Brain-Computer Interfaces for Neurorehabilitation

Abstract

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) enable control of computers and other assistive devices, such as neuro-prostheses, which are used for communication, movement restoration, neuro-modulation, and muscle stimulation, by using only signals measured directly from the brain. A BCI creates a new output channel for the brain to a computer or a device. This requires retrieval of signals of interest from the brain, and its use for neuro-rehabilitation by means of interfacing the signals to a computerized device. Brain signals such as action potentials from single neurons or nerve fibers, extracellular local field potentials (LFPs), electrocorticograms, electroencephalogram and its components such as the event-related brain potentials, real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging, near-infrared spectroscopy, and magneto-encephalogram have been used. BCIs are envisaged to be useful for communication, control and self-regulation of brain function. BCIs employ neurofeedback to enable operant conditioning to allow the user to learn using it. Paralytic conditions arising from stroke or other diseases are being targeted for BCI application. Neurofeedback strategies ranging from sensory feedback to direct brain stimulation are being employed. Existing BCIs are limited in their throughput in terms of letters per minute or commands per minute, and need extensive training to use the BCI. Further, they can cause rapid fatigue due to use and have limited adaptability to changes in the patient's brain state. The challenge before BCI technology for neuro-rehabilitation today is to enable effective clinical use of BCIs with minimal effort to set up and operate.

The current state of the brain—computer interface problem

“…Несколько групп исследователей [5,30,[33][34][35] получили возможность записи и дешифровки до-статочно сложной активности нейрональных ансамблей, а также использования полученных данных для контроля внешних устройств.…”

Doing Things with Thoughts: Brain-Computer Interfaces and Disembodied Agency

“…They can also enable control of prosthetic devices in patients with motor disabilities or amputees, or control external devices like a wheelchair. Further, BCIs can provide neuro-feedback for rehabilitative and neuropsychiatric treatment (e.g., Sreedharan et al 2013;Lim et al 2012). In short, BCIs seem to become a groundbreaking neurotechnology that affords restoring and enhancing persons' capacities for action and communication.…”

Neurofeedback Control of the Human GABAergic System Using Non-invasive Brain Stimulation

“…Recently, neurofeedback has served as a powerful method for self-regulating brain activities. Subjects can learn to regulate a targeted brain activity based on realtime information provided by electroencephalography (EEG) recordings (Tan et al, 2009;Arani et al, 2010;Arnold et al, 2013;Ogrim and Hestad, 2013;Sreedharan et al, 2013;Zotev et al, 2014), fMRI (Weiskopf, 2012;Stoeckel et al, 2014;Zotev et al, 2014), and functional Near-infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) (Naseer and Hong, 2015;Thibault et al, 2015). The neural mechanism of neurofeedback has been proposed to involve operant conditioning and reinforcement learning (Gruzelier and Egner, 2005;Levesque et al, 2006;Ros et al, 2013).…”