The Emotiv EPOC

Video game developers constantly strive to make their games
more realistic, both in terms of visuals and (perhaps most
importantly) game-player interaction. Players want to be
able to do more in their virtual worlds. While in the past
this has led to more complicated joystick controllers that
look like they'd take a week to master, the tide is turning.
Developers are responding to the desire for a more intuitive
interface to match the lifelike alternate reality. The
Nintendo Wii, for instance, revolutionized the gaming
industry with simple-looking joysticks that interpret
movement. But now, the Emotiv EPOC is taking the next radical
step.

Far from the complicated controllers of other systems, the
controller the Emotiv EPOC uses is one you've been familiar
with all your life. No, we're not referring to your beloved
Atari Pong paddles -- we're talking about your brain. The
EPOC uses a headset that actually picks up on your brain
waves. These brain waves can tell the system what you want to
do in your virtual reality. In other words, you think "lift,"
and a virtual rock actually levitates on the screen.

For every Star Wars fan who's ever fantasized about having
the Force of Jedi Knighthood, this is a sort of dream come
true. Now, mere thoughts can translate into actions (albeit
virtual actions). This might sound too space-age and
incredible to be true, but the basic technology behind the
Emotiv EPOC is decades old.

But before we delve into how the EPOC itself works, we'll
take a look at your brain. First, we'll peer into the brain
to see exactly what brain waves are­ and how machines are
able to read and interpret them accurately. Then, we'll see
how Emotiv has adapted the technology for the gaming world.
And finally, we'll talk about the implications and
applications of thought-controlled technology.

EEG Technology and EPOC

If you've read How Your Brain Works or have ever taken
a psychology class, you probably know that your brain is home
to billions of neurons, which are nerve cells. Using
electrical impulses, they send messages to and through each
other. Whenever your brain is working (and that means always,
even during sleep), all these messages firing from neuron to
neuron amount to an electrical current.

Although the brain continues to be an enigmatic subject of
study, scientists have known about brain waves, which are
a map of the electrical current firing from neuron to neuron,
for a while. British physician Richard Caton first noticed
the brain's current in 1875. By 1924, German neurologist Hans
Berger found a way to read the current by developing what's
known as an electroencephalograph. This kind of machine
produces a graph measurement of brain waves, known as
an electroencephalogram (EEG).

The system involves hooking up several pairs of electrodes on
a patient's head. These electrodes are disks that conduct
electrical activity, capture it from the brain and convey it
out through a wire to a machine that amplifies the signal.
Scientists attach electrodes in pairs on the head because
they're measuring the difference in voltage between the pair.
Soon after starting his research, Berger noticed that the
electrical activity of brain waves correlated to a person's
state of mind.

As we mentioned, your brain fires out this electrical current
even when you're sleeping. Your brain waves are usually
slowest during sleep. However, slow is relative. In deep
sleep, the brain transmits delta waves, which fire one to
four times per second. In light sleep, theta waves fire about
four to seven times per second. Alpha waves, which we emit
when we're in a relaxed, conscious state, come next at about
seven to 13 pulses per second. Lastly, beta waves, which
reflect a very excited or stressed mind, fire fastest at 13
to 40 times per second. Your brain doesn't emit just one kind
of wave at one time; rather, it emits multiple kinds of waves
simultaneously. Nevertheless, one kind of wave can dominate
in a given moment.

Today, doctors are able to use EEG tests for a variety of
applications, such as diagnosing epilepsy as well as other
seizure disorders. The test is appropriate for diagnosing
epilepsy because the everyday brain wave patterns of patients
with epilepsy tend to be abnormal. EEG tests can also reveal
sleep disorders, tumors and the effects of a head injury or
determine whether a coma patient has become brain dead.