Mehdi Ordikhani-Seyedlar: What happens in your brain when you pay attention?
মেহদি অরদিখানি-সেয়েদলার: আপনার মস্তিষ্কে কি হয় যখন আপনি মনোযোগ দেন?
Mehdi Ordikhani-Seyedlar is a computational neuroscientist, researching brain signals and their usage in brain-machine interfaces. Full bio
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in so many different directions at a time,
if you can stay focused.
is all about what we are focusing on,
our brain is trying to filter out.
you direct your attention.
you move your eyes towards something
you pay attention to something,
your direction of the eyes,
the surrounding area,
brain-machine interfaces,
the brain and the computer.
we can build models for the computers,
how well our brain functions.
can be used as assistive devices
an interesting model for computers.
what are the brainwave patterns
or when you look covertly.
there are two flickering squares,
at a slower rate than the other one.
you are paying attention to,
will start resonating in the same rate
you are watching
when you pay overt attention,
in one of the squares
we saw that these flickering squares
from the back of their head,
of your visual information.
when you pay covert attention.
to look in the middle of the screen
to either of these squares.
appeared in their brain signals,
which was paid attention to,
the activation of the frontal area.
is responsible
it seems that it works as a filter
only from the right flicker
coming from the ignored one.
is indeed a key for attention,
cannot inhibit these distractors,
for a long time on a single task.
brain-machine interfaces
and he lost complete ability to speak.
but there was no way to respond,
because he was illiterate.
about images or even letters,
a different brainwave pattern
communicate for people who can't speak?
the thoughts of a person in a coma?
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Mehdi Ordikhani-Seyedlar - NeuroscientistMehdi Ordikhani-Seyedlar is a computational neuroscientist, researching brain signals and their usage in brain-machine interfaces.
Why you should listen
Mehdi Ordikhani-Seyedlar is a research scientist interested in brain-wave patterns generated by neural activities in the brain. Since embarking on his research on neuroscience, Ordikhani-Seyedlar has been working on different brain functions such as learning, memory, pain and, more recently, visual attention in humans. He also conducted a part of his research on monkeys when he was in Dr. Miguel Nicolelis' lab at Duke University. His findings help implement more accurate brain-machine interfaces to treat people who are suffering from attention deficiency.
After receiving his Ph.D in Biomedical Engineering, Ordikhani-Seyedlar was offered a postdoctoral position by Duke University to develop algorithms to process large-scale neuronal activity and brain-machine interfaces. However, due to political complications in the United States, Ordikhani-Seyedlar -- an Iranian citizen -- changed his plan to continue his brain research outside the US for some time.
As a passionate neuroscientist and neuroengineer, Ordikhani-Seyedlar's aim is to improve brain pattern detectability in computers. This enhances the ability of brain-machine interfaces substantially to better target the defected brain function which in turn enhances the sustainability of treatment effect.
Mehdi Ordikhani-Seyedlar | Speaker | TED.com