Gaming and Entertainment

  • gaming- good application of BCI + lack of liability
  • Some examples include:
    • Cheung+Rao (2012)- subject control 2-D motion w/ joystick and hand motor imagery using EEG
      • controlled up-down motion of cursor using imagery, joystick for left-right motion
    • Brainball (Hjelm and Browall 2000): control relaxation level by alpha rhythms
    • MindGame (Finke 2009): P300- moves a character across a 3D board

More Cool Games! :)

  • other gaming applications use SSVEP, or motor imagery and EEG-based virtual navigation
  • More examples:
    • ​BCI-controlled pinball machine (Tangermann 2009): paddle controlled by 2-class BCI based on imagery (left and right hand motor!)
    • Tetris (Blankertz 2010): left or right-hand motor imagery to make tetris go left/right, mental rotation to rotate, foot motor imagery to drop!

Brain-Controlled Art

  • fNIR-based sketch drawing program (Mappus, Jackson 2009)
  • perhaps can use the user's brain signal when they're responding to the art to change some elements of the art
  • "The Ascent" by Yehuda Duenyas- wears 3-D flying harness and a dry electrode headset - allows performers to ascend based on brain signals
    • done by detecting alpha and theta band oscillations in EEG

Ethics of BCI

Balancing Risks vs Benefits

  • care about damage or infection of invasive BCIs
  • Some questions include:
    • What are the potential side effects?
    • What are the patient's expectations?
    • What effect does it have on family?
  • Does the increase performance of an invasive BCI compared to non-invasive justify the risk associated with it?

Informed Consent

  • the definition of informed consent includes:
    • the risks + benefits associated with BCI technology in comparison to the alternative methods
    • information being extracted from the brain
    • consequences of extracting this information: could it lead to embarrassment or legal consequences?

More Informed Consent

  • some complications of BCI use might include:
    • in the case of children, is it enough to get consent from their parents?
    • if there's a locked-in patient, who gets to give consent then?
    • can consent be obtained from patients suffering from cognitive deficits that prevent them from fully understanding the benefits vs risks?

Abuse of BCI Technology

  • some immoral usage of BCI technology might include:
    • Mind reading or "brain tapping": we are able to intercept, record, or exploit a person's thoughts, reflections, adn beliefs using BCI technology. This might be used by criminals, terrorists, corporations, or spy agencies- not to mention law enforcement and military entities
    • Coercion or "mind control": BCI can be hijacked or used to force someone to do something against their own will

More Abuse of BCI

  • some immoral usage of BCI technology might include:
    • Memory Manipulation: BCI that can stimulate the brain can also erase memories or write in false memories, or even "brainwashing"
    • Viruses: a computer virus can be tapped into the machine, and it will lad to cognitive impairment or manipulation
  • BCI can also be tampered with to bias an outcome. "lie detection" can be manipulated to align an outcome.
  • need strong security measures as our responsibilities with this enormous power

BCI Security and Privacy

  • Institutional Review Board (IRB) checks for guidelines to ethical human subjects research.
  • What neural data is being stored? Could the data reveal something that breaches privacy? Will the data be stored and for how long, and why?
  • Activities against BCI security and privacy should be illegal.
  • However, there are a lot of rules that are not yet set in stone.

Legal Issues

  • lawmakers will need to determine which BCI activities are legal or not.
  • courts will have to decide the consequences of it 
  • what if the BCI machine did something illegal using the user's subconscious, then is the user responsible for it?
  • BCI users might need to sign a waiver, much like driving a car. However, it's much easier to tell when it's the car vs the driver's fault than it is for BCI and its user.

Moral and Social Justice Issues

  • Moral dilemmas arise for something such as cochlear implants. Some deaf people don't think deafness is a disability. So should a deaf child receive this implant?
  • Also, evolution sculpted the brain to control our bodies with physical environment. So how will this escape from limitations imposed by our bodies change evolution?
  • Social justice problems will occur such as if the rich gives their children some implants to enhance physical or mental abilities

More on Moral and Social Justice

  • Potential Solution: government subsidize basic types of BCI for those who can't afford them
  • Parents will also be faced with the decision that should they allow their child to be involved with BCI? Then will they leave their child at an advantage vs disadvantage?
  • society might be split into the "haves" and the "have-nots", and how will social institutions such as schools or athletes or the Olympics handle that?

BCI Chapter 12 and 13

By tsunwong625

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BCI Chapter 12 and 13

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