Are 3 brains connected via BrainNet better than one?

Author: Robby Berman / Source: Big Think

Scientists connect three people’s brains together to play Tetris.
BrainNet may represent first baby steps in brain “social networking”.
Imagine having two other people in on your most private deliberations.

The title of the paper just submitted for peer review says it all: ‘BrainNet: A Multi-Person Brain-to-Brain Interface for Direct Collaboration Between Brains’.

Новости СМИ2

Developed by scientists from the University of Washington and Carnegie Mellon, the system passes simple signals from one person’s brain to another, allowing for collaborative decisions: The first meeting of minds involved manipulating pieces in a game of Tetris. The hope is that BrainNet can, over time, be scaled up for informationally richer communication.

The BrainNet interface

The BrainNet three-person brain-to-brain interface (BBI) system combines an electroencephalography (EEG) sensor that records a signal from a Sender’s brain, decodes it, and delivers it to another person’s occipital cortex through a transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) cap. It’s perceived by the Receiver as a phosphene, or a brain-produced flash. Two Senders can be connected to the same Receiver.

Credit: Jiang, et al

YES and NO choices are represented by the circles at the edge of each screen. “BCI” stands for “Brain to Computer Interface” while “CBI” is the abbreviation for “Computer to Brain Interface.”

A game of Tetris for the ages

Tetris trios

The researchers recruited 15 subjects—18–35 yrs, eight female—and divided them into five trios, each of which contained two Senders and one Receiver.

The task

The experiments consisted of a single task performed multiple times: The successful completion of a single round of Tetris. As in any Tetris game, the goal was to rotate, if necessary, a slowly falling piece so that it successfully completed a row at the bottom of the screen. Both Senders offered advice—not always in agreement—to the Receiver.

During each task the Senders saw both the dropping piece and the bottom row—the Receivers saw only the dropping piece.