26 Sep Yoga and Meditation Enhance Brain-Computer Interface

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Prof. Bin He M.S. Ph.D
University of Minnesota’s College of Science and Engineering
Director of the University’s Institute for Engineering in Medicine.

MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study?

Prof. He: It is found that people with long term mind body awareness training including yoga and meditation can learn much faster and better the brain-computer interface skills to control a computer cursor by their minds.

MedicalResearch: What was most surprising about the results?

Prof. He: We were surprised by the significant level of difference between subjects with mind body awareness training and those who had not or little experience.

MedicalResearch: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?

Prof. He:  Our study suggests that mind-body awareness training may become an alternative means to help patients and subjects to learn the brain-comuter interface skills through healthy-benefitting activities such as yoga and meditation.

MedicalResearch: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?

Prof. He: This study suggests that it is important to look at the “brain” aspect of the brain-computer interface in additional to the many approaches focusing on “computer” aspect.

Citation:

The impact of mind-body awareness training on the early learning of a brain-computer interface
Kaitlin Cassady, Albert You, Alex Doud, and Bin He
TECHNOLOGY 2014 02:03 , 254-260

Last Updated on September 26, 2014 by Marie Benz MD FAAD