Excel opens to black screen

So, I thought I would post a quick note for anyone that might one day have this problem.

Symptoms: My spiffy Performance Analysis spreadsheet suddenly decided it did not want to open. Yeah, 1 week to SfN and not good. Excel would open with a blank screen. I could click stuff and it was responsive, but the center was completely blank, regardless of whether it was opened with a document or just launched with a 'blank worksheet'. Nuttin there.

System specs: Vista (32-bit), Office 2007, all updates etc installed.

Resolution: I don't know what caused this, but launching Excel as Administrator clears it up. Just navigate to your Office folder (C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\), right click on excel.exe, and choose "Runs as Administrator". Voila! Yer welcome. I don't know if it resolves it entirely (that one launch clears up all future launches), but it works well enough to allow you to use the program.

Sf'nN baby

As a site note, sorry about not returning emails and responding to posts this last week. I've been really stressed with SfN material due for various approvals on a daily basis lately. I am hoping to get back to all of you Wednesday or Thursday before I leave for San Diego.

Here are the details for mine and Wilson's poster. Stop by and say "hi!"

Poster #: 517.15/VV1
Section: 517. Brain Machine Interface: Neuroprosthesis I

Motor cortex local field potentials and multi-unit activity during intended movements in humans with tetraplegia
*B. KING, W. TRUCCOLO, G. M. FRIEHS, J. STEIN, J. P. DONOGHUE, L. R. HOCHBERG

Monday, Nov 5 2007 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM

I will be there during my assigned time, and probably roaming the area for a few hours before and after. Hey, my friggin picture's on the site here, so you can find me if you want to.

STRESS!!!

Super paper pre-SfN Friday!

Sorry about the lack of posts lately. I have a ton of last minute SfN work to get done. Ahhhh!

Synaptic Connections between Layer 5B Pyramidal Neurons in Mouse Somatosensory Cortex Are Independent of Apical Dendrite Bundling
Patrik Krieger, Thomas Kuner, and Bert Sakmann
The Journal of Neuroscience, October 24, 2007, 27(43):11473-11482; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1182-07.2007

NMDA Receptor Hypofunction Produces Opposite Effects on Prefrontal Cortex Interneurons and Pyramidal Neurons
Houman Homayoun and Bita Moghaddam
The Journal of Neuroscience, October 24, 2007, 27(43):11496-11500; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2213-07.2007

Generation and reshaping of sequences in neural systems.
Rabinovich MI, Huerta R, Varona P, Afraimovich VS.
Biol Cybern. 2006 Dec;95(6):519-36. Epub 2006 Nov 29.

Early motor development from partially ordered neural-body dynamics: experiments with a cortico-spinal-musculo-skeletal model.
Kuniyoshi Y, Sangawa S.
Biol Cybern. 2006 Dec;95(6):589-605. Epub 2006 Nov 23.

Interhemispheric connections of the ventral premotor cortex in a new world primate.
Dancause N, Barbay S, Frost SB, Mahnken JD, Nudo RJ.
J Comp Neurol. 2007 Dec 20;505(6):701-715.

Preparatory band specific premotor cortical activity differentiates upper and lower extremity movement.
Wheaton LA, Carpenter M, Mizelle JC, Forrester L.
Exp Brain Res. 2007 Oct 23; [Epub ahead of print]

I’m not listing them all, but there are many good articles in the proceedings from the Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 2006. EMBS '06. 28th Annual International Conference of the IEEE, which can be found here.

Neural correlates of a postponed decision report.
Lemus L, Hernández A, Luna R, Zainos A, Nácher V, Romo R.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 Oct 23;104(43):17174-17179. Epub 2007 Oct 16.

Motor cortical measures of use-dependent plasticity are graded from distal to proximal in the human upper limb.
Krutky MA, Perreault EJ.
J Neurophysiol. 2007 Oct 17; [Epub ahead of print]

Neural correlates of regional EEG power change.
Oishi N, Mima T, Ishii K, Bushara KO, Hiraoka T, Ueki Y, Fukuyama H, Hallett M.
Neuroimage. 2007 Jul 15;36(4):1301-12. Epub 2007 Apr 25.

Different neural systems adjust motor behavior in response to reward and punishment.
Wrase J, Kahnt T, Schlagenhauf F, Beck A, Cohen MX, Knutson B, Heinz A.
Neuroimage. 2007 Jul 15;36(4):1253-62. Epub 2007 Apr 5.

Attack of the FALCON! Ca-CAW!
A brain-computer interface with vibrotactile biofeedback for haptic information.
Chatterjee A, Aggarwal V, Ramos A, Acharya S, Thakor NV.
J Neuroengineering Rehabil. 2007 Oct 17;4(1):40 [Epub ahead of print]

Neural correlates of a postponed decision report.
Lemus L, Hernández A, Luna R, Zainos A, Nácher V, Romo R.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 Oct 23;104(43):17174-17179. Epub 2007 Oct 16.

Design and validation of a rehabilitation robotic exoskeleton for tremor assessment and suppression.
Rocon E, Belda-Lois JM, Ruiz AF, Manto M, Moreno JC, Pons JL.
IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng. 2007 Sep;15(3):367-78.

Top–Down Attentional Deficits in Macaques with Lesions of Lateral Prefrontal Cortex
Andrew F. Rossi,1 Narcisse P. Bichot,2 Robert Desimone,2,3 and Leslie G. Ungerleider
The Journal of Neuroscience, October 17, 2007, 27(42):11306-11314; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2939-07.2007

Weber's Law in Decision Making: Integrating Behavioral Data in Humans with a Neurophysiological Model
Gustavo Deco,1 Leandro Scarano,2 and Salvador Soto-Faraco
The Journal of Neuroscience, October 17, 2007, 27(42):11192-11200; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1072-07.2007

A chronically implantable device for the controlled delivery of substances, and stimulation and recording of activity in severed nerves.
Davis-López de Carrizosa MA, Tena JJ, Benítez-Temiño B, Morado-Díaz CJ, Pastor AM, de la Cruz RR.
J Neurosci Methods. 2007 Sep 2; [Epub ahead of print]

Activity-Dependent Development of Callosal Projections in the Somatosensory Cortex
Chun-Lei Wang, * Lei Zhang, * Yang Zhou, Jing Zhou, Xiu-Juan Yang, Shu-min Duan, Zhi-Qi Xiong, and Yu-Qiang Ding
The Journal of Neuroscience, October 17, 2007, 27(42):11334-11342; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3380-07.2007

Audiovisual Temporal Correspondence Modulates Human Multisensory Superior Temporal Sulcus Plus Primary Sensory Cortices
Toemme Noesselt, Jochem W. Rieger, Mircea Ariel Schoenfeld, Martin Kanowski, Hermann Hinrichs, Hans-Jochen Heinze, and Jon Driver
The Journal of Neuroscience, October 17, 2007, 27(42):11431-11441; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2252-07.2007

Non-invasive estimation of local field potentials for neuroprosthesis control
Rolando Grave de Peralta Menendez, Sara González Andino, Lucas Perez, Pierre W. Ferrez and José del R. Millán
Cognitive Processing. Volume 6, Number 1, January 17, 2005, 59-64/ 10.1007/s10339-004-0043-x

Computational model of a primate arm: from hand position to joint angles, joint torques and muscle forces.
Chan SS, Moran DW.
J Neural Eng. 2006 Dec;3(4):327-37. Epub 2006 Nov 21.

Modifiability of Generalization in Dynamics Learning.
Mattar AA, Ostry DJ.
J Neurophysiol. 2007 Oct 10; [Epub ahead of print]

Bilateral activity-dependent interactions in the developing corticospinal system.
Friel KM, Martin JH.
J Neurosci. 2007 Oct 10;27(41):11083-90.

Suppression of LTP-like plasticity in human motor cortex by the GABAB receptor agonist baclofen.
McDonnell MN, Orekhov Y, Ziemann U.
Exp Brain Res. 2007 Jun;180(1):181-6. Epub 2007 Mar 10.

Modulation of long-interval intracortical inhibition and the silent period by voluntary contraction.
Hammond G, Vallence AM.
Brain Res. 2007 Jul 16;1158:63-70. Epub 2007 May 18.

The non-invasive Berlin Brain-Computer Interface: fast acquisition of effective performance in untrained subjects.
Blankertz B, Dornhege G, Krauledat M, Müller KR, Curio G.
Neuroimage. 2007 Aug 15;37(2):539-50. Epub 2007 Mar 1.

Better than Energon Cubes

Silicon nanowires could be used to convert light to electricity. I don't understand it, and I'm sure Engadget doesn't, but hey, the Harvard researchers involved probably do.

If it has 'Bionic' in the title, it has to be good!

Researchers are reporting (also at Science Direct) some success in the creation of 'Bionic Nerves' at the University of Manchester. Reading the blurbs, there isn't much 'bionic' about it - they are cultivating fat tissue stem cells to become nerves. The initial results in animals look promising and they are already talking human trials on the very near horizon. About friggin time! Some stem cells, a little ECM, and we're talking some important real-world applications of science. (Yes, I know the picture is for sensory, and not motor nerves, but I like it!)

Here's a link to the actual study:
Adipose-derived stem cells differentiate into a Schwann cell phenotype and promote neurite outgrowth in vitro.
Kingham PJ, Kalbermatten DF, Mahay D, Armstrong SJ, Wiberg M, Terenghi G.
Exp Neurol. 2007 Oct;207(2):267-74. Epub 2007 Aug 2.

Head typing

I don't have all the details, but here's a link to a link regarding a keyboard/mouse hybrid combo that can be controlled by head position. I thought it was worth mentioning (kinda means this is becoming a BCI/neuroscience/assistive devices blog, which I have to qualms about).

Random bits/bytes/boutons

* If I had a nickel for every time someone asked me where to get a gold brain mouse, I would have no money. But, if that day ever comes, I now have an answer: Here.

* Dr. Richard Wiseman's crazy strange psych studies are highlighted on PsyBlog. Really worth a read/giggle.

* Mind Hacks has a brief mention of Leary's Eight Circuits. Though of little practical use, these types of mental exercises might help you to think outside the box. Other Leary news? His Neurocomics are scanned and online. And... a very interesting debate between G. Gordon Liddy and Leary on "the future". Of particular interest might be this famous quote:

"Computers will be THE drug of the future."

And a mention of Neo-Paganism and technology. (Not that I'm a huge Leary fan, but his ideas are fun to think abut from time to time. He always has that twinkle in his eye that says, "I know know something you don't, but one day you'll figure it out." Either that or, "I'm tripping balls right now.")

* Mmmmm... Clown Brains...

* Many of life's problems could be solved by really considering the Monkeysphere. Yes, you must read this. It offers such gems as:

First, picture a monkey. A monkey dressed like a little pirate, if that helps you. We'll call him Slappy.

It gets better from there...

* And finally, whether they were killing us, or humping us, robots made for big news this last week.

Hit me baby

Peripherally related to telepresence, there is a vest being marketed for gaming that allows players to feel the impact of bullets (sans sucking chest wound). Cost: <$200. Behold, the 3rd Space Vest. The first and second were kinda crappy, I guess.
(There's also a pink version for you girlies out there.)

Steves united!

Ya like evolution? Named Steve (Stephen, Stephanie, or the like)? Sign up with Project Steve! The idea is simple - Creationists like to circulate lists of names of scientists that doubt evolution, and Project Steve seeks to mock these lists by listing the scientists that agree with evolution. The catch is, of course, you have to have the name Steve.

On a more serious note, there's SEFORA - Scientists and Engineers for America. Wanna see more emphasis on good science in politics? Check them out.

Mostly harmless

Just a defenseless little monkey, eh? Not so cute when they KILL YOUR DEPUTY MAYOR.

Site note

Sorry for the lack of posts. SfN poster due tomorrow for me. Expect some awesomeness tomorrow! Enjoy some 'cute' in the meantime...

Update: Okay okay, TOMORROW. I am exhausted!

Kamen arm demoed

Engadget has a brief look at a rare DARPA arm demo. This is the Dean Kamen flavor of DARPA arms, and there's a nice little interview with footage below. No more fuzzy spy videos - everything is crystal clear. The arm is controlled by an exoskeleton type system on a staff member, and there is a little talk of the artificial skin. Sweet!

Second Life to help those with first life problems

Undoubtedly, Massive Multiplayer Online games (MMOs) may be the best near term social outlet for people with the most dire need for BCIs. In a way, Second Life could become a locked-in patient's "first life", opening the doors to communication in a simulated world where interaction can occur without the need for visible assistive devices. Hell, there are millions of able-bodied folks that do the same.

Story on Mind Hacks and Physorg.

In related news, one big drawback is the variability in interoperability of these virtual worlds is being locked into a single version of a single game. Assistive techs shouldn't worry about whether a game studio goes belly up. While this wasn't the thought process behind this major announcement, a consortium of major tech companies like Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Intel, Google and Sony are working on making virtual worlds more standardized. Wanna use World of Warcraft Gold to buy a costume upgrade in City of Heroes? Sure! Better yet, the immaterial progress and achievements in a game don't simply disappear when the content dries up.

Bits and pieces/bytes/boutons

With my SfN poster needing to be done this week, I've had little time to post (one of the joys of working with a company that needs to approve disclosures is that unlike everyone else who will be cramming to complete their posters in two weeks, I get to do that cramming two weeks early).

Anyhow, TechRivet has a little ditty on The Singularity worth reading if you are unfamiliar with what that is. Essentially, one of the edicts of transhumanism is that human progress will reach a point where we can no longer accurately predict the next major advancement because breakthroughs will occur continuously. I was all about the Extropianism when I was in high school, but I guess years of academic indoctrination (read: how the world actually works in a practical and realistic manner) has washed that from me, mostly.

For instance, yes the breakthroughs in genetics have been increasing, but the complexity of the breakthroughs and the number of people/resources needed to accomplish these breakthroughs is increasing MORE rapidly. Intellect needed to perform the research and devise the experiments is NOT infinite, and there are easy to recognize speed bumps on the horizon (e.g.-Moore's Law will not hold up forever, biology still moves at the speed of biology - you don't study development waiting for something to develop, reactions take time, and time cannot be ignored, etc).

Anyhow, if it is something of interest, whether as inspiration or amusement, go ahead and check out the Extropy Institute (Wikipedia overview) or Ander's Transhumanism Page (one of the ORIGINAL originals from 'way' back in the early 90's).

Whooosh! Super Paper Friday!

I said a wham bam paper ma'am!

Diffusion-weighted imaging tractography-based parcellation of the human lateral premotor cortex identifies dorsal and ventral subregions with anatomical and functional specializations.
Tomassini V, Jbabdi S, Klein JC, Behrens TE, Pozzilli C, Matthews PM, Rushworth MF, Johansen-Berg H.
J Neurosci. 2007 Sep 19;27(38):10259-69.

Temporal encoding of movement in motor cortical neurons.
Pruszynski JA, Coderre AM, Lillicrap TP, Kurtzer I.
J Neurosci. 2007 Sep 19;27(38):10076-7.
Comment on: J Neurosci. 2007 May 9;27(19):5105-14.

Gray matter differences correlate with spontaneous strategies in a human virtual navigation task.
Bohbot VD, Lerch J, Thorndycraft B, Iaria G, Zijdenbos AP.
J Neurosci. 2007 Sep 19;27(38):10078-83.

Neural strategies for optimal processing of sensory signals.
Maler L.
Prog Brain Res. 2007;165:135-54.

How is somatosensory information used to adapt to changes in the mechanical environment?
Milner TE, Hinder MR, Franklin DW.
Prog Brain Res. 2007;165:363-72.Click here to read Links

Does Reward Modulate Actions or Bias Attention?
Robert J. Adam and Sanjay G. Manohar
The Journal of Neuroscience, October 10, 2007, 27(41):10919-10921

Firing to Wire: A Role for Activity in Establishing Layer Specificity in the Cortex
Daniel L. Chao and George J. Wang
The Journal of Neuroscience, October 10, 2007, 27(41):10922-10923

Modular Control of Limb Movements during Human Locomotion
Yuri P. Ivanenko, Germana Cappellini, Nadia Dominici, Richard E. Poppele, and Francesco Lacquaniti
The Journal of Neuroscience, October 10, 2007, 27(41):11149-11161

Probabilistic population codes and the exponential family of distributions.
Beck J, Ma WJ, Latham PE, Pouget A.
Prog Brain Res. 2007;165:509-19.

A multi-level approach to understanding upper limb function.
Kurtzer I, Scott SH.
Prog Brain Res. 2007;165:347-62.

Towards a computational neuropsychology of action.
Krakauer JW, Shadmehr R.
Prog Brain Res. 2007;165:383-94.

Non-invasive estimation of local field potentials for neuroprosthesis control
Grave , González , Perez L, Ferrez PW, Millán J
Cognitive Processing, Vol. 6, No. 1. (1 March 2005), pp. 59-64.

How do the basal ganglia contribute to categorization? Their roles in generalization, response selection, and learning via feedback.
Seger CA.
Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2007 Aug 12; [Epub ahead of print]

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs): Detection instead of classification.
Schalk G, Brunner P, Gerhardt LA, Bischof H, Wolpaw JR.
J Neurosci Methods. 2007 Aug 21; [Epub ahead of print]

Preservation of motor programs in paraplegics as demonstrated by attempted and imagined foot movements.
Hotz-Boendermaker S, Funk M, Summers P, Brugger P, Hepp-Reymond MC, Curt A, Kollias SS.
Neuroimage. 2007 Aug 23; [Epub ahead of print]

Intrinsic Fluctuations within Cortical Systems Account for Intertrial Variability in Human Behavior.
Fox MD, Snyder AZ, Vincent JL, Raichle ME.
Neuron. 2007 Oct 4;56(1):171-84.

The behavioral significance of spontaneous fluctuations in brain activity
Birn RM.
Neuron. 2007 Oct 4;56(1):8-9

Random robotics

Oh man, oodles of work, so here's a quick link dump on robotics...

It weighs 66 pounds (30 kilos), can lift 100 kilos as if it were 50, and is coming for your children. Have you seen THIS person/mech? Also at Gizmodo.

Another catch on Medgadget, the vocal joystick. Move I say! Actually, it uses four vowel sounds to control a manipulandum in each of four directions (the sounds have a continuity to them, see the full article). Clicking is done with two 'k' type sounds. Sound is sampled at 100Hz.

Have you every thought, "Hey, I love my cat, but I just can't provide him or her with the petting he or she needs?" Well, my friends, have I got a treat for you. And by treat, I mean a robotic arm that senses motion and sound, and will pet your cat(s) for you. And you thought crazy cat lady was crazy... imagine her with one of these for each of her 50 cats! Damn robots! Befriending our domesticated pals, to turn them against us. Don't be surprised when the Robot Uprising comes if Mr. Mewmew unlatches your bunker door for the robodeath squads! See below:


Hand Hacking For Cat - video powered by Metacafe

Speaking of angry robot overlords, here's a cute version you can print out and put on your cubicle desk. Come on! It may only be a cubicle, but it's YOUR cubicle!

Air powered, jumping robot legs form Japan. I've run out of wit to comment on them. Or perhaps you prefer good ole American legs from MIT running on moonbeams and dream. Okay, I don't know what they run on,but it sounded nice.


And just when you thought you would recognize your robotic dominators, they go and morph their faces. Tricky bastards.




At least Intel is giving them a better sense of fine touch. That way they can feel the life drained from our bodies as they crush our skulls.

I didn't intend this post to go this wacky, but I'm pretty glad it did. Hope you had as much fun reading it as I had posting it.

Holy crap! Mega Super Paper Friday!

I hope someone appreciates this...

Four weeks worth of fun reading for you! I got a few good ole papers here and a few new ones from the lab. Check ‘em out!

There are also a number of proceedings papers from Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 2006 (or EMBS '06 28th Annual International Conference of the IEEE) worth checking out. So take a look here.

Separate adaptive mechanisms for controlling trajectory and final position in reaching.
Scheidt RA, Ghez C.
J Neurophysiol. 2007 Oct 3; [Epub ahead of print]

Supplementary motor area and presupplementary motor area: targets of basal ganglia and cerebellar output.
Akkal D, Dum RP, Strick PL.
J Neurosci. 2007 Oct 3;27(40):10659-73.

Plasticity of the synaptic modification range.
Rioult-Pedotti MS, Donoghue JP, Dunaevsky A.
J Neurophysiol. 2007 Oct 3; [Epub ahead of print]

Single-neuron stability during repeated reaching in macaque premotor cortex.
Chestek CA, Batista AP, Santhanam G, Yu BM, Afshar A, Cunningham JP, Gilja V, Ryu SI, Churchland MM, Shenoy KV.
J Neurosci. 2007 Oct 3;27(40):10742-50.

Watching Others' Actions: Mirror Representations in the Parietal Cortex.
Shmuelof L, Zohary E.
Neuroscientist. 2007 Oct 2; [Epub ahead of print]

Re-emergence of striatal cholinergic interneurons in movement disorders.
Pisani A, Bernardi G, Ding J, Surmeier DJ.
Trends Neurosci. 2007 Sep 27; [Epub ahead of print]

Distinct Modes of Neuron Addition in Adult Mouse Neurogenesis
Jovica Ninkovic, Tetsuji Mori, and Magdalena Götz
The Journal of Neuroscience, October 3, 2007, 27(40):10906-10911

State Dependence of Spike Timing and Neuronal Function in a Motor Pattern Generating Network
Jin-sheng Wu, Michael R. Due, Kosei Sasaki, Alex Proekt, Jian Jing, and Klaudiusz R. Weiss
The Journal of Neuroscience, October 3, 2007, 27(40):10818-10831

Induction of plasticity in the dominant and non-dominant motor cortices of humans.
Ridding MC, Flavel SC.
Exp Brain Res. 2006 Jun;171(4):551-7. Epub 2006 Feb 25.

Neuronal activity in the primary somatosensory thalamocortical loop is modulated by reward contingency during tactile discrimination.
Pantoja J, Ribeiro S, Wiest M, Soares E, Gervasoni D, Lemos NA, Nicolelis MA.
J Neurosci. 2007 Sep 26;27(39):10608-20.

Coherence between motor unit discharges in response to shared neural inputs.
Lowery MM, Myers LJ, Erim Z.
J Neurosci Methods. 2007 Jul 30;163(2):384-91. Epub 2007 Mar 24.

Automated spike sorting using density grid contour clustering and subtractive waveform decomposition.
Vargas-Irwin C, Donoghue JP.
J Neurosci Methods. 2007 Aug 15;164(1):1-18. Epub 2007 Apr 12.

A self-paced brain interface system that uses movement related potentials and changes in the power of brain rhythms.
Fatourechi M, Birch GE, Ward RK.
J Comput Neurosci. 2007 Aug;23(1):21-37. Epub 2007 Jan 10.

The value in computation.
O'Doherty JP.
Nat Neurosci. 2007 Oct;10(10):1225.

A balanced view of motor control.
Tresch MC.
Nat Neurosci. 2007 Oct;10(10):1227-8.

Rebuilding the brain: resurgence of fetal grafting.
Tuszynski MH.
Nat Neurosci. 2007 Oct;10(10):1229-30.

Modular features of motor control and learning.
Mussa-Ivaldi FA.
Curr Opin Neurobiol. 1999 Dec;9(6):713-7.

Possible origins of the complex topographic organization of motor cortex: reduction of a multidimensional space onto a two-dimensional array.
Aflalo TN, Graziano MS.
J Neurosci. 2006 Jun 7;26(23):6288-97.

Transient Growth Factor Delivery Sustains Regenerated Axons after Spinal Cord Injury
Armin Blesch1 and Mark H. Tuszynski
The Journal of Neuroscience, September 26, 2007, 27(39):10535-10545

Prosthetic interfaces with the visual system: biological issues.
Cohen ED.
J Neural Eng. 2007 Jun;4(2):R14-31. Epub 2007 Mar 14.

Computational model of a primate arm: from hand position to joint angles, joint torques and muscle forces.
Chan SS, Moran DW.
J Neural Eng. 2006 Dec;3(4):327-37. Epub 2006 Nov 21.

Motor cortical representation of position and velocity during reaching.
Wang W, Chan SS, Heldman DA, Moran DW.
J Neurophysiol. 2007 Jun;97(6):4258-70. Epub 2007 Mar 28.

A survey of signal processing algorithms in brain-computer interfaces based on electrical brain signals.
Bashashati A, Fatourechi M, Ward RK, Birch GE.
J Neural Eng. 2007 Jun;4(2):R32-57. Epub 2007 Mar 27.

An electronic device for artefact suppression in human local field potential recordings during deep brain stimulation.
Rossi L, Foffani G, Marceglia S, Bracchi F, Barbieri S, Priori A.
J Neural Eng. 2007 Jun;4(2):96-106. Epub 2007 Mar 13.

Group III and IV muscle afferents differentially affect the motor cortex and motoneurones in humans.
Martin PG, Weerakkody NS, Gandevia SC, Taylor JL.
J Physiol. 2007 Sep 20; [Epub ahead of print]

Parallel Evolution of Cortical Areas Involved in Skilled Hand Use
Jeffrey Padberg, João G. Franca, Dylan F. Cooke, Juliana G. M. Soares, Marcello G. P. Rosa, Mario Fiorani, Jr, Ricardo Gattass, and Leah Krubitzer
The Journal of Neuroscience, September 19, 2007, 27(38):10106-10115

The serial reaction time task: implicit motor skill learning?
Robertson EM.
J Neurosci. 2007 Sep 19;27(38):10073-5.

Learning Real-World Stimuli in a Neural Network with Spike-Driven Synaptic Dynamics
Joseph M. Brader, Walter Senn, Stefano Fusi
Neural Computation 2007 19:11, 2881-2912

Temporal Encoding of Movement in Motor Cortical Neurons
J. Andrew Pruszynski, Angela M. Coderre, Timothy P. Lillicrap, and Isaac Kurtzer
The Journal of Neuroscience, September 19, 2007, 27(38):10076-10077

Free-paced high-performance brain-computer interfaces.
Achtman N, Afshar A, Santhanam G, Yu BM, Ryu SI, Shenoy KV.
J Neural Eng. 2007 Sep;4(3):336-47. Epub 2007 Aug 22.

A microscale photovoltaic neurostimulator for fiber optic delivery of functional electrical stimulation.
Song YK, Stein J, Patterson WR, Bull CW, Davitt KM, Serruya MD, Zhang J, Nurmikko AV, Donoghue JP.
J Neural Eng. 2007 Sep;4(3):213-8. Epub 2007 Apr 27.

Functional specificity of human premotor-motor cortical interactions during action selection.
O'shea J, Sebastian C, Boorman ED, Johansen-Berg H, Rushworth MF.
Eur J Neurosci. 2007 Oct;26(7):2085-95. Epub 2007 Sep 14.

Decoding two-dimensional movement trajectories using electrocorticographic signals in humans.
Schalk G, Kubánek J, Miller KJ, Anderson NR, Leuthardt EC, Ojemann JG, Limbrick D, Moran D, Gerhardt LA, Wolpaw JR.
J Neural Eng. 2007 Sep;4(3):264-75. Epub 2007 Jun 22.

Optimal sensorimotor transformations for balance.
Lockhart DB, Ting LH.
Nat Neurosci. 2007 Oct;10(10):1329-36. Epub 2007 Sep 16.

Retinal Neurostimulator for a Multifocal Vision Prosthesis.
Wong, Y. T.; Dommel, N.; Preston, P.; Hallum, L. E.; Lehmann, T.; Lovell, N. H.; Suaning, G. J.
Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, IEEE Transactions on, vol.15, no.3, pp.425-434, Sept. 2007

Assessment of Motion of a Swing Leg and Gait Rehabilitation With a Gravity Balancing Exoskeleton.
Agrawal, S. K.; Banala, S. K.; Fattah, A.; Sangwan, V.; Krishnamoorthy, V.; Scholz, J. P.; Hsu, W.-L.
Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, IEEE Transactions on, vol.15, no.3, pp.410-420, Sept. 2007

A Robot and Control Algorithm That Can Synchronously Assist in Naturalistic Motion During Body-Weight-Supported Gait Training Following Neurologic Injury.
Aoyagi, D.; Ichinose, W. E.; Harkema, S. J.; Reinkensmeyer, D. J.; Bobrow, J. E.
Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, IEEE Transactions on , vol.15, no.3, pp.387-400, Sept. 2007

A Wireless Implantable Multichannel Microstimulating System-on-a-Chip With Modular Architecture.
Ghovanloo, M.; Najafi, K.
Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, IEEE Transactions on, vol.15, no.3, pp.449-457, Sept. 2007

A compact moveable microwire array for long-term chronic unit recording in cerebral cortex of primates.
Jackson A, Fetz EE.
J Neurophysiol. 2007 Sep 12; [Epub ahead of print]

Motor force field learning influences visual processing of target motion.
Brown LE, Wilson ET, Goodale MA, Gribble PL.
J Neurosci. 2007 Sep 12;27(37):9975-83.

Just for kicks…

Whole-genome shotgun sequencing of mitochondria from ancient hair shafts.
Gilbert MT, Tomsho LP, Rendulic S, Packard M, Drautz DI, Sher A, Tikhonov A, Dalén L, Kuznetsova T, Kosintsev P, Campos PF, Higham T, Collins MJ, Wilson AS, Shidlovskiy F, Buigues B, Ericson PG, Germonpré M, Götherström A, Iacumin P, Nikolaev V, Nowak-Kemp M, Willerslev E, Knight JR, Irzyk GP, Perbost CS, Fredrikson KM, Harkins TT, Sheridan S, Miller W, Schuster SC.
Science. 2007 Sep 28;317(5846):1927-30.

Before and below 'theory of mind': embodied simulation and the neural correlates of social cognition.
Gallese V.
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2007 Apr 29;362(1480):659-69.

Complete Pattern of Ocular Dominance Columns in Human Primary Visual Cortex
Daniel L. Adams, Lawrence C. Sincich, and Jonathan C. Horton
The Journal of Neuroscience, September 26, 2007, 27(39):10391-10403

Expectation modulates neural responses to pleasant and aversive stimuli in primate amygdala.
Belova MA, Paton JJ, Morrison SE, Salzman CD.
Neuron. 2007 Sep 20;55(6):970-84.

Synchronized Firing among Retinal Ganglion Cells Signals Motion Reversal.
Schwartz G, Taylor S, Fisher C, Harris R, Berry MJ 2nd.
Neuron. 2007 Sep 20;55(6):958-69.

A public confession: the retina trumpets its failed predictions.
Holy TE.
Neuron. 2007 Sep 20;55(6):831-2.

Complexity of coupled human and natural systems.
Liu J, Dietz T, Carpenter SR, Alberti M, Folke C, Moran E, Pell AN, Deadman P, Kratz T, Lubchenco J, Ostrom E, Ouyang Z, Provencher W, Redman CL, Schneider SH, Taylor WW.
Science. 2007 Sep 14;317(5844):1513-6.Click here to read Links

Neurons in monkey visual area V2 encode combinations of orientations.
Anzai A, Peng X, Van Essen DC.
Nat Neurosci. 2007 Oct;10(10):1313-1321. Epub 2007 Sep 16.Click here to read Links

Learning to learn: from smart machines to intelligent machines
B. Raducanu and J. Vitria
Pattern Recognition Letters, In Press, Available online 17 September 2007.

Applying Machine Consciousness Models in Autonomous Situated Agents
Raul Arrabales Moreno and Araceli Sanchis de Miguel
Pattern Recognition Letters, In Press, Available online 17 September 2007.

Let the photoshopping begin!

When you have such great source material, like these online anatomical atlases at the NIH site (pointed out by Boing Boing), the sky's the limit!

Plasticity

A quick link to a seminar video on visual neuroplasticity. A little dry, but worth a watch if you're interested. Via Channel N.

it is in Real format, but if you have a PC and can't stomach the idea of installing that piece of dreck software, install Media Player Classic.

Generic BCI algorithm?

This hit my radar yesterday because of media coverage, but the paper is actually kinda old (submitted Oct 2006, being published this month). I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but I thought I would point it out. (Reported on CNet, paper here)

General Purpose Filter Design for Neural Prosthetic Devices
Lakshminarayan Srinivasan, Uri Tzvi Eden, Sanjoy K. Mitter, and Emery N Brown
J Neurophysiol (May 23, 2007). doi:10.1152/jn.01118.2006
Submitted on October 20, 2006
Accepted on May 17, 2007

Neurobotics 2007 pictures

Here's a link to my Flickr set.

Here's a link to Walid's Picasa album.

Nappy time!

I knew there had to be a phenomena like this. Behold! The caffeine nap!

Drink a bunch o' caffeine and immediately try to sleep for 15 minutes. I have stumbled across this on my own, but never saw anything actually printed on it.

It's an MFin' multi-touch extravaganza!

Yet another reason that full movement restoration is necessary for the paralyzed. As technology advances, the interfaces will become more and more geared toward uniquely human forms of interaction. Controlling a cursor doesn't mean much if it goes the way of trackballs. (Okay, I still know a few people that use trackballs, but you get the idea.)

Multitouch is nothing too new, but has really gained fame for being used in Apple's iPhone. The idea is that a touch sensitive surface should be able to detect when a user is fiddling with it with more than one finger. On the iPhone, this gives the user the ability to zoom in and out from pictures by 'pinching' (or I guess anti-'pinching) their fingers across the screen.

Got $1600 lying around and an itching to show off your latest animation and movie laden Powerpoint presentation. Well Hitachi just rolled out the 77 inch Starboard FX-77 whiteboard with multitouch. I like that you can link up to 50 of them together. Not sure why, but I think that would make for some zany mega-multitouch action.

Another groovy multitouch related product from Sharp is being shown off at CEATEC right now (yes now!). Basically it's an LCD screen that also acts as a scanner. How does multitouch fit in? It can scan the screen for fingers planted against it, rather than using the various technologies listed in the article. How would you feel to have your screen looking back at you!?!?! Creepy. This comes to mind...

And lastly, Microsoft and Mitsubishi has been working on what they call LucidTouch, a fully touch sensitive, two-sided interface idea. I'm not sure what the real utility is besides having some ability to influence the front surface by the grip on the device, but I'm sure some of you creative folks could turn this into an interpretive art thingy. Video below.



Man, Engadget loves the multitouch.

Interface interface interface

My pal Giovanni send me a link to this video on seeing with the tongue. The idea is simple - use an array of electrodes tied to a grayscale camera to perform position reflecting stimulation of the tongue with intensities that vary with the pixel darkness. For instance, if the top left pixel is black, stimulate the front left electrode minimally. If the pixel tot he right of that is 50% gray, stimulate the next lead on the electrode with 50% intensity. The big issue right now is resolution of the device, but I would think that there is a limitation in general on the resolution a person can discern. I don't know much about density of receptors on the tongue, but I think the number is around 50-100/cm^2. Say the pad can be about 4cm wide when tensed and 5 1/3cm (to maintain 4:3 aspect ratio), that's between 1066.6 and 2133.3 pixels total. To put that in perspective, those junky 14" monitors from over a decade ago, what went up to VGA resolution (640x480) 307,200 pixels. That that's not even taking into account any local crosstalk, which could work for or, more likely, against better resolution. Maybe some sort of fovea limitation, with a dispersion from the center, though a the fovea, the human eye's resolution is about 500 MEGA pixels. Still an interesting idea and worth a watch.

Giovanni and Maria Laura pointed me to this blog on general tech stuff, which has a thing for alternative interfaces. Nothing new to me, but I don't think I've posted all the videos they have up there, so worth a look. Not maintained by a scientist, and most of the videos are posted as new, but really old. A few nice demos of the wonky "EEG" systems (I use quotes when I mention EEG and those consumer devices with a single dry electrode). The below video is a must-see, and was caught by this site.