Patent No. 5392788 Method and device for interpreting concepts and conceptual thought from brainwave data and for assisting for diagnosis of brainwave disfunction

 

Patent No. 5392788

Method and device for interpreting concepts and conceptual thought from brainwave data and for assisting for diagnosis of brainwave disfunction (Hudspeth, Feb 28, 1995)

Abstract

A system for acquisition and decoding of EP and SP signals is provided which comprises a transducer for presenting stimuli to a subject, EEG transducers for recording brainwave signals from the subject, a computer for controlling and synchronizing stimuli presented to the subject and for concurrently recording brainwave signals, and either interpreting signals using a model for conceptual perceptional and emotional thought to correspond EEG signals to thought of the subject or comparing signals to normative EEG signals from a normative population to diagnose and locate the origin of brain dysfunctional underlying perception, conception, and emotion.

Notes:  

Method and device for interpreting concepts and conceptual thought from brainwave data and for assisting for diagnosis of brainwave dysfunction. Filed February 1993, granted February 1995. Translates to the people with the psychotronic weaponry being able to use the psychotronic weaponry to attack someone and record the spatial potentials and evoked potentials that are responses to the attacks. Becomes a thought reading machine with enough attacks. This one also corresponds to radio, television or 'street theater' being able to be used as a system to present stimuli. Also goes into the vectors used in an artificial neural network for storing data and interpreting thought. States that the EEG and the SP's and EP's are the same whether a person is picturing something in their mind or viewing the actual picture. This would be the same when someone thinks (unvoiced speech) as when they hear themselves say it out loud or when someone else says it with variances for tone, pitch and volume. It also says the same EEG's , SP's or EP's occur in someone's brain whether they read the word dog or see an actual dog as their brain interprets dog the same from either. This one also states that if used in the weaponry, the attackers would know exactly what if any brain dysfunction they would be causing. Goes into a sort of behavior modification when a person doesn't think what it wants them to.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to the field of neuroscience and more particularly relates to the application of human brain wave analysis including quantitative electroencephalography. More particularly, the present invention relates to conceptual interpreters and conceptually driven interfaces.

2. Discussion of the Background

Electrical brain activity can be detected using electrodes placed on the scalp of a human subject. An electroencephalogram (EEG) is a recording of a time-varying spontaneous potential (SP) that is obtained from an alert and resting subject. When a subject is presented brief sensory stimuli (e.g., a flash, a click, a mild shock to the skin), a time-varying evoked potential (EP) is superimposed upon the normally present SP so that the EEG voltage includes both SP and EP components. The EP waveform begins within a few milliseconds after receipt of a sensory stimulus, and continues with a decreasing oscillatory magnitude so that it can be distinguished from the SP for as long as one second.

Previous investigations of EP signals have been directed toward methods and devices for distinguishing between normal subjects and subjects with various brain dysfunctions and for use of EP signals to control hardware devices.

Various regions of the brain have different functions and some of those regions are responsible for different types of conceptual functions, such as spatial relationship and word interpretation. When one of those areas of the brain dysfunctions, the specific mental functions associated therewith are impaired.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,901,215 discloses selection of stimuli that are intended to generate different levels of brain function, such as sensory, perceptual, and conceptual function. A neurometric test battery is disclosed in the '215 patent. That test battery includes several stimulus conditions that represent different levels of stimulus complexity. For each stimulus condition, the disclosed neurometric test battery attempts to determine whether the brain of a subject, as indicated by EP waveforms, distinguishes between two exemplars of a similar type. The model used in the '215 patent assumes, however, only that a difference in EP signals received from the brain of a subject while that subject senses different stimuli indicates that the brain of the subject has distinguished between those stimuli. Therefore, the only answer obtainable based upon the model disclosed in the '215 patent is that two stimulus conditions are either the same or different.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,926,969 discloses an EP based control device in which a subject must focus attention on one checkerboard stimulus among a panel of such stimuli. Those stimuli are used to stimulate the receptor system of a subject at different frequencies. When the subject focuses attention on one of the panels, the unique frequency associated with that panel generates a unique EP waveform from the brain of the subject. The unique frequency dependence generated thereby is used to selectively control a hardware device. Different commands may be issued to the device depending upon which checkerboard the subject stares at. Using that system, the subject must attend to a computer display representing a desired control command. The '969 patent explicitly (see column 8, lines 34-41) avoids using complex stimuli such as size, color, and shape.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, one object of this invention is to provide a novel system that can be used to determine from brainwave recordings from a subject whether translation of external stimuli has occurred.

Another object of this invention is to provide a novel system for determining from the brain waves of a subject whether conception, perception, or emotion has occurred in that subject.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel system for determining functionally damaged areas of the brain of a subject and to determine what type of functional damage has occurred.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel hardware control device that can be regulated by brain waveforms corresponding to predetermined thoughts.

Another object of the invention is to provide a hardware control device than can be regulated by EP waveforms induced by either external stimuli or by imagination of a subject.

These and other objects of the invention are provided by a novel system for the acquisition and decoding of EP and SP signals, which comprises a transducer for presenting stimuli to a subject, EEG sensors for recording brainwave signals from the subject, a computer for controlling and synchronizing stimuli presented to the subject and for concurrently recording brainwave signals. The computer also provides means to decode the content of the brainwave signals according to a stimulus model for perceptual, conceptual, and emotional translations.

The invention also provide a novel SP source locator method for determining whether regions of the brain of a subject are functional or dysfunctional, by recording a plurality of SP waveforms from a plurality of scalp locations, determining three basis waveforms from the SP waveforms, along three orthogonal axes. Each of the basis waveforms provide a best fit to the variation in SP waveform along one of the orthogonal axes so that the most complete representation of all the SP waveforms by linear combinations of the three basis waveforms is provided. A coordinate for each SP waveform consisting of the three coefficients for the three basis waveforms representing that SP waveform is plotted, forming a three dimensional plot. That plot is compared with a similar plot representing normative values obtained from a large population of subjects, wherein deviations of the position of a coordinate corresponding to an electrode from a normative value position indicates that a functional region of the brain adjacent to said electrode position is dysfunctional.

I have discovered that the brain interprets sensory stimuli to have perceptual conceptual or emotional meaning, that according to certain rules which indicate whether the stimuli have perceptual, conceptual, or emotional meaning, that EEG signals from the brain encode the type of interpretation of stimuli which the brain has made, and that similar EEG signals occur if an individual imagines an interpreted stimulus instead of experiencing that stimulus. Certain terms must be defined to adequately describe the discoveries and the corresponding inventions. Those definitions along with a more detailed discussion of the discoveries and the inventions follow.

I have discovered that the brain makes distinctions between stimuli based upon whether those stimuli have perceptual, conceptual, or emotional meaning to the brain, and that the brain does so based upon predetermined rules that the brain uses for interpreting real world stimuli external to the subject. External stimuli are defined to mean stimuli which are perceived via a sensory system of the body of the subject, as opposed to imagined stimuli.

There is a hierarchy of brain interpretation. The brain attempts to interpret stimuli at the highest hierarchical level. Conceptual interpretation is higher in the hierarchy than perceptual interpretation which is higher in the hierarchy than emotional interpretation which is higher in the hierarchy than the simple sensory information that impinges upon the subjects sensory receptors.

I define use of the different rules used by the brain for interpreting stimuli as translations. The brain translates sensory input from external stimuli using the highest hierarchical interpretation in order to understand the real world. Translations are based upon stimulus attributes that a subject can understand and interpret. An attribute is defined to be a common feature that can be shared by more than one stimulus. An exemplar of an attribute is defined to be a particular example of that attribute. A stimulus set is defined to be a set of a stimuli which have a set of attributes with particular exemplars. An example of an attribute is color, and color has as exemplars red, green, blue, etc. Each stimulus exemplar may have more than one attribute associated with it. A stimulus set can be formed from stimuli that have selective translations that are based upon conceptual, perceptual or emotional attributes.

Conception is defined to mean that the interpretation of stimuli is based upon common symbolic and object attributes in a stimulus set. For instance, words and pictures are each symbol systems that can, for example, be used to represent objects such as cat and dog. The brain classifies information according to similarities and differences in the symbolic and object attributes represented in the stimulus set. For example, each stimulus may use a word attribute and at the same time an object attribute. Alternatively, each stimulus may use a picture attribute and at the same time an object attribute. The brain concludes that the words and pictures for the same object are equivalent. At the same time the brain concludes that words belong to a common symbol system and that pictures belong to a common symbol system which is distinct from a word symbol system.

Perception is defined to mean that the interpretation of stimuli is based upon common, nonsymbolic, pattern attributes in a stimulus set. The brain classifies information according to similarities and differences in the texture and color attributes represented in a stimulus set. For example, each stimulus may use a texture attribute and at the same time a color attribute. The brain must be able to conclude that the color red is equivalent when associated with fine or coarse checkerboard stimuli, and at the same time the brain must be able to conclude that the color green is equivalent when associated with fine or course checkerboard stimuli in order to classify according to red or green. Similarly, the brain concludes that a coarse checkerboard texture is equivalent when associated with red or green stimuli, and at the same time the brain concludes that a fine checkerboard texture is equivalent when associated with red or green stimuli when classifying coarse and fine checkerboard texture.

Emotion is defined to mean that the interpretation of stimuli is based upon common emotional and situational attributes in a stimulus set. The brain classifies information according to similarities and differences in the emotional and situational attributes represented in the stimulus set. Each stimulus may use a situational attribute and at the same time an emotional attribute. For example, the brain concludes that male and female faces that depict smiles can be interpreted as an equivalent happy emotion. Alternatively, the brain concludes that male and female faces that depict anger can be interpreted as an equivalent angry emotion. At the same, the brain concludes that male faces are equivalent when associated with happy or angry emotions, and that female faces are equivalent when associated with happy or angry emotions.

A stimulus model is a model which represents attributes as orthogonal vector directions in a vector space and represents an exemplar of an attribute as a vector of a particular magnitude along the vector direction of its attribute.

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Obviously, numerous modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that, within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein.