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Cami Rosso
The Future Brain

Brain-Computer Interface
Predicts Patient’s Thoughts
Caltech study shows how a brain-computer interface may help
the speech impaired.
Posted November 18, 2022 | Reviewed by Ekua Hagan

KEY POINTS

In a recent study, researchers observed that internal speech is highly

decodable in the supramarginal gyrus region of the brain.
With this proof-of-concept, the researchers believe that the supramarginal
gyrus can potentially represent an even greater internal vocabulary.
Being able to build models on internal speech may allow scientists to help
people who cannot vocalize speech.

New scientific research presented

at this week’s Society for
Neuroscience 2022 conference by
the California Institute of Technology Most Popular
(Caltech) shows that a brain-
machine interface (BMI), also known
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as a brain-computer interface (BCI), Become a Bitter Person
can predict a person’s internal
Source: Geralt/Pixabay monologue with a high degree of
How Makeup Changes the
accuracy. Way We're Perceived

Proof-of-concept for a high-performance internal speech BMI 6 Stages of Healing for

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Brain-machine interfaces enable those unable to speak due to neurological Family Trauma
diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) to control external devices
to communicate, use smartphones, type emails, shop online, and many more A Creative Recipe to
Better Appreciate Life
functions in order to live more independently.

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“This work represents the first proof-of-concept for a high-performance internal More Than Repressed
speech BMI,” wrote the Caltech researchers in their latest study. Anxiety

The scientists hypothesized that different regions of the brain would modulate
Keeping Intimacy Alive
during vocalized versus internal speech. Specifically, the researchers were
testing their theory that for vocalized speech, the supramarginal gyrus (SMG) in
the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) and primary somatosensory cortex (S1) activity
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would modulate and that during internal speech just the SMG activity would
modulate.

The study participant was quadriplegic (tetraplegic) with a prior spinal cord injury.
The participant was implanted with a 96-channel multi-electrode array, the
Neuroport Array by Blackrock Microsystems, in the supramarginal gyrus (SMG)
and left ventral premotor cortex (PMv) areas, as well as two 48-channel
microelectrode arrays in the primary somatosensory cortex (S1).

The Caltech researchers opted to use an invasive brain-machine interface in

efforts to obtain a favorable signal-to-noise ratio and resolution instead of non-
invasive brain recording technologies such as magnetoencephalography (MEG),
magnetic imaging (fMRI), or electroencephalography (EEG).

The participant’s brain activity was recorded by the implanted arrays while
thinking or internally speaking six words and two pseudowords. The researchers
characterized the four language processes of vocalized speech production,
reading words, listening comprehension, and internal speech at the neuronal
level. They observed that internal speech is highly decodable in the
supramarginal gyrus.

“In this work, we demonstrated a robust decoder for internal and vocalized
speech, capturing single-neuron activity from the supramarginal gyrus,” wrote
the Caltech researchers. “A chronically implanted, speech-abled participant with Find a Therapist
tetraplegia was able to use an online, closed-loop internal speech BMI to achieve Get the help you need from a
up to 91 percent classification accuracy with an eight-word vocabulary.” therapist near you–a FREE service
from Psychology Today.

With this demonstrated proof-of-concept, the researchers believe that the

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supramarginal gyrus brain region has the potential to represent an even greater
internal vocabulary.

“By building models on internal speech directly, our results may translate to
people who cannot vocalize speech or are completely locked in,” the
researchers concluded.

Copyright © 2022 Cami Rosso All rights reserved.

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Cami Rosso writes about science, technology, innovation, and Boston, MA Oakland, CA
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