Could Brain Decoding Machines Change Our Minds?

Vincent Taschereau-Dumouchel; Mathieu Roy

doi:10.1016/j.tics.2020.09.006

Could Brain Decoding Machines Change Our Minds?

Trends Cogn Sci. 2020 Nov;24(11):856-858. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2020.09.006. Epub 2020 Sep 28.

Authors

Vincent Taschereau-Dumouchel¹, Mathieu Roy²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA; Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.
² Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Canada. Electronic address: mathieu.roy3@mcgill.ca.

PMID: 32994059
DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2020.09.006

Abstract

In a recent experiment, Zhang and colleagues designed a closed-loop brain-machine interface that learned to reduce participants' pain by decoding pain-related brain activity. In doing so, they also highlighted some of the challenges associated with coadaptive processes in brain-machine communication.

Keywords: brain–computer interface; neurofeedback; pain.

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MeSH terms

Brain
Brain Mapping
Brain-Computer Interfaces*
Humans
Learning
Pain