No abstract

In recent years, the detection of voluntary motor intentions from electroencephalogram (EEG) has been used for triggering external devices in closed-loop brain-computer interface (BCI) research. Movement-related cortical potentials (MRCP), a type of slow cortical potentials, have been recently used for detection. In order to enhance the efficacy of closed-loop BCI systems based on MRCPs, a manifold method called Locality Preserving Projection, followed by a linear discriminant analysis (LDA) classifier (LPP-LDA) is proposed in this paper to detect MRCPs from scalp EEG in real time. In an online experiment on nine healthy subjects, LPP-LDA statistically outperformed the classic matched filter approach with greater true positive rate (79 ± 11% versus 68 ± 10%; p = 0.007) and less false positives (1.4 ± 0.8/min versus 2.3 ± 1.1/min; p = 0.016). Moreover, the proposed system performed detections with significantly shorter latency (315 ± 165 ms versus 460 ± 123 ms; p = 0.013), which is a fundamental characteristics to induce neuroplastic changes in closed-loop BCIs, following the Hebbian principle. In conclusion, the proposed system works as a generic brain switch, with high accuracy, low latency, and easy online implementation. It can thus be used as a fundamental element of BCI systems for neuromodulation and motor function rehabilitation.

In this paper, we present a brain-computer interface (BCI) driven motorized ankle-foot orthosis (BCI-MAFO), intended for stroke rehabilitation, and we demonstrate its efficacy in inducing cortical neuroplasticity in healthy subjects with a short intervention procedure (∼15 min). This system detects imaginary dorsiflexion movements within a short latency from scalp EEG through the analysis of movement-related cortical potentials (MRCPs). A manifold-based method, called locality preserving projection, detected the motor imagery online with a true positive rate of 73.0 ± 10.3%. Each detection triggered the MAFO to elicit a passive dorsiflexion. In nine healthy subjects, the size of the motor-evoked potential (MEP) elicited by transcranial magnetic stimulation increased significantly immediately following and 30 min after the cessation of this BCI-MAFO intervention for ∼15 min ( p = 0.009 and , respectively), indicating neural plasticity. In four subjects, the size of the short latency stretch reflex component did not change following the intervention, suggesting that the site of the induced plasticity was cortical. All but one subject also performed two control conditions where they either imagined only or where the MAFO was randomly triggered. Both of these control conditions resulted in no significant changes in MEP size (p = 0.38 and p = 0.15). The proposed system provides a fast and effective approach for inducing cortical plasticity through BCI and has potential in motor function rehabilitation following stroke.