Scientists connect three human brains enabling them to share thoughts

Neuroscientists have successfully connected up a three-way brain connection to allow them share thoughts. Researchers have built a system called ‘BrainNet’ which allows an actual exchange of thoughts between the brains. Earlier researches show that it is possible for two people to collaborate to a limited extent using brain waves to play a video game. In this new effort, the researchers have extended the idea to include a third person.

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Using BrainNet, the participant group is able to play a collaborative Tetris-like game. The network uses a combination of electroencephalograms to record electrical activity and transcranial magnetic stimulation to send info.

"We present BrainNet which, to our knowledge, is the first multi-person non-invasive direct brain-to-brain interface for collaborative problem solving," researchers write.

BrainNet works through a combination of electroencephalograms, for recording the electrical impulses that indicate brain activity, and transcranial magnetic stimulation, where neurons are stimulated using magnetic fields. BrainNet requires external intervention. It can only send one bit of data at a time. However, in future, it can be scaled up to transmit more complex thoughts across groups.

The precursor to BrainNet was a gear that University of Washington researchers used in 2015 to connect two people through a brain-to-brain interface. In its modern avatar, BrainNet allows three people to join a conversation using brain-to-brain network, Engadget reported.

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The researchers suggest there is no reason BrainNet could be expanded in future to include desired number of people.