ArticlePloS one2014
Conscious brain-to-brain communication in humans using non-invasive technologies.
Article in PloS one, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 52 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
52 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 210 citations in OpenAlex.
- Direct Communication Between Brains: A Systematic PRISMA Review of Brain-To-Brain Interface.Frontiers in neurorobotics · 2021Pooled it
- Towards neuromorphic neurotechnologies: integrating brain-inspired computing with brain-computer interfaces.npj biomedical innovations · 2026Review
- Efficient Gaussian process-based motor hotspot hunting with concurrent optimization of TMS coil location and orientation.PLoS computational biology · 2026Article
- Multi-Level Perception Systems in Fusion of Lifeforms: Classification, Challenges and Future Conceptions.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Horizon Scan of Emerging Issues at the Intersection of National Security, Artificial Intelligence, and Human Performance Enhancement.Science and engineering ethics · 2025Article
- Personalized cognitive enhancement for older adults: An aging-friendly closed-loop human-machine interface framework.Ageing research reviews · 2025Review
- The Marriage of Neurotechnologies and Artificial Intelligence: Ethical, regulatory, and technological aspects.IEEE signal processing magazine · 2025Article
- Exploring individual biases in BCI research and users: Does gender matter?Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2025Article
- Unsupervised method for representation transfer from one brain to another.Frontiers in neuroinformatics · 2024Article
- Machine-Learning Methods for Speech and Handwriting Detection Using Neural Signals: A Review.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
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- Applying antagonistic activation pattern to the single-trial classification of mental arithmetic.Heliyon · 2022Article
- Poststroke Cognitive Impairment Research Progress on Application of Brain-Computer Interface.BioMed research international · 2022Review
- Nanoscale programming of cellular and physiological phenotypes: inorganic meets organic programming.NPJ systems biology and applications · 2021Review
- Brain-to-brain communication: the possible role of brain electromagnetic fields (As a Potential Hypothesis).Heliyon · 2021Review
- Consciousness Beyond Neural Fields: Expanding the Possibilities of What Has Not Yet Happened.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
- Neurorights in History: A Contemporary Review of José M. R. Delgado's "Physical Control of the Mind" (1969) and Elliot S. Valenstein's "Brain Control" (1973).Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2021Article
- TechnoBrainBodies-in-Cultures: An Intersectional Case.Frontiers in sociology · 2021Article
- Progress in Brain Computer Interface: Challenges and Opportunities.Frontiers in systems neuroscience · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Human sensory and motor systems provide the natural means for the exchange of information between individuals, and, hence, the basis for human civilization. The recent development of brain-computer interfaces (BCI) has provided an important element for the creation of brain-to-brain communication systems, and precise brain stimulation techniques are now available for the realization of non-invasive computer-brain interfaces (CBI). These technologies, BCI and CBI, can be combined to realize the vision of non-invasive, computer-mediated brain-to-brain (B2B) communication between subjects (hyperinteraction). Here we demonstrate the conscious transmission of information between human brains through the intact scalp and without intervention of motor or peripheral sensory systems. Pseudo-random binary streams encoding words were transmitted between the minds of emitter and receiver subjects separated by great distances, representing the realization of the first human brain-to-brain interface. In a series of experiments, we established internet-mediated B2B communication by combining a BCI based on voluntary motor imagery-controlled electroencephalographic (EEG) changes with a CBI inducing the conscious perception of phosphenes (light flashes) through neuronavigated, robotized transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), with special care taken to block sensory (tactile, visual or auditory) cues. Our results provide a critical proof-of-principle demonstration for the development of conscious B2B communication technologies. More fully developed, related implementations will open new research venues in cognitive, social and clinical neuroscience and the scientific study of consciousness. We envision that hyperinteraction technologies will eventually have a profound impact on the social structure of our civilization and raise important ethical issues.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.