Miguel Nicolelis is a Brazilian scientist specializing on the interface between the brain and machines. His most notable experiment, documented in this video, taught a monkey how to control a videogame with only its brain. Wires were first implanted directly into the monkey’s brain, who was then taught how to play a game with a joystick while the electrical signals from its brain were recorded and used as the actual control over the game cursor. The monkey soon realized it was able to control the cursor without using the joystick at all.

A company called “Emotiv” has just announced today a similar system designed for commercial videogame applications. A pre-launch Harry Potter game “could be adapted so that a player could use the headset to lift, push and rotate objects and cast spells.”

Of course, no mention of emotions in videogames could happen without sweeping sexism:

Randy Breen, chief product officer and a former executive at EA and LucasArts, said the software code could be added to a game late in the development process without impacting on its budget. “If emotions can become a central element, I think it’s easy to see how video games can appeal to a broader audience, especially women,” he said.

Similar “mind control” interfaces have actually been out for a while, but in my experience their ability to discern between different thoughts or emotions have been fairly limited.

Emotiv pioneers new mind games [MSNBC/FT]