02268nas a2200409 4500008004100000022001400041245011100055210006900166260001200235300001100247490000600258520108700264653001501351653001001366653001001376653001801386653002001404653003601424653003701460653003201497653002601529653002701555653001301582653001101595653002601606653001101632653000901643653001601652653001301668653002201681653002801703100001801731700002301749700001901772700001901791856004801810 2011 eng d a1741-255200aDecoding vowels and consonants in spoken and imagined words using electrocorticographic signals in humans.0 aDecoding vowels and consonants in spoken and imagined words usin c08/2011 a0460280 v83 a
Several stories in the popular media have speculated that it may be possible to infer from the brain which word a person is speaking or even thinking. While recent studies have demonstrated that brain signals can give detailed information about actual and imagined actions, such as different types of limb movements or spoken words, concrete experimental evidence for the possibility to 'read the mind', i.e. to interpret internally-generated speech, has been scarce. In this study, we found that it is possible to use signals recorded from the surface of the brain (electrocorticography) to discriminate the vowels and consonants embedded in spoken and in imagined words, and we defined the cortical areas that held the most information about discrimination of vowels and consonants. The results shed light on the distinct mechanisms associated with production of vowels and consonants, and could provide the basis for brain-based communication using imagined speech.
10aAdolescent10aAdult10aBrain10aBrain Mapping10aCerebral Cortex10aCommunication Aids for Disabled10aData Interpretation, Statistical10aDiscrimination (Psychology)10aElectrodes, Implanted10aElectroencephalography10aEpilepsy10aFemale10aFunctional Laterality10aHumans10aMale10aMiddle Aged10aMovement10aSpeech Perception10aUser-Computer Interface1 aPei, Xiao-Mei1 aBarbour, Dennis, L1 aLeuthardt, E C1 aSchalk, Gerwin uhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21750369