What if you could control machines with your mind? It sounds like science fiction, but it is actually the focus of the scientific field called brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). BCIs measure electricity produced by the brain, then examine the electrical signals for patterns that might indicate the intention, or what the brain is trying to get the body to do. BCIs are useful tools for people who cannot move their limbs. These people can use BCIs to control wheelchairs or write messages. However, since the brain's electricity is weak and must be measured from the surface of the scalp (not inside the skull), it is hard for BCIs to accurately identify people's intentions from electrical measurements.
So how do you evaluate a BCI to know if it is useful in the real world? Researchers usually collect brain measurements and store them on a computer, then use these measurements to compare different BCI software to identify the "best" software. However, this only lets researchers determine how a BCI reacts to pre-recorded data—it does tell them how quickly and accurately a person could perform a task with the BCI.

License information: CC BY 4.0
MPAA: G
Go to source: https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2019.00087