Biofeedback signals used to predict gamers' moves

While it's no shock that artificial intelligence as a whole is making strides, a pair of Hungarian researchers have seemingly unlocked a secret that gamers are sure to detest. Laszlo Laufer and Bottyan Nemeth, both from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, have reportedly "discovered that a gamer's button presses can be predicted two seconds before they make them, through measurements of skin conductance." To make such a bold claim, the duo had guinea pigs play a simple game while their heart rate and skin conductance were measured, and after utilizing "neural networks to analyze the biofeedback signals and input records," the data showed that we humans aren't as unpredictable as we sometimes hope to be. Notably, this unearthing could be used in quite a few applications outside of infuriating gamers, but we all know where the real fun in this is.

[Via The Raw Feed]

[Crazylink @ Sep 3rd 2007 2:18AM]

I wonder how this affects games in which you don't have two seconds to make a move.

[ericlaw02 @ Sep 3rd 2007 2:31AM]

Which Mac? Macintosh 128K?

[Icheb @ Sep 3rd 2007 3:08AM]

Did they try this with a FPS like Quake? I don't even know what button I'm going to press 1 second in the future, so I doubt my body is going to know what I'm going to press TWO seconds in the future.

[nikster2 @ Sep 3rd 2007 9:07AM]

I was going to say the same thing. Maybe they tested it on Civilization 4.. ;)

In Quake 3 - no way. 1/10th of a second is a long time in Q3, never mind 2 seconds...

[David @ Sep 3rd 2007 12:11PM]

You kidding? I don't have a clue what I pressed 5 seconds ago that caused my frickin' team-mate to blow up...

[Taylor @ Sep 3rd 2007 3:09AM]

Note that the game in the picture is Yetisports. Nothing that great :P

[Liam @ Sep 3rd 2007 5:00AM]

2 seconds. Ye sure... most FPS you have less than half a second to even react. I doubt this tool can react faster than the neural message from my brain to my finger.

[huygir @ Sep 3rd 2007 12:08PM]

2 seconds won't cut it (unless you are really planning that shuffle-jump-roll-shoot move well in advance), but if they get it down to actual reaction times it could make for a cool gaming genre - one where the enemy is figuring you out as fast as you are so that you have to "think" false moves in order to fool them into making fatal mistakes. Great mind-body training I'll bet.

[iliarules @ Sep 3rd 2007 12:26PM]

That wouldn't be fun... it would just make people angry.

[John @ Sep 3rd 2007 1:11PM]

Where IS the real fun in this? I feel like I missed something...

[mountpanic @ Sep 3rd 2007 2:40PM]

Relax kids. It's not like Psycho Mantis or anything. Those 2-second predictions aren't the same thing as seeing into the future. They can just tell that you are *prepared* to use the finger, so in heavy deathmatching, it's pretty much going to read "always ready" on your trigger finger. As far as actually firing, it would have a much shorter warning, but it is possible to read the impulse before the muscle reacts.

[Underoath586 @ Sep 5th 2007 10:36AM]

Creepy but cool....