This is an important question for patients balancing the potential to greatly expand their physical abilities with the possibility of infection or even brain damage.
“Noninvasive would be important to me,” wrote Steven Edwards, who lost use of his arms and legs after a car accident in 19961, in an e-mail. “I would not want something implanted into my brain unless it significantly enhanced the experience (think virtual reality) or allowed me to be more efficient (think a 3-D card allowing me to do large amounts of trig in my head nearly instantaneously).”
External BCIs might also have their own advantages, because they can retrieve signals from many points in the brain rather than just a specific site.
“Implanted electrodes are very specific, so they can record activity relative to the intended muscle or motor movements, and that has its uses,” said Charles Anderson, a researcher at Colorado State University. “We’re hoping to identify a higher level of cognitive activity like different mental tasks. That would take too many implants.”
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