Feasibility Study for Design of a Biocybernetic Communication System

Abstract : The purpose of this three-year research program was to test the feasibility of designing a close-coupled, two-way communication link between man and computer using biological information from muscles of the vocal apparatus and the electrical activity of the brain during overt and covert (verbal thinking) speech. The research plan was predicated on existing evidence that verbal ideas or thoughts are subvocally represented in the muscles of the vocal apparatus. If the patterns of this muscle activity are at all similar to those involved in normal overt speech, a reasonable assumption is that the electrical activity of the brain during verbal thinking may be similar to that during overt speech. The results are reported in two parts. Part I concerns the off-line and on-line analysis of the EEG coincident with overt and covert speech as it might be used in biocybernetic communication, and Part II concerns the hemispheric laterality difference.

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