US defense researchers have claimed that a 28-year-old paralyzed man in the US has become the first person to ‘feel’ physical sensations with the help of a prosthetic hand directly linked to his brain.

The man has been paralyzed for over 10 years due to a spinal cord injury. The researchers said that the man was even able to make out which mechanical finger was being gently touched. The identity of the volunteer in the study was not disclosed by DARPA.

The advance has been made possible by neural technologies developed under US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Revolutionizing Prosthetics. The advance has indicated towards a future wherein paralyzed people will not only be able to manipulate objects by sending signals from their brain to devices, but will also be able to sense exactly what those devices are touching.

DARPA programme manager Justin Sanchez, said, “By wiring a sense of touch from a mechanical hand directly into the brain, this work shows the potential for seamless bio-technological restoration of near-natural function”.

The team placed electrode arrays on the man’s sensory cortex, the brain part responsible for identifying tactile sensations, including pressure. Additionally, they placed arrays on his motor cortex, the part of the brain that directs body movements. Wires were running between the arrays on the motor cortex to a mechanical hand, which was developed by the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL). Through this, the man was given the capacity to control the movement of hand with his thoughts.