Facebook has acquired a start-up which is developing devices that can pick up electrical signals from the brain and transmit them to a computer.
CTRL-Labs has designed a wristband that can identify the signals the brain sends to the hand telling it to move, and decode them.
It could then transmit that command – for example, to press a button – to a computer or other device.
It also “captures your intention”, said Facebook VR president Andrew Bosworth.
“So you can share a photo with a friend using an imperceptible movement or just by, well, intending to,” he said in a post on his personal Facebook page.
Facebook has not confirmed a report by CNBC which claimed that the deal was worth between $500m and $1bn (£0.4bn and £0.8bn).
Mr Bosworth said he hoped the CTRL-Lab team would help Facebook to “build this kind of technology, at scale and get it into consumer products faster”.
There was a mixed response to the news.