Brain activity can identify preferences

TORONTO, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- Canadian biomedical engineering scientists say they've created a technique designed to aid children who can't speak or move.

The researchers at Bloorview Kids Rehab Hospital -- Canada's largest children's rehabilitation teaching facility -- said their technique involves using infrared brain imaging to decode preferences, with the goal of ultimately opening the world of choice to children who can't speak or move.

The Bloorview scientists, affiliated with the University of Toronto, said they demonstrated the ability to decode a person's preference for one of two drinks with 80 percent accuracy by measuring the intensity of near-infrared light absorbed in brain tissue.

"This is the first system that decodes preference naturally from spontaneous thoughts," said Sheena Luu, a doctoral student who led the research. "Preference is the basis for everyday decisions," she said, noting that when children with disabilities can't speak or gesture to control their environment, they might develop a learned helplessness that impedes development.

The study was part of Associate Professor Tom Chau's body-talk research, which aims to give children who are "locked in" by disability a way to express themselves through subtle body processes such as their breathing pattern, heart rate or brain activity.

The study appears in the Journal of Neural Engineering.