Like ESP-N - knowing the baseball scores before Sportscenter comes on....
They were connected by a computer transmission and electrodes and learned the proper response necessary to match the stimulus thus providing them the reward of praise. Sounds like operant conditioning.
Operant conditioning focuses on using either reinforcement or punishment to increase or decrease a behavior. Through this process, an association is formed between the behavior and the consequences for that behavior. For example, imagine that a trainer is trying to teach a dog to fetch a ball. When the dog successful chases and picks up the ball, the dog receives praise as a reward. When the animal fails to retrieve the ball, the trainer withholds the praise. Eventually, the dog forms an association between his behavior of fetching the ball and receiving the desired reward.
The study took a couple of years of trial and error in order to get it right, Pascual-Leone, who is also a professor at Harvard Medical School, told FoxNews.com. This involved training the test subjects and testing the reliability of the robotics and technology involved.
There was no transmission of thoughts. No communication.
I have no doubt this development will be perfected sooner rather than later.
I can think back to the 50’s and 60’s, when the things we take for granted today where just foolish wild eyed fantasy’s.
I mean back then the word blog, would conjure up an image some creature living under a bridge, then again perhaps that image is not so far fetched.