Meditation for mind-control

Date:
September 23, 2020
Source:
College of Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University
Summary:
Scientists have discovered that mindful meditation can help
subjects learn and improve the ability to mind-control brain
computer interfaces (BCIs).



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
A BCI is an apparatus that allows an individual to control a machine or computer directly from their brain. Non-invasive means of control like electroencephalogram (EEG) readings taken through the skull are safe and convenient compared to more risky invasive methods using a brain implant,
but they take longer to learn and users ultimately vary in proficiency.


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He and collaborators conducted a large-scale human study enrolling
subjects in a weekly 8-week course in simple, widely-practiced meditation techniques, to test their effect as a potential training tool for
BCI control. A total of 76 people participated in this study, each
being randomly assigned to the meditation group or the control group,
which had no preparation during these 8 weeks. Up to 10 sessions of BCI
study were conducted with each subject. He's work shows that humans with
just eight lessons in mindfulness-based attention and training (MBAT) demonstrated significant advantages compared to those with no prior
meditation training, both in their initial ability to control BCI's and
in the time it took for them to achieve full proficiency.

After subjects in the MBAT group completed their training course they,
along with a control group, were charged with learning to control a simple
BCI system by navigating a cursor across a computer screen using their
thought. This required them to concentrate their focus and visualize
the movement of the cursor within their head. During the course of the
process, He's team monitored their performance and brain activity via EEG.

As stated prior, the team found that those with training in MBAT
were more successful in controlling the BCI, both initially and over
time. Interestingly, the researchers found that differences in brain
activity between the two sample groups corresponded directly with their success. The meditation group showed significantly enhanced capability
of modulating their alpha rhythm, the activity pattern monitored by the
BCI system to mentally control the movement of a computer cursor.

His findings are very important for the process of BCI training and
the overall feasibility of non-invasive BCI control via EEG. While
prior work from his group has shown that long-term meditators were
better able to overcome the difficulty of learning non-invasive mind
control, this work shows that just a short period of MBAT training
can significantly improve a subject's skill with a BCI. This suggests
that education in MBAT could provide a significant addition to BCI
training. "Meditation has been widely practiced for well-being and
improving health," said He. Our work demonstrates that it can also enhance
a person's mental power for mind control, and may facilitate broad use of noninvasive brain-computer interface technology." It could also inform neuroscientists and clinicians working in BCI design and maintenance. A thorough understanding of the brain is crucial for creating the machine learning algorithms BCI's use to interpret brain signals. This knowledge
is especially important in BCI recalibration, which can be time- consuming
and frequently necessary for non-invasive BCI's.

The work of He and his team presents a new application for a well-known
and widely practiced form of meditation, and may even offer insights
into the neurological effects of meditation and how it may be adapted for better BCI training. This study offers novel information for researchers
of BCI's and presents a new tool for both understanding the brain and
preparing subjects to use a BCI.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by College_of_Engineering,_Carnegie_Mellon_University.

Original written by Dan Carroll. Note: Content may be edited for style
and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. James R Stieger, Stephen Engel, Haiteng Jiang, Christopher C
Cline, Mary
Jo Kreitzer, Bin He. Mindfulness Improves Brain-Computer Interface
Performance by Increasing Control Over Neural Activity in the
Alpha Band.

Cerebral Cortex, 2020; DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhaa234 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200923124647.htm

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