By: Sara Hoover

Mathematics professor Dr. Robert Kozma may not be bending spoons and levitating glasses, but he is working on technology that allows people to control machines with their brain waves.

In his Computational Neurodynamics Lab at the U of M’s FedEx Institute of Technology, Kozma’s team monitors the cognitive behavior of animals and humans using a nonintrusive technique, a scalp EEG – an array of electrodes put on the head like a hat. This will allow for direct brain-computer interface by using brain waves to interact with the computer. Think of a keyboard-less computer that eliminates the need for hand or voice interaction.

Kozma’s “brainy” research has far reaching possibilities. (Lindsey Lissau photo)

The research has three prongs of use: video/computer gaming; to support people with disabilities or physical constraints, such as the elderly; and to improve control of complex machinery, such as an aircraft and other military and civilian uses.

The direct brain-computer interface would give those with physical constraints or those operating complex machinery “extra arms.”

“The possibilities are limitless because if the principle works, you measure certain patterns in your brain and that’s what that computer will execute,” said Kozma of his research that was begun 14 years ago. Later this month, he will become the director of the U of M’s newly created Center for Large-Scale Integrated Optimization and Networks (CLION), which covers this brain wave research.

The main collaborator is Dr. Leonid Perlovsky, principal research physicist at the Air Force Research Laboratory & visiting scholar at Harvard University. The research is patented through the U of M’s FedEx Institute of Technology and the Air Force Research Lab.

The National Science Foundation originally supported the fundamental theoretical research and mathematical aspects of brain waves. The project has ongoing support from the Air Force for the modeling aspect and private foundation support.

The other use, not related to movement or controlling a machine, is the bio-medical application for brainrelated diseases. The lab already collects data from patients with epilepsy at Le Bonheur Children’s Medical Center and other sources. Additional behaviors applicable are Parkinson’s, schizophrenia and sleep apnea.

Collaborators working on the bio-medical aspect are: Dr. Walter J. Freeman, professor emeritus of neurobiology at University of California Berkeley; Don Tucker, CEO of Electrical Geodesics Inc., a company that produces brain-monitoring devices; and Dr. James Wheless, chair of the division of pediatric neurology at Le Bonheur and director of its comprehensive epilepsy program and Neuroscience Institute.

Freeman, who works on discovering brain-wave properties and translating them into applicable forms for clinical forums, states the goal is “to understand the ways in which normal neural and mental function can break down” to therefore help those “who carry the responsibility for treating patients with neuro-psychiatric disorders.”

To that end, graduate students have been very involved and work with Le Bonheur to do the signal processing, since Kozma’s lab does not yet have equipment in-house.

Computer science doctoral student Mark Myers (MS ’05) is the lead researcher of the brain modeling and data processing of the Le Bonheur patients. He works with a brain model called the K4, a biologically inspired neural network that enables modeling of the limbic system in the brain. It allows Myers to simulate the brain in its healthy electrical operating state and then move the brain into an off-balance state. This off-balance state contributes to neural pathologies, such as seizures, Parkinson’s and schizophrenia. The K4 has been successful in allowing researchers to capture the brain’s normal state, move into an abnormal state that puts it into seizure behavior or other states and then adjust the brain back into a normal state to overcome that pathology.

By analyzing data from seizure patients age 3 to 12, Myers hopes to improve the quality of life for patients with a brain implant called the vagus nerve stimulator. Although considered one of the first brain implants to prove its efficacy in reducing overall seizure symptoms, it’s on all the time, pulsing at regular intervals much like a pacemaker.

“Our goal is to find the prediction algorithm that once fired up or detected will enable the pulse generator to only turn on as the seizure is approaching, continue pulsing during the seizure activity and shut off,” said Myers. “The end goal is for the individual to not even know they had a seizure.”

They would essentially create an on/off switch for the brain implant. They have discovered indicators to differentiate pre-seizure states from actual seizure states. With the on/off ability, the implant would become an individually tailored system for each seizure patient’s needs.

“There’s a flare-up, much like a sun flare before the actual eruption occurs,” said Myers. “That’s something we’ve been able to detect through signal processing methodology. We found several minutes before the seizure event, a prediction marker that looks just like the seizure event.”

Current users are pediatric seizure patients, but the concept is applicable to adults and other disorders similar in character, such as migraines or bipolar illness.

“Diseases that are similar in character to epilepsy,” said Wheless, referring to its other uses. “Where you’re fine, something happens and you’re not fine and then you recover. Intermittent problems like horrible migraine headaches, we can tweak that on/off switch to shorten a day or two disability to none or minutes. It works for neurologic or psychiatric problems that are intermittent but severe when they hit.”

Once the team proves their algorithm enables robust seizure prediction, they plan to make recommendations to medical communities.

“This study has enabled me to move my career into an altruistic-type setting,” said Myers. “I can take what I’ve learned and move into an area of research that’s not only extremely fascinating, but that is good.”

Although the project secured funding for theoretical and movement aspects, it has not captured support for experiments, which is the next step toward commercialization.

“We have the laboratory experiments as far as the neuroscience is concerned with collaborators at Berkeley and Le Bonheur, but don’t have support for that,” said Kozma.

Using their patent as a platform, the team has applied for funding through the FedEx Institute and the National Institutes of Health.

Kozma’s group is also in the early stages of finding brain waves that predict movements, in the hope of helping individuals with prosthetics.

“There’s brain activity that precedes movement we don’t necessarily think about,” said Wheless. “If you open the door, you don’t think, ‘I’m going to turn the door handle, look down at it, make sure my hand is on the door.’ There’s brain activity that actually precedes those motor movements.”

Similar to how they found seizure prediction markers, the plan is to use the data to analyze pre-motor movements, the changes in the brain that occur before there’s actually movement, and apply that to someone who has a prosthetic device to allow them to better manipulate it.

Since the brain is usually multitasking, Kozma’s team will have to pick up the signal for the desired task from all the other things going on in the brain. In the next few years, they will work on reliably finding pre-motor movements in the brain.

When some people hear “brain wave monitoring,” they think mind reading, communicating with the dead and lottery numbers.

“People always get concerned when you’re looking at brain activity,” said Wheless. “We’re not looking at what you think of your mother. You can’t interpret those kind of things. It’s looking at brain patterns that predict things like seizures and movements.”

Myers is eager to continue his research under the tutelage of Kozma and be part of the changing landscape of human-computer interaction.

“Currently, brain-computer interfacing is in its extreme infancy stage,” he said. “I love this stuff. I’m absolutely in love with it. Short of my wife and kids, this is up there.”