Written BY: Pooja. Thakkar

Kinect recently made it possible to make use of gestural interfaces but how about going a step further and using the power of your thoughts to call someone.. This technology might be much closer to implementation.

In fact, a group of researchers in San Diego have developed a system that allows users to dial a phone number on a cellphone using only their thoughts, reported Mashable.
The method is surprisingly accurate and would be a huge advantage for people with disabilities or anyone who needs a more hands-free experience or who regularly performs tasks that require a high degree of mental focus.

The technology, which was developed by University of California, San Diego neuroscience researcher Tzyy-Ping Jung and colleagues, tracks electrical activity in the brain using a headband of electrodes and a Bluetooth device. Users of the system were shown digits from zero to nine flashing at slightly different speeds on a computer screen; the frequency of each digit was detected by the electrodes, allowing the Bluetooth device to “know” which numbers to dial
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In various trials, subjects with varying degrees of training showed between 70% and 85% accuracy when attempting to dial a 10-digit phone number.

Computer-brain interfaces have been around for a while; this is the first instance we’ve seen of a brain interface being applied to a mobile phone. Being able to make brain interfaces smaller, faster and cheaper might go a long way toward these novel technologies becoming more practical for everyday use for a mass audience.