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Neuroscience

How brains learn to control machines

Nature volume 483, pages 284–285 (2012)Cite this article

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After training, animals and humans can make their thoughts interact directly with computers. A study provides evidence that the corticostriatal system of the brain is essential for this learning process.

Brain–machine interfaces have a rich history in the sci-fi genre: in The Matrix films, human brains are plugged into a computer-based simulation that then becomes their 'reality'. But using our thoughts to directly control computers or other devices is not just in the realm of fantasy. Monkeys can learn to use visual cues to instruct a brain–machine interface to move a robotic arm or a computer cursor1,2. And electrode arrays were implanted into the brain of a paralysed man in 2006, enabling him to control an artificial arm, to move a cursor on a computer screen and even to open e-mail3. Over time, an individual learns to improve their control over the brain–machine interface by modifying the activity of their brain, but how this happens is not well understood. In an article published on Nature's website today, Koralek et al.4 report that the corticostriatal system of the brain is involved in learning mental actions and skills that do not involve physical movement, such as those required for control of brain–machine interfaces.

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Figure 1: Music to my brain.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. David T. Blake is at the Brain and Behavior Discovery Institute and in the Department of Neurology, Georgia Health Sciences University, Augusta, Georgia 30912, USA.,

    David T. Blake

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  1. David T. Blake
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Correspondence to David T. Blake.

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Blake, D. How brains learn to control machines. Nature 483, 284–285 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature10951

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