Brain's Reaction to Certain Words Could Replace Passwords

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You might not need to remember those complicated e-mail and bank account passwords for much longer. According to a new study, the way your brain responds to certain words could be used to replace passwords. In "Brainprint," a newly published study in academic journal Neurocomputing, researchers from Binghamton University observed the brain signals of 45 volunteers as they read a list of 75 acronyms, such as FBI and DVD. They recorded the brain's reaction to each group of letters, focusing on the part of the brain associated with reading and recognizing words, and found that participants' brains reacted differently to each acronym, enough that a computer system was able to identify each volunteer with 94 percent accuracy. The results suggest that brainwaves could be used by security systems to verify a person's identity. (Lab Manager)

Brain implant that decodes intention will let us probe free will

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Imagine a world where you think of something and it happens. For instance, what if the moment you realise you want a cup of tea, the kettle starts boiling? That reality is on the cards, now that a brain implant has been developed that can decode a person's intentions. It has already allowed a man paralysed from the neck down to control a robotic arm with unprecedented fluidity . But the implications go far beyond prosthetics. By placing an implant in the area of the brain responsible for intentions, scientists are investigating whether brain activity can give away future decisions – before a person is even aware of making them. Such a result may even alter our understanding of free will. (NewScientist)

Listening is the New Performing

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The Whitney Museum of American Art, happily ensconced in its new digs on Gansevoort Street, made a particularly savvy choice by teaming up with Issue Project Room to present David Rosenboom’s Propositional Music — a three-day concert series spanning 50 years of his extraordinary compositions — inside the museum’s intimate, third-floor theater. The museum also threw down the gauntlet in terms of human computer interfaces, especially with what is referred to as BCMI, or Brain Computer Music Interfacing. Though it is not a new field, it is unfamiliar to most museum visitors. (Hyperallergic)

Brain-Computer Interface Makes Communication For Kids With Cerebral Palsy Easier

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The Augmented BNCI Communication project has developed a new brain-computer interface system to enhance communication skills of people with cerebral palsy.
Cerebral palsy is a chronic movement disability which affects between 2 and 3 per 1,000 people. People with Dyskinetic Cerebral Palsy (DCP), 15% of the cases, have normal intelligence ability but cannot speak or express themselves due to lack of motor control. "Since they cannot express themselves, these children do not connect with other people and end up not developing their intelligence," says Biomechanics Institute of Valencia (IBV) researcher Juanma Belda. (Science 2.0)