Minds, Brains and Electrodes, OH MY!

In her study of speech pathology, Megan introduced me to "The Audeo Interface and ECoG Brain Interface, exciting and short articles about reading electrical activity from the brain, especially addressing the question of detecting speech. Fascinating!"

In the endeavor to conduct only research projects which are ethically sound, let us examine more closely the implications of cutting the edges of brains during bold computer experiments. We have to consider not only the process of ECoG itself, but also the possible states of affairs in the event these “mind-reading” chips are thoroughly accurate and widely distributed. It is of utmost importance we do not follow reductive physicalists and mistakenly reduce minds to brains. This metaphysical stance—all mental states are nothing more than brain states—encounters serious problems in an effort to account for free action and therefore, responsibility, obligation, praise, blame, and other significant ethical issues. Strictly speaking, these devices read brain activity. The question at hand is this: Does knowing what's going on in the patient's brain allow human operators to know what's going on in the mind of the patient? A thorough investigation of this fledgling technology will direct us toward its benefits while making known its dangers, thus improving our purposes for developing it.

Given how intrussive ECoG is, why pursue it? People with impaired speech may have a lot to gain from the development of technologies such as ECoG and Audeo Interface. For those who previously had been unable to convey their thoughts, the capacity to communicate comes as a miraculous gift, unlocking new avenues of expression, community involvement, and intimate relationships.

Both the ECoG and the Audeo Interface are measurement tools. They are positioned to detect what the brain and nervous system transmit. In the event we learn both sides of human electric-phoneme coding, we must address the more difficult question of sending artificial electrical transmissions to the brain. If we can measure neuroelectricity, can we also broadcast it? In addition to the speech-impaired, the deaf may also benefit from this. Even though vibrations via the cochlea do not cause a corresponding electrical brain state necessary for the perception of speech sounds, we may nonetheless artificially stimulate those same brain states using ECoG.

Is speech reduced to electric currents? How are my reading “Kurt Vonnegut” and hearing [kɝt vɒnəgət] synthesized in my brain to refer to the same person? Even though a brain state is necessary to understand speech, we do not yet know if it is sufficient.

Given how recent ECoG is, what are some important precautions to take? The surgeons and their hospitals performing ECoG ought to fulfill the following requirements prior to incision. First, full procedural disclosure must be given to the consenting patient. Second, the hospital must provide documented proof that identical (or nearly identical) procedures have been successful and that this particular procedure has a very good chance of also ending successfully. Third, they must provide documented proof that patients who have undergone this surgery are not therefore more susceptible to any unwanted complications regarding mental processing, pain, awareness, memory, etc.

Additional sources:
NPR