Watch out, Yuri Geller. The Korea Research Institute in Taejon has hatched a
computer game in which players bend a spoon simply by thinking about it (WO
01/07128). The gamer wears a headband with electrodes that detect brain waves.
Before play, the system records the subject’s natural balance between “relaxed
state” alpha waves—at 8 to 13 hertz—and “active state” beta
waves—at 13 to 30 hertz. Any change in the ratio—and the rate of
that change—influences the direction and speed of a game character on
screen. When a picture of a spoon is seen on screen, relaxed, low frequencies
make it bend. Game skill improves as the player associates mental state with
on-screen action, and learns to bend the spoon by chilling out.
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