Tuesday, October 16th 2007
Microsoft Patents Using Electroencephalograph Signals for Activity Recognition
Microsoft says that it is hard to properly evaluate the way people interact with computers since questioning them at the time is distracting and asking questions later may not produce reliable answers. "Human beings are often poor reporters of their own actions," the company says. Instead, Microsoft wants to read the data straight from the user's brain as he or she works away. They plan to do this using electroencephalograms (EEGs) to record electrical signals within the brain. The trouble is that EEG data is filled with artifacts caused, for example, by blinking or involuntary actions, and this is hard to tease apart from the cognitive data that Microsoft would like to study. So the company has come up with a method for filtering EEG data in such a way that it separates useful cognitive information from the not-so-useful non-cognitive stuff. The company hopes that the data will better enable to them to design user interfaces that people find easy to use. Whether users will want Microsoft reading their brain waves is another matter altogether.
Source:
New Scientist
21 Comments on Microsoft Patents Using Electroencephalograph Signals for Activity Recognition
basically its mind reading ...
imagine the targeted ads?
This idea is about as farfetched and stupid as they come. The cost to benefit ratio isnt going to be very impressive. And if a user cant properly express using words what they want out of an OS or a piece of software then they are even more incompetant than the designers.
Its like getting mummy and daddy to tell you what meal youd like because your too busy trying to take in the entire mcdonalds menu at the same time.
Edit - Last time I checked, clicking on the startbar wasnt incredibly difficult. Though maybe some users need a massive billboard saying "Hit the left button of the device in your right hand to choose what you would like to do" next to it. And probably some arrows too, and the funky MS paperclip/wizzard in the corner giving you hints.