And while Bayliss's system records brain signals, the computer scientist insists that she's not a mind reader. She's just tuning in to an overall yea or nay. If the brain really likes something, it tends to stand up and cheer about it. Bayliss just happens to be listening in. Most of the other existing systems that read brain waves to control computers use biofeedback, a method of training the brain to think in a particular way.
Users wear sensors that pick up the brain' electrical activity.
Commonly used for some types of stress relief, biofeedback systems can be used to let people control a computer mouse or play simple computer games. But not everyone can get the system to work. And it always involves a long training process. With biofeedback, it can take a person up to a year to learn how to do it, if they can learn it at all. But even the P300 may become more efficient if people are trained, Makeig says.