> “We essentially ‘trick’ the neurons in the back of the brain to spread around the message that they have received signals from the eyes. Then participants have the sensation that bright arcs or objects suddenly appear in front of their eyes.”
Incredible. Also, the article mentions using a coil to stimulate the receiver's brain. Is this some form of trans-cranial magnetic stimulation?
By the way, in case anyone wants to listen to a decent critical theory lecture on neuralink-esque technologies, here's one by slavoj zizek https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38alQSKtVbA
Yeah from the image at the start of the article, it looks like they’re using TMS. You can see the coil sticking out to the right behind the man facing the camera. It’s attached to a blue arm.
Furthermore if you look to the right of the coil, there are 3 little silver balls. These are coated in an IR-reflective layer (silver color) that are used by a camera to track the position of the coil in 3D space. This is more than likely a Localite system if anyone wants to look it up.
My guess is that the people had MRI scans, which were used to find the right place to stimulate. The Localite system uses a pointer with another 3 balls that is pointed at key positions of the head and then slid around the surface of the head. The head also has its own 3-ball tracker. This allows the Localite system to get an accurate reading of head size and positioning in 3D space. This also allows the system to “place” the brain image from the MRI inside the head. Then, using a screen, you get an augmented reality view of the TMS coil and the brain relative to the head to get accurate positioning and angle to place the coil.
The 3-ball tracker for the head was probably removed for the image, but you can see it in the image further down in the article. You can also get a better view of the TMS coil. You can also see the Localite system in action on the monitors and the camera in the top right.
Your description of the localization approach is accurate, but this system is almost certainly Brainsight, given the screen shown in the image at the bottom, the IR camera in that image, and the shape of the tracker arm.
The general approach is straightforward: MRIs are have real-world coordinates. Anything on the head (TMS, EEG, a surgical instrument) also has real-world coordinates. To co-register the two, you need to associate 1) markers at MRI time 2) markers at TMS time.
Once you have that correspondence, you can position any other objects relative to either one, like surgical instruments with reflective markers or TMS systems or whatever.
Looking at it again, you’re right. That isn’t Localite. I should’ve said localization system instead. I’m not familiar with Brainsight and I haven’t been involved with the research using Localite in a couple of years, so I missed that.
Incredible. Also, the article mentions using a coil to stimulate the receiver's brain. Is this some form of trans-cranial magnetic stimulation?
By the way, in case anyone wants to listen to a decent critical theory lecture on neuralink-esque technologies, here's one by slavoj zizek https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38alQSKtVbA