LAUSR

ABSTRACT This paper reviews the development of Brain–Computer Interface research, covering period from 1973 when the term Brain–Computer Interface was introduced, till the last year of the twentieth century, 1999. The focus is on the first two brain–computer interface demonstrations done in Europe, in 1988. This paper written in 2018 marks the thirtieth anniversary of those two events. The first event was control of a computer buzzer using EEG contingent negative potential variation, and the second event was control of a physical object with a mass, a robot, using EEG alpha rhythm amplitude variation. Movement of a physical object with a mass through signals emanating from a human brain was named psychokinesis and before 1988 it was in the realm of science fiction. The paper describes the two events in chronological order, from the basic idea to the engineering realization.