secured area.

Click here to read more about Brain Waves Biometrics, HUMABIO, New Biometrics Systems.