Scanned by scientists from the University College of London and Oxford University showed that people who enjoy a robotic “third thumb” change the activity of the brain responsible for the movement of the hand of hand. This allows them in just a few days to learn to solve with the help of a manipulator complex tasks, such as stirring coffee in a cup or construction of a tower of wooden bars. The results of the study are published in the journal Science Robotics.
Experiment participants learned to use an additional finger-robot printed on a 3D printer for five days. It possesses two degrees of freedom and is controlled by wireless communication with the help of large toes. 20 subjects wore it at six o’clock a day for five days and carried out with the help of it ordinary everyday actions, as well as special training tasks.
After training, the participants have passed a number of tests, and some conducted a functional imaging of the brain (FMRT). Training improved the motorcy and coordination of artificial finger, as well as the dexterity with which the subjects used it, including closed eyes. Participants reported that they felt the robot as part of their own body, and did not even attached special cognitive efforts to control it. This was confirmed by the scan results, which demonstrated a change in neural activity in the sensor corner region of large hemispheres.
In the course of FMRT, the tests moved each of their fingers, except for artificial (for safety purposes, it was removed before scanning), after which the brain activity was compared with the activity when moving his fingers on the hand, on which they did not wear a “third thumb”. Representation of the fingers in the appropriate somatosensory cortex region has become a little less clear, that is, the brain began to adapt to the use of extra finger. This is reminded of what is happening in experienced pianists, in which neural activity that reflects the movement of individual fingers is less distinguishable due to permanent workouts, becomes less distinguishable.
How do the authors of work write, changes in the brain are crucial for the successful introduction of aggregation technologies when the human body is complemented by robotic devices that replace or supplementing limbs.