Hooking the brain up to a computer can do more than let the severely disabled move artificial limbs. It is also revealing the secrets of how we learn
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At 9:15 in the morning two or three times a week, Jan Scheuermann maneuvers her electric wheelchair into a research laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh, where she plugs her head into a highly sophisticated piece of equipment. Two ports in her scalp connect to a prosthetic limb, a sleek, black anthropomorphic arm that extends from a metal scaffold in the lab. She is one of a dozen or so volunteers worldwide who have received brain implants as part of multiyear experiments on how to manipulate objects with their thoughts alone. More than any other user of brain-controlled prostheses, Scheuermann has learned to wield the arm with exquisite dexterity, articulating individual fingers to shake hands and rearrange objects at a wide range of speeds. “Every day I go to work, I think, this is the coolest thing,” she says.
Scheuermann began losing control of her muscles in 1996. As her genetic disorder—spinocerebellar degeneration—took its toll, she gave up her successful business as a planner of murder-mystery-themed events. By 2002 her disease had confined her to a wheelchair, which she now operates by flexing her chin up and down. She retains control of the muscles only in her head and neck. “The signals are not getting from my brain to my nerves,” she explains. “My brain is saying, ‘Lift up!’ to my arm, and my arm is saying, ‘I caaaan't heeeear you.’”
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