Scientists have successfully implanted a brain-computer interface into a patient, which could help guide brain injury treatment in the future.
The device, installed by researchers at the University of Chicago, will be used to determine the relationship between brain waves and attention.
Characteristic activity patterns known as beta and delta oscillations have been theoretically associated with attention since the early 20th century, but they have never been directly recorded to help investigate the relationship more closely.
Professor Hatsopoulos at the Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy at the university explained that the implant provided "a really unique opportunity to record, at the micro scale, signals from the human motor cortex".
She added: "The slow rhythm is kind of like the rhythm section, and you anticipate notes at particular moments in time based on that slower rhythm."
The research comes after neuroscientists revealed new links in the brain that regulate electrical activity.
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