Biological to electrical/mechanical interface with artificial augmentation

[artis]

Ok, so I somewhat randomly saw a recent video made by VICE about people with severe disabilities being treated with the help of modern bio-technology, the part at the second half of the video made me watch in awe as I found it hard to understand.

Here is the video


The questions I would have are like this

1)How is it possible to open a hole in a human skull and insert objects while still preserving all normal body functionality at the same time and what is the function of the inserted object where the man with the Alzheimer's was treated and almost instantly a difference was seen?

2) By what mechanism the second man who had the (electrodes?) inserted in his head and a connector then attached to them was able to then move his arm using his brain and a computer interface? Now my own take would be something like this, as far as I know the only way we can monitor brain with electric devices is by receiving the small electrical impulses emitted by the brain when it's functioning, so in the case with the man that had Alzheimers disease they probably inserted some long narrow electrode and used impulses to stimulate that part of his brain which is responsible for the motor function disability ?

As for the second case they again use electrodes to monitor the brain activity and then interpret that data through a computer which then uses other electrodes attached to his arm sending electrical impulses to them and moving certain muscles. In other words since his nerve strands have been broken due to injury the artificial wires serve as artificial nerves for him ?Now if this is true then what I can't understand especially in the second case with the man that had the connector attached to his brain is how exactly we can receive the brain impulses and then interpret them down to specific commands like the man wanting to move his arm , I just can't understand how an artificial system of electrodes and computer software can interpret the signals from the brain and make out specific commands instead of just seeing a large set of random impulses that cannot be decoded specifically with high accuracy.

 

[256bits]

Interesting video.
The sporting event has a sign 2016.
So there may have been more progress since then in Bionics.
Parkinson's disease in not Alzheimer's disease.

1)How is it possible to open a hole in a human skull and insert objects while still preserving all normal body functionality at the same time and what is the function of the inserted object where the man with the Alzheimer's was treated and almost instantly a difference was seen?

The brain does not have pain sensors.
So after opening the hole, only a local anesthetic around the hole would be necessary,
For an explanation there is this.
As it is said brain stimulation, or rather a stimulation of a very small part of the brain to override the chaotic electrical signals in the chosen area.
http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2018/remote-brain-stimulation-new-treatment-parkinsons-disease/

I just can't understand how an artificial system of electrodes and computer software can interpret the signals from the brain and make out specific commands instead of just seeing a large set of random impulses that cannot be decoded specifically with high accuracy.

Random impulses - no.
There is a signal, or neuron firings, ( say the part of the brain responsible for moving your finger ), albeit a small signal that is amplified and processed electronically by the electrode, If your cells in the brain can decipher the signal why should not an artificial implant be able to do the same.. If you or I inserted an electrode into out brain, I am sure we would be able to make no sense of what is coming out. Research has designed some clever signal analysis being performed. Quite involved.
http://www-users.med.cornell.edu/~jdvicto/pdfs/pubo08.pdf
That is for eye movement - the LIP signalling.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lateral_intraparietal_cortex

 

[BillTre]

What you are talking about here is the volitional control of a physiological detectable neural activity pattern that is then interpreted by a computer and translated into movement via stimulation of specific muscle groups (or a machine).
This was done crudely a long time ago (for example, control of alpha activity with computer feedback).
A more refined control of muscle output (perhaps via nerve root activity) isn't so surprising after 30-40 years.

Now my own take would be something like this, as far as I know the only way we can monitor brain with electric devices is by receiving the small electrical impulses emitted by the brain when it's functioning, so in the case with the man that had Alzheimers disease they probably inserted some long narrow electrode and used impulses to stimulate that part of his brain which is responsible for the motor function disability ?

There are more ways than this to monitor brain activity, with differing detection capabilities:

• Electrodes directly in the brain tissue; either a single electrode or an array of electrodes. (single cells or groups of cells in a given area)
• Electrodes on the surface of the brain or head. (populations of cells in a particular area)
• fMRI (looks at blood distribution changes in the whole brain which reflects neural tissue activity due to its oxygen demand, resolution about 1mm)
• Some kind of magnetic detection of neural activity
• In particular organisms (zebrafish larvae, C. elegans worms, parts of flies, superficial surfaces of exposed brain tissue), neural activity can be visually optically by using Ca⁺⁺ levels via calcium sensitive flourophores of various kinds. Ca⁺⁺ levels can track activity in neurons. Shows activity of groups of single cells in an area (under a microscope).
• there maybe more