Brain Mechine Interface Company
Stephen Hawking talked through ‘the computer’, using a speech-generating device (SGD) or a voice output communication aid. This is a special device that either supplements or replaces speech/writing. Update: Stephen Hawking passed away in the wee hours of March 14, 2018. He was 76 years old.
Medical ultrasound (also known as diagnostic sonography or ultrasonography) is a technique based on the application of. It is used to create an image of internal body structures such as, joints, blood vessels, and internal organs. Its aim is often to find a source of a disease or to exclude. The practice of examining women using ultrasound is called, and was an early development and application of clinical ultrasonography.refers to with which are higher than those audible to humans (20,000 Hz).
Ultrasonic images, also known as sonograms, are made by sending pulses of ultrasound into using a. The ultrasound off tissues with different reflection properties and are recorded and displayed as an image.Many different types of images can be formed. The commonest is a B-mode image (Brightness), which displays the acoustic impedance of a two-dimensional cross-section of tissue. Other types can display, motion of tissue over time, the location of blood, the presence of specific molecules, the, or the.Compared to other dominant methods of medical imaging, ultrasound has several advantages.
It provides images in real-time and is portable and can be brought to the bedside. It is substantially lower in cost than other imaging modalities and does not use harmful. Drawbacks include various limits on its field of view, such as the need for patient cooperation, dependence on physique, difficulty imaging structures behind and air, and the necessity of a skilled operator, usually a trained professional. Contents.By organ or system Sonography (ultrasonography) is widely used in. It is possible to perform both and, using ultrasound to guide interventional procedures such as or drainage of fluid collections.
Are medical professionals who perform scans which are then traditionally interpreted by radiologists, physicians who specialize in the application and interpretation of a wide variety of medical imaging modalities, or by cardiologists in the case of cardiac ultrasonography (echocardiography). Increasingly, clinicians (physicians and other healthcare professionals who provide direct patient care) are using the ultrasound in office and hospital practice (Point of Care Ultrasound).Sonography is effective for imaging soft tissues of the body.
Superficial structures such as, and parathyroid glands, and the brain are imaged at a higher (7–18 MHz), which provides better linear (axial) and horizontal (lateral). Deeper structures such as liver and kidney are imaged at a lower frequency 1–6 MHz with lower axial and lateral resolution as a price of deeper tissue penetration.A general-purpose ultrasound transducer may be used for most imaging purposes but specialty applications may require the use of a specialty transducer. Most ultrasound procedures are done using a transducer on the surface of the body, but improved diagnostic confidence is often possible if a transducer can be placed inside the body. For this purpose, specialty transducers, including endovaginal, endorectal, and transducers are commonly employed. At the extreme, very small transducers can be mounted on small diameter catheters and placed into blood vessels to image the walls and disease of those vessels.Anesthesiology In, ultrasound is commonly used to guide the placement of needles when placing local anaesthetic solutions near.
It is also used for vascular access such as central venous and difficult. Is frequently used by neuro-anesthesiologists for obtaining information about flow-velocity in the basal.Angiology (vascular). Further information: andIn or medicine, (B Mode imaging combined with Doppler flow measurement) is used to diagnose arterial and venous disease.
This is particularly important in, where ultrasound is used for assessing blood flow and stenoses in the carotid arteries and intracerebral arteries.( IVUS) uses a specially designed, with a miniaturized probe attached to its distal end, which is then threaded inside a blood vessel. The proximal end of the is attached to computerized equipment and allows the application of technology, such as or, to visualize the (inner wall) of in living individuals.In the case of the common and potentially, serious problem of blood clots in the deep veins of the leg, plays a key diagnostic role, while focuses on more to assist with planning of suitable interventions to relieve symptoms or improve cosmetics.Cardiology (heart). Further information: andand are frequently used in.
In abdominal sonography, the solid organs of the abdomen such as the, and are imaged. However, sound waves are blocked by gas in the and attenuated to differing degrees by fat, sometimes limiting diagnostic capabilities in this area. The can sometimes be seen when inflamed (as in e.g.: ) and ultrasound is the initial imaging choice, avoiding unnecessary radiation, although it frequently needs to be followed by other imaging methods such as. Is used particularly in the investigation of anorectal symptoms such as. It images the immediate anatomy and is able to detect occult defects such as tearing of the. Allows for both detection and characterization.
Gynecology and obstetrics. Main articles: andexamines female pelvic organs (specifically the, and ) as well as the,.
It commonly uses transducers designed for approaches through the lower abdominal wall, curvilinear and sector, and specialty transducers such as.was originally developed in the late 1950’s and 60’s by Sir and is commonly used during to check on the development and presentation of the. It can be used to identify many conditions that could be potentially harmful to the mother and/or baby possibly remaining undiagnosed or with delayed diagnosis in the absence of sonography. It is currently believed that the risk of leaving these conditions undiagnosed is greater than the small risk, if any, associated with undergoing an ultrasound scan. Neck ultrasound.Most structures of the neck, including the and, and, are well-visualized by high-frequency ultrasound with exceptional anatomic detail.
Ultrasound is the preferred imaging modality for thyroid tumors and lesions, and ultrasonography is critical in the evaluation, preoperative planning, and postoperative surveillance of patients with. Many other benign and malignant conditions in the head and neck can be evaluated and managed with the help of diagnostic ultrasound and ultrasound-guided procedures.Neonatology In, can be used for basic assessment of intracerebral structural abnormalities, bleeds, or and anoxic insults. The ultrasound can be performed through the soft spots in the skull of a newborn infant until these completely close at about 1 year of age and form a virtually impenetrable acoustic barrier for the ultrasound.
The most common site for is the anterior fontanelle. The smaller the fontanelle, the poorer the quality of the picture.Ophthalmology ( eyes) In and, there are two major forms of eye exam using ultrasound:., commonly referred to as an A-scan (short for Amplitude scan). It is an that provides data on the length of the, which is a major determinant in especially for determining the power of an intraocular lens after cataract extraction. B-scan ultrasonography, or B-scan, which is a scan that produces a cross-sectional view of the and the. It is commonly used to see inside the eye when media is hazy due to cataract or any corneal opacity.Pulmonology (lungs) In, endobronchial Ultrasound (EBUS) probes are applied to standard flexible endoscopic probes and used by pulmonologists to allow for direct visualization of endobronchial lesions and lymph nodes prior to transbronchial needle aspiration. Among its many uses, EBUS aids in lung cancer staging by allowing for lymph node sampling without the need for major surgery.
Urology (urinary). (black butterfly-like shape) and hyperplastic visualized by medical sonographic techniqueUltrasound is routinely used in to determine, for example, the amount of fluid retained in a patient's bladder. In a pelvic sonogram, organs of the pelvic region are imaged. This includes the. Males are sometimes given a pelvic sonogram to check on the health of their bladder, the, or their (for example to distinguish from ). In young males, it is used to distinguish more benign testicular masses ( or ) from, which is highly curable but which must be treated to preserve health and fertility.
There are two methods of performing a pelvic sonography – externally or internally. The internal pelvic sonogram is performed either trans (in a woman) or transrectally (in a man). Sonographic imaging of the pelvic floor can produce important diagnostic information regarding the precise relationship of abnormal structures with other pelvic organs and it represents a useful hint to treat patients with symptoms related to pelvic prolapse, double incontinence and obstructed defecation.
It is used to diagnose and, at higher frequencies, to treat (break up) kidney stones or kidney crystals. Main article:Ultrasound is an excellent method for the study of the, such as indicated in trauma, priapism, erectile dysfunction or suspected. Musculoskeletal ultrasound in used to examine tendons, muscles, nerves, ligaments, soft tissue masses, and bone surfaces. Ultrasound is an alternative to x-ray imaging in detecting fractures of the wrist, elbow and shoulder for patients up to 12 years.Quantitative ultrasound is an adjunct musculoskeletal test for myopathic disease in children; estimates of lean body mass in adults; proxy measures of muscle quality (i.e., tissue composition) in older adults withUltrasound can also be used for guidance in muscle or, such as in.Nephrology (kidneys).
Main article:In, ultrasonography of the kidneys is essential in the diagnosis and management of kidney-related diseases. The kidneys are easily examined, and most pathological changes in the kidneys are distinguishable with ultrasound. US is an accessible, versatile, inexpensive, and fast aid for decision-making in patients with renal symptoms and for guidance in renal intervention.
Renal ultrasound (US) is a common examination, which has been performed for decades. Using, assessment of renal anatomy is easily performed, and US is often used as image guidance for renal interventions.
Furthermore, novel applications in renal US have been introduced with contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS), elastography and fusion imaging. However, renal US has certain limitations, and other modalities, such as CT (CECT) and MRI, should always be considered as supplementary imaging modalities in the assessment of renal disease.
From sound to image The creation of an image from sound is done in three steps – producing a, receiving, and interpreting those echoes.Producing a sound wave. Medical ultrasound scannerA sound wave is typically produced by a encased in a plastic housing. Strong, short electrical pulses from the ultrasound machine drive the transducer at the desired frequency. The can be anywhere between 1 and 18, though frequencies up to 50–100 megahertz have been used experimentally in a technique known as biomicroscopy in special regions, such as the anterior chamber of the eye.
Older technology transducers focused their beam with physical lenses. Newer technology transducers use techniques to enable the ultrasound machine to change the direction and depth of focus.The sound is focused either by the shape of the transducer, a lens in front of the transducer, or a complex set of control pulses from the ultrasound scanner, in the technique. This focusing produces an arc-shaped sound wave from the face of the transducer. The wave travels into the body and comes into focus at a desired depth.Materials on the face of the transducer enable the sound to be transmitted efficiently into the body (often a rubbery coating, a form of ). In addition, a water-based gel is placed between the patient's skin and the probe.The sound wave is partially reflected from the layers between different tissues or scattered from smaller structures. Specifically, sound is reflected anywhere where there are acoustic impedance changes in the body: e.g. In, small structures in organs, etc.
Some of the reflections return to the transducer.Receiving the echoes The return of the sound wave to the transducer results in the same process as sending the sound wave, except in reverse. B-flow is a mode that digitally highlights moving reflectors (mainly ) while suppressing the signals from the surrounding stationary tissue. It can visualize flowing blood and surrounding stationary tissues simultaneously. It is thus an alternative or complement to in visualizing blood flow. C-mode: A C-mode image is formed in a plane normal to a B-mode image. A gate that selects data from a specific depth from an A-mode line is used; then the transducer is moved in the 2D plane to sample the entire region at this fixed depth. When the transducer traverses the area in a spiral, an area of 100 cm 2 can be scanned in around 10 seconds.
M-mode: In M-mode (motion mode) ultrasound, pulses are emitted in quick succession – each time, either an A-mode or B-mode image is taken. Over time, this is analogous to recording a in ultrasound. Duplex scan of the common carotid arteryemploys the to assess whether structures (usually blood) are moving towards or away from the probe, and its relative velocity. By calculating the frequency shift of a particular sample volume, for example flow in an artery or a jet of blood flow over a heart valve, its speed and direction can be determined and visualized. Color Doppler is the measurement of velocity by color scale. Color Doppler images are generally combined with grayscale images to display duplex ultrasonography images. Uses include:., the use of Doppler ultrasonography to examine the.
An echocardiogram can, within certain limits, produce accurate assessment of the direction of and the of blood and cardiac tissue at any arbitrary point using the Doppler effect. Velocity measurements allow assessment of areas and function, any abnormal communications between the left and right side of the heart, any leaking of blood through the valves , calculation of the and calculation of (a measure of ). Contrast-enhanced ultrasound using gas-filled microbubble contrast media can be used to improve velocity or other flow-related medical measurements. (TCD) and transcranial color Doppler (TCCD), which measure the velocity of through the 's transcranially (through the ). They are used as to help diagnose, from a subarachnoid (bleeding from a ruptured ), and other problems., although usually not technically but rather sound-generating, use the Doppler effect to detect the for. These are hand-held, and some models also display the in beats per minute (BPM). Use of this monitor is sometimes known as Doppler.
The Doppler fetal monitor is commonly referred to simply as a Doppler or fetal Doppler. Doppler fetal monitors provide information about the fetus similar to that provided by a.Contrast ultrasonography (ultrasound contrast imaging). Main article:A for medical ultrasonography is a formulation of encapsulated gaseous microbubbles to increase of blood, discovered by Dr Raymond Gramiak in 1968 and named. This contrast modality is clinically used throughout the world, in particular for in the United States and for in and.Microbubbles-based contrast media is administrated in during the medical ultrasonography examination. Thanks to their size, the microbubbles remain confined in without extravasating towards the. An contrast media is therefore purely intravascular, making it an ideal agent to image microvascularization for purposes. A typical clinical use of contrast ultrasonography is detection of a, which exhibits a contrast uptake (kinetics of microbubbles concentration in blood circulation) faster than healthy surrounding the tumor.
Other clinical applications using contrast exist, such as in to improve delineation of for visually checking contractibility of after a. Finally, applications in quantitative perfusion (relative measurement of ) emerge for identifying early patient response to an anti-cancerous drug treatment (methodology and clinical study by Dr Nathalie Lassau in 2011 ), enabling to determine the best options. Parametric imaging of vascular signatures (diagram)In oncological practice of medical contrast ultrasonography, clinicians use the method of parametric imaging of vascular signatures invented by Dr Nicolas Rognin in 2010. This method is conceived as a aided diagnostic tool, facilitating characterization of a suspicious ( versus ) in an organ.
This method is based on medical to analyze a time sequence of ultrasound contrast images, a digital video recorded in real-time during patient examination. Main article:Ultrasound is also used for elastography, which is a relatively new imaging modality that maps the elastic properties of soft tissue. This modality emerged in the last two decades. Elastography is useful in medical diagnoses as it can discern healthy from unhealthy tissue for specific organs/growths.
For example, cancerous tumors will often be harder than the surrounding tissue, and diseased livers are stiffer than healthy ones.There are many ultrasound elastography techniques. Interventional ultrasonography Interventional ultrasonography involves, emptying fluids, intrauterine.: The high frequency thyroid (HFUS) can be used to treat several gland conditions. The recurrent thyroid cyst that was usually treated in the past with surgery, can be treated effectively by a new procedure called percutaneous ethanol injection, or PEI. With ultrasound guided placement of a 25 gauge needle within the cyst, and after evacuation of the cyst fluid, about 50% of the cyst volume is injected back into the cavity, under strict operator visualization of the needle tip. The procedure is 80% successful in reducing the cyst to minute size.
Metastatic thyroid cancer neck lymph nodes: The other thyroid therapy use for HFUS is to treat metastatic thyroid cancer neck lymph nodes that occur in patients who either refuse surgery, or are no longer a candidate for surgery. Small amounts of ethanol are injected under ultrasound guided needle placement. A blood flow study is done prior to the injection, by power doppler. The blood flow can be destroyed and the node become inactive, although it may still be there.
Power doppler visualized blood flow can be eradicated, and there may be a drop in the cancer blood marker test, TG, as the node become non-functional. Another interventional use for HFUS is to mark a cancer node one hour prior to surgery to help locate the node cluster at the surgery. A minute amount of methylene dye is injected, under careful ultrasound guided placement of the needle on the anterior surface, but not in the node. The dye will be evident to the thyroid surgeon when opening the neck. A similar localization procedure with methylene blue, can be done to locate parathyroid adenomas at surgery.
can be guided by medical ultrasound, such as in.Compression ultrasonography Compression ultrasonography is when the probe is pressed against the skin. This can bring the target structure closer to the probe, increasing spatial resolution of it. Comparison of the shape of the target structure before and after compression can aid in diagnosis.It used in, wherein absence of vein compressibility is a strong indicator of thrombosis. Compression ultrasonography has both high for detecting proximal deep vein thrombosis only in symptomatic patients.
Results are not reliable when the patient is symptomless and must be checked, for example in high risk postoperative patients mainly in orthopedic patients. Compression is used in this ultrasonograph to get closer to the, making the and the look rather flat.Attributes As with all imaging modalities, ultrasonography has its list of positive and negative attributes.Strengths. It images, and bone surfaces very well and is particularly useful for delineating the interfaces between solid and fluid-filled spaces.
It renders 'live' images, where the operator can dynamically select the most useful section for diagnosing and documenting changes, often enabling rapid diagnoses.
.A brain–computer interface ( BCI), sometimes called a neural-control interface ( NCI), mind-machine interface ( MMI), direct neural interface ( DNI), or brain–machine interface ( BMI), is a direct communication pathway between an enhanced or wired and an external device. BCI differs from in that it allows for bidirectional information flow. BCIs are often directed at researching, mapping, assisting, augmenting, or repairing human cognitive or sensory-motor functions.Research on BCIs began in the 1970s at the (UCLA) under a grant from the, followed by a contract from. The papers published after this research also mark the first appearance of the expression brain–computer interface in scientific literature.The field of BCI research and development has since focused primarily on neuroprosthetics applications that aim at restoring damaged hearing, sight and movement. Thanks to the remarkable of the brain, signals from implanted prostheses can, after adaptation, be handled by the brain like natural sensor or effector channels.Following years of animal experimentation, the first devices implanted in humans appeared in the mid-1990s. Contents.History The history of brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) starts with 's discovery of the electrical activity of the human brain and the development of (EEG).
In 1924 Berger was the first to record human brain activity by means of EEG. Berger was able to identify, such as Berger's wave or the (8–13 Hz), by analyzing EEG traces.Berger's first recording device was very rudimentary.
He inserted wires under the scalps of his patients. These were later replaced by silver foils attached to the patient's head by rubber bandages. Berger connected these sensors to a, with disappointing results.
However, more sophisticated measuring devices, such as the double-coil recording, which displayed electric voltages as small as one ten thousandth of a volt, led to success.Berger analyzed the interrelation of alternations in his EEG wave diagrams with. EEGs permitted completely new possibilities for the research of human brain activities.Although the term had not yet been coined, one of the earliest examples of a working brain-machine interface was the piece Music for Solo Performer (1965) by the American composer.
The piece makes use of EEG and analog signal processing hardware (filters, amplifiers, and a mixing board) to stimulate acoustic percussion instruments. To perform the piece one must produce and thereby 'play' the various percussion instruments via loudspeakers which are placed near or directly on the instruments themselves.Professor Jacques Vidal coined the term 'BCI' and produced the first peer-reviewed publications on this topic. Vidal is widely recognized as the inventor of BCIs in the BCI community, as reflected in numerous peer-reviewed articles reviewing and discussing the field (e.g., ). His 1973 paper stated the 'BCI challenge': Control of objects using EEG signals. Especially he pointed out to potential as a challenge for BCI control. The 1977 experiment Vidal described was the first application of BCI after his 1973 BCI challenge.
It was a noninvasive EEG (actually Visual Evoked Potentials (VEP)) control of a cursor-like graphical object on a computer screen. The demonstration was movement in a maze.After his early contributions, Vidal was not active in BCI research, nor BCI events such as conferences, for many years.
In 2011, however, he gave a lecture in, supported by the Future BNCI project, presenting the first BCI, which earned a standing ovation. Vidal was joined by his wife, Laryce Vidal, who previously worked with him at UCLA on his first BCI project.In 1988, a report was given on noninvasive EEG control of a physical object, a robot. The experiment described was EEG control of multiple start-stop-restart of the robot movement, along an arbitrary trajectory defined by a line drawn on a floor. The line-following behavior was the default robot behavior, utilizing autonomous intelligence and autonomous source of energy.In 1990, a report was given on a bidirectional adaptive BCI controlling computer buzzer by an anticipatory brain potential, the Contingent Negative Variation (CNV) potential. The experiment described how an expectation state of the brain, manifested by CNV, controls in a feedback loop the S2 buzzer in the S1-S2-CNV paradigm.
The obtained cognitive wave representing the expectation learning in the brain is named Electroexpectogram (EXG). The CNV brain potential was part of the BCI challenge presented by Vidal in his 1973 paper.BCIs Versus neuroprosthetics.
Main article:Neuroprosthetics is an area of concerned with neural prostheses, that is, using artificial devices to replace the function of impaired nervous systems and brain-related problems, or of sensory organs. The most widely used neuroprosthetic device is the which, as of December 2010, had been implanted in approximately 220,000 people worldwide. There are also several neuroprosthetic devices that aim to restore vision, including.The difference between BCIs and neuroprosthetics is mostly in how the terms are used: neuroprosthetics typically connects the nervous system to a device, whereas BCIs usually connect the brain (or nervous system) with a computer system.
Practical neuroprosthetics can be linked to any part of the nervous system—for example, peripheral nerves—while the term 'BCI' usually designates a narrower class of systems which interface with the central nervous system.The terms are sometimes, however, used interchangeably. Neuroprosthetics and BCIs seek to achieve the same aims, such as restoring sight, hearing, movement, ability to communicate, and even. Both use similar experimental methods and surgical techniques.Animal BCI research Several laboratories have managed to record signals from monkey and rat to operate BCIs to produce movement. Monkeys have navigated on screen and commanded robotic arms to perform simple tasks simply by thinking about the task and seeing the visual feedback, but without any motor output. In May 2008 photographs that showed a monkey at the operating a robotic arm by thinking were published in a number of well-known science journals and magazines. Early work. Monkey operating a robotic arm with brain–computer interfacing (Schwartz lab, University of Pittsburgh)In 1969 the studies of Fetz and colleagues,at the Regional Primate Research Center and Department of Physiology and Biophysics, in, showed for the first time that monkeys could learn to control the deflection of a meter arm with neural activity.
Similar work in the 1970s established that monkeys could quickly learn to voluntarily control the firing rates of individual and multiple neurons in the primary if they were rewarded for generating appropriate patterns of neural activity.Studies that developed to reconstruct movements from, which control movement, date back to the 1970s. In the 1980s, Apostolos Georgopoulos at found a mathematical relationship between the electrical responses of single motor cortex neurons in and the direction in which they moved their arms (based on a function). He also found that dispersed groups of neurons, in different areas of the monkey's brains, collectively controlled motor commands, but was able to record the firings of neurons in only one area at a time, because of the technical limitations imposed by his equipment.There has been rapid development in BCIs since the mid-1990s. Several groups have been able to capture complex brain motor cortex signals by recording from (groups of neurons) and using these to control external devices.Prominent research successes Kennedy and Yang Dan Phillip Kennedy (who later founded in 1987) and colleagues built the first intracortical brain–computer interface by implanting neurotrophic-cone into monkeys. Yang Dan and colleagues' recordings of cat vision using a BCI implanted in the (top row: original image; bottom row: recording)In 1999, researchers led by Yang Dan at the decoded neuronal firings to reproduce images seen by cats. The team used an array of electrodes embedded in the (which integrates all of the brain’s sensory input) of sharp-eyed cats. Researchers targeted 177 brain cells in the thalamus area, which decodes signals from the.
The cats were shown eight short movies, and their neuron firings were recorded. Using mathematical filters, the researchers decoded the signals to generate movies of what the cats saw and were able to reconstruct recognizable scenes and moving objects. Similar results in humans have since been achieved by researchers in Japan.Nicolelis , a professor at, in, has been a prominent proponent of using multiple electrodes spread over a greater area of the brain to obtain neuronal signals to drive a BCI.After conducting initial studies in rats during the 1990s, Nicolelis and his colleagues developed BCIs that decoded brain activity in and used the devices to reproduce monkey movements in robotic arms. Monkeys have advanced reaching and grasping abilities and good hand manipulation skills, making them ideal test subjects for this kind of work.By 2000, the group succeeded in building a BCI that reproduced owl monkey movements while the monkey operated a or reached for food.
The BCI operated in real time and could also control a separate robot remotely over. But the monkeys could not see the arm moving and did not receive any feedback, a so-called BCI. Jens Naumann, a man with acquired blindness, being interviewed about his vision BCI on CBS'sInvasive BCI research has targeted repairing damaged sight and providing new functionality for people with paralysis. Invasive BCIs are implanted directly into the of the brain during neurosurgery. Because they lie in the grey matter, invasive devices produce the highest quality signals of BCI devices but are prone to build-up, causing the signal to become weaker, or even non-existent, as the body reacts to a foreign object in the brain.In, direct have been used to treat non- (acquired) blindness. One of the first scientists to produce a working brain interface to restore sight was private researcher.Dobelle's first prototype was implanted into 'Jerry', a man blinded in adulthood, in 1978. A single-array BCI containing 68 electrodes was implanted onto Jerry’s and succeeded in producing, the sensation of seeing light.
The system included cameras mounted on glasses to send signals to the implant. Initially, the implant allowed Jerry to see shades of grey in a limited field of vision at a low frame-rate. This also required him to be hooked up to a, but shrinking electronics and faster computers made his artificial eye more portable and now enable him to perform simple tasks unassisted. Dummy unit illustrating the design of a interfaceIn 2002, Jens Naumann, also blinded in adulthood, became the first in a series of 16 paying patients to receive Dobelle’s second generation implant, marking one of the earliest commercial uses of BCIs.
The second generation device used a more sophisticated implant enabling better mapping of phosphenes into coherent vision. Phosphenes are spread out across the visual field in what researchers call 'the starry-night effect'. Immediately after his implant, Jens was able to use his imperfectly restored vision to an automobile slowly around the parking area of the research institute. Unfortunately, Dobelle died in 2004 before his processes and developments were documented. Subsequently, when Mr. Naumann and the other patients in the program began having problems with their vision, there was no relief and they eventually lost their 'sight' again.
Naumann wrote about his experience with Dobelle's work in Search for Paradise: A Patient's Account of the Artificial Vision Experiment and has returned to his farm in Southeast Ontario, Canada, to resume his normal activities. Movement BCIs focusing on motor neuroprosthetics aim to either restore movement in individuals with paralysis or provide devices to assist them, such as interfaces with computers or robot arms.Researchers at in, led by Philip Kennedy and Roy Bakay, were first to install a brain implant in a human that produced signals of high enough quality to simulate movement. Their patient, Johnny Ray (1944–2002), suffered from ‘’ after suffering a brain-stem in 1997. Ray’s implant was installed in 1998 and he lived long enough to start working with the implant, eventually learning to control a computer cursor; he died in 2002 of a.became the first person to control an artificial hand using a BCI in 2005 as part of the first nine-month human trial of ’s chip-implant. Implanted in Nagle’s right (area of the motor cortex for arm movement), the 96-electrode BrainGate implant allowed Nagle to control a robotic arm by thinking about moving his hand as well as a computer cursor, lights and TV. Recordings of brainwaves produced by an(EEG) is the most studied non-invasive interface, mainly due to its fine, ease of use, portability and low set-up cost. The technology is somewhat susceptible to however.In the early days of BCI research, another substantial barrier to using EEG as a brain–computer interface was the extensive training required before users can work the technology.
For example, in experiments beginning in the mid-1990s, Niels Birbaumer at the in trained severely paralysed people to self-regulate the slow cortical potentials in their EEG to such an extent that these signals could be used as a binary signal to control a computer cursor. (Birbaumer had earlier trained to prevent impending fits by controlling this low voltage wave.) The experiment saw ten patients trained to move a computer cursor by controlling their brainwaves.
The process was slow, requiring more than an hour for patients to write 100 characters with the cursor, while training often took many months. However, the slow cortical potential approach to BCIs has not been used in several years, since other approaches require little or no training, are faster and more accurate, and work for a greater proportion of users.Another research parameter is the type of that is measured. Birbaumer's later research with Jonathan Wolpaw at has focused on developing technology that would allow users to choose the brain signals they found easiest to operate a BCI, including and rhythms.A further parameter is the method of feedback used and this is shown in studies of signals. Patterns of P300 waves are generated involuntarily when people see something they recognize and may allow BCIs to decode categories of thoughts without training patients first.
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By contrast, the methods described above require learning to control brainwaves so the resulting brain activity can be detected.While an EEG based brain-computer interface has been pursued extensively by a number of research labs, recent advancements made by and his team at the suggest the potential of an EEG based brain-computer interface to accomplish tasks close to invasive brain-computer interface. Using advanced functional neuroimaging including BOLD functional and source imaging, Bin He and co-workers identified the co-variation and co-localization of electrophysiological and hemodynamic signals induced by motor imagination.Refined by a neuroimaging approach and by a training protocol, Bin He and co-workers demonstrated the ability of a non-invasive EEG based brain-computer interface to control the flight of a virtual helicopter in 3-dimensional space, based upon motor imagination. In June 2013 it was announced that Bin He had developed the technique to enable a remote-control helicopter to be guided through an obstacle course.In addition to a brain-computer interface based on brain waves, as recorded from scalp EEG electrodes, Bin He and co-workers explored a virtual EEG signal-based brain-computer interface by first solving the EEG and then used the resulting virtual EEG for brain-computer interface tasks.
Well-controlled studies suggested the merits of such a source analysis based brain-computer interface.A 2014 study found that severely motor-impaired patients could communicate faster and more reliably with non-invasive EEG BCI, than with any muscle-based communication channel. Dry active electrode arrays In the early 1990s Babak Taheri, at demonstrated the first single and also multichannel dry active electrode arrays using micro-machining. The single channel dry EEG electrode construction and results were published in 1994. The arrayed electrode was also demonstrated to perform well compared to / electrodes. The device consisted of four sites of sensors with integrated electronics to reduce noise.
The advantages of such electrodes are: (1) no electrolyte used, (2) no skin preparation, (3) significantly reduced sensor size, and (4) compatibility with EEG monitoring systems. The active electrode array is an integrated system made of an array of capacitive sensors with local integrated circuitry housed in a package with batteries to power the circuitry. This level of integration was required to achieve the functional performance obtained by the electrode.The electrode was tested on an electrical test bench and on human subjects in four modalities of EEG activity, namely: (1) spontaneous EEG, (2) sensory event-related potentials, (3) brain stem potentials, and (4) cognitive event-related potentials. The performance of the dry electrode compared favorably with that of the standard wet electrodes in terms of skin preparation, no gel requirements (dry), and higher signal-to-noise ratio.In 1999 researchers at, in, led by Hunter Peckham, used 64-electrode EEG skullcap to return limited hand movements to Jim Jatich. As Jatich concentrated on simple but opposite concepts like up and down, his beta-rhythm EEG output was analysed using software to identify patterns in the noise. A basic pattern was identified and used to control a switch: Above average activity was set to on, below average off.
As well as enabling Jatich to control a computer cursor the signals were also used to drive the nerve controllers embedded in his hands, restoring some movement. SSVEP mobile EEG BCIs In 2009, the NCTU Brain-Computer-Interface-headband was reported. The researchers who developed this BCI-headband also engineered silicon-based (MEMS) designed for application in non-hairy sites of the body. These electrodes were secured to the board in the headband with snap-on electrode holders. The signal processing module measured activity and the Bluetooth enabled phone assessed the patients’ alertness and capacity for cognitive performance. When the subject became drowsy, the phone sent arousing feedback to the operator to rouse them.
This research was supported by the National Science Council, Taiwan, R.O.C., NSC, National Chiao-Tung University, Taiwan’s Ministry of Education, and the.In 2011, researchers reported a cellular based BCI with the capability of taking EEG data and converting it into a command to cause the phone to ring. This research was supported in part by LLP, the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, and the Army Research Office. The developed technology was a wearable system composed of a four channel bio-signal acquisition/amplification, a wireless transmission module, and a Bluetooth enabled cell phone. The electrodes were placed so that they pick up steady state visual evoked potentials.
SSVEPs are electrical responses to flickering visual stimuli with repetition rates over 6 Hz that are best found in the parietal and occipital scalp regions of the visual cortex. It was reported that with this BCI setup, all study participants were able to initiate the phone call with minimal practice in natural environments.The scientists claim that their studies using a single channel fast Fourier transform and multiple channel system canonical correlation analysis algorithm support the capacity of mobile BCIs. The CCA algorithm has been applied in other experiments investigating BCIs with claimed high performance in accuracy as well as speed. While the cellular based BCI technology was developed to initiate a phone call from SSVEPs, the researchers said that it can be translated for other applications, such as picking up sensorimotor / rhythms to function as a motor-imagery based BCI.In 2013, comparative tests were performed on android cell phone, tablet, and computer based BCIs, analyzing the power of resultant EEG SSVEPs. The stated goals of this study, which involved scientists supported in part by the U.S.
Army Research Laboratory, were to “increase the practicability, portability, and ubiquity of an SSVEP-based BCI, for daily use.” Citation It was reported that the stimulation frequency on all mediums was accurate, although the cell phone’s signal demonstrated some instability. The amplitudes of the SSVEPs for the laptop and tablet were also reported to be larger than those of the cell phone. These two qualitative characterizations were suggested as indicators of the feasibility of using a mobile stimulus BCI. Limitations In 2011, researchers stated that continued work should address ease of use, performance robustness, reducing hardware and software costs.One of the difficulties with EEG readings is the large susceptibility to motion artifacts. In most the previously described research projects, the participants were asked to sit still, reducing head and eye movements as much as possible, and measurements were taken in a laboratory setting. However, since the emphasized application of these initiatives had been in creating a mobile device for daily use, the technology had to be tested in motion.In 2013, researchers tested mobile EEG-based BCI technology, measuring SSVEPs from participants as they walked on a treadmill at varying speeds.
This research was supported by the, Army Research Office, and the U.S. Army Research Laboratory. Stated results were that as speed increased the SSVEP detectability using CCA decreased. As independent component analysis had been shown to be efficient in separating EEG signals from noise, the scientists applied ICA to CCA extracted EEG data. They stated that the CCA data with and without ICA processing were similar. Thus, they concluded that CCA independently demonstrated a robustness to motion artifacts that indicates it may be a beneficial algorithm to apply to BCIs used in real world conditions.
Prosthesis and environment control Non-invasive BCIs have also been applied to enable brain-control of prosthetic upper and lower extremity devices in people with paralysis. For example, Gert Pfurtscheller of and colleagues demonstrated a BCI-controlled system to restore upper extremity movements in a person with tetraplegia due to. Between 2012 and 2013, researchers at the demonstrated for the first time that it is possible to use BCI technology to restore brain-controlled walking after spinal cord injury.
In their study, a person with paraplegia was able to operate a BCI-robotic gait orthosis to regain basic brain-controlled ambulation.In 2009 Alex Blainey, an independent researcher based in the UK, successfully used the EPOC to control a 5 axis robot arm. He then went on to make several demonstration mind controlled wheelchairs and home automation that could be operated by people with limited or no motor control such as those with paraplegia and cerebral palsy.Research into military use of BCIs funded by has been ongoing since the 1970s. The current focus of research is user-to-user communication through analysis of neural signals. DIY and open source BCI In 2001, The OpenEEG Project was initiated by a group of DIY neuroscientists and engineers. The ModularEEG was the primary device created by the OpenEEG community; it was a 6-channel signal capture board that cost between $200 and $400 to make at home.
The OpenEEG Project marked a significant moment in the emergence of DIY brain-computer interfacing.In 2010, the Frontier Nerds of NYU's ITP program published a thorough tutorial titled How To Hack Toy EEGs. The tutorial, which stirred the minds of many budding DIY BCI enthusiasts, demonstrated how to create a single channel at-home EEG with an and a Mattel at a very reasonable price. This tutorial amplified the DIY BCI movement.In 2013, OpenBCI emerged from a solicitation and subsequent campaign. They created a high-quality, open-source 8-channel EEG acquisition board, known as the 32bit Board, that retailed for under $500. Two years later they created the first 3D-printed EEG Headset, known as the Ultracortex, as well as a 4-channel EEG acquisition board, known as the Ganglion Board, that retailed for under $100.MEG and MRI. ATR Labs' reconstruction of human vision using (top row: original image; bottom row: reconstruction from mean of combined readings)(MEG) and (fMRI) have both been used successfully as non-invasive BCIs. In a widely reported experiment, fMRI allowed two users being scanned to play in real-time by altering their or brain blood flow through techniques.fMRI measurements of haemodynamic responses in real time have also been used to control robot arms with a seven-second delay between thought and movement.In 2008 research developed in the Advanced Telecommunications Research (ATR) Laboratories in, Japan, allowed the scientists to reconstruct images directly from the brain and display them on a computer in black and white at a of 10x10.
The article announcing these achievements was the of the journal of 10 December 2008.In 2011 researchers from published a study reporting second-by-second reconstruction of videos watched by the study's subjects, from fMRI data. This was achieved by creating a statistical model relating visual patterns in videos shown to the subjects, to the brain activity caused by watching the videos.
This model was then used to look up the 100 one-second video segments, in a database of 18 million seconds of random videos, whose visual patterns most closely matched the brain activity recorded when subjects watched a new video. These 100 one-second video extracts were then combined into a mashed-up image that resembled the video being watched. BCI control strategies in neurogaming Motor imagery involves the imagination of the movement of various body parts resulting in activation, which modulates sensorimotor oscillations in the EEG. This can be detected by the BCI to infer a user's intent. Motor imagery typically requires a number of sessions of training before acceptable control of the BCI is acquired.
These training sessions may take a number of hours over several days before users can consistently employ the technique with acceptable levels of precision. Regardless of the duration of the training session, users are unable to master the control scheme.
This results in very slow pace of the gameplay. Advance machine learning methods were recently developed to compute a subject-specific model for detecting the performance of motor imagery. The top performing algorithm from BCI Competition IV dataset 2 for motor imagery is the Filter Bank Common Spatial Pattern, developed by Ang et al. Bio/neurofeedback for passive BCI designs Biofeedback is used to monitor a subject's mental relaxation.
In some cases, biofeedback does not monitor electroencephalography (EEG), but instead bodily parameters such as (EMG), (GSR), and (HRV). Many biofeedback systems are used to treat certain disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), sleep problems in children, teeth grinding, and chronic pain. EEG biofeedback systems typically monitor four different bands (theta: 4–7 Hz, alpha:8–12 Hz, SMR: 12–15 Hz, beta: 15–18 Hz) and challenge the subject to control them. Passive BCI involves using BCI to enrich human–machine interaction with implicit information on the actual user's state, for example, simulations to detect when users intend to push brakes during an emergency car stopping procedure. Game developers using passive BCIs need to acknowledge that through repetition of game levels the user's cognitive state will change or adapt. Within the first playof a level, the user will react to things differently from during the second play: for example, the user will be less surprised at an event in the game if he/she is expecting it.
Visual evoked potential (VEP) A VEP is an electrical potential recorded after a subject is presented with a type of visual stimuli. There are several types of VEPs.(SSVEPs) use potentials generated by exciting the, using visual stimuli modulated at certain frequencies. SSVEP's stimuli are often formed from alternating checkerboard patterns and at times simply use flashing images. The frequency of the phase reversal of the stimulus used can be clearly distinguished in the spectrum of an EEG; this makes detection of SSVEP stimuli relatively easy. SSVEP has proved to be successful within many BCI systems. This is due to several factors, the signal elicited is measurable in as large a population as the transient VEP and blink movement and electrocardiographic artefacts do not affect the frequencies monitored. In addition, the SSVEP signal is exceptionally robust; the topographic organization of the primary visual cortex is such that a broader area obtains afferents from the central or fovial region of the visual field.
SSVEP does have several problems however. As SSVEPs use flashing stimuli to infer a user's intent, the user must gaze at one of the flashing or iterating symbols in order to interact with the system. It is, therefore, likely that the symbols could become irritating and uncomfortable to use during longer play sessions, which can often last more than an hour which may not be an ideal gameplay.Another type of VEP used with applications is the.
The P300 event-related potential is a positive peak in the EEG that occurs at roughly 300 ms after the appearance of a target stimulus (a stimulus for which the user is waiting or seeking). The P300 amplitude decreases as the target stimuli and the ignored stimuli grow more similar.The P300 is thought to be related to a higher level attention process or an orienting response using P300 as a control scheme has the advantage of the participant only having to attend limited training sessions.
The first application to use the P300 model was the P300 matrix. Within this system, a subject would choose a letter from a grid of 6 by 6 letters and numbers.
The rows and columns of the grid flashed sequentially and every time the selected 'choice letter' was illuminated the user's P300 was (potentially) elicited. However, the communication process, at approximately 17 characters per minute, was quite slow. The P300 is a BCI that offers a discrete selection rather than a continuous control mechanism.
The advantage of P300 use within games is that the player does not have to teach himself/herself how to use a completely new control system and so only has to undertake short training instances, to learn the gameplay mechanics and basic use of the BCI paradigm. Synthetic telepathy/silent communication.
See also: andIn 2010 the DARPA's budget for the fiscal year included $4 million to start up a program called Silent Talk. The goal was to 'allow user-to-user communication on the battlefield without the use of vocalized speech through analysis of neural signals'. Main article:Researchers have built devices to interface with neural cells and entire neural networks in cultures outside animals. As well as furthering research on animal implantable devices, experiments on cultured neural tissue have focused on building problem-solving networks, constructing basic computers and manipulating robotic devices. Research into techniques for stimulating and recording from individual neurons grown on semiconductor chips is sometimes referred to as neuroelectronics. The world's first, developed by researchers Jerome Pine and Michael MaherDevelopment of the first working neurochip was claimed by a Caltech team led by Jerome Pine and Michael Maher in 1997. The Caltech chip had room for 16 neurons.In 2003 a team led by Theodore Berger, at the, started work on a neurochip designed to function as an artificial or prosthetic.
The neurochip was designed to function in rat brains and was intended as a prototype for the eventual development of higher-brain prosthesis. The hippocampus was chosen because it is thought to be the most ordered and structured part of the brain and is the most studied area. Its function is to encode experiences for storage as long-term memories elsewhere in the brain.In 2004 Thomas DeMarse at the used a culture of 25,000 neurons taken from a rat's brain to fly a fighter jet. After collection, the cortical neurons were cultured in a and rapidly began to reconnect themselves to form a living neural network. The cells were arranged over a grid of 60 electrodes and used to control the and functions of the simulator. The study's focus was on understanding how the human brain performs and learns computational tasks at a cellular level.Ethical considerations User-centric Issues. long-term effects to the user remain largely unknown.
obtaining informed consent from people who have difficulty communicating,. the consequences of BCI technology for the quality of life of patients and their families,. health-related side-effects (e.g. Neurofeedback of sensorimotor rhythm training is reported to affect sleep quality),. therapeutic applications and their potential misuseLegal and Social.
Issues of accountability and responsibility: claims that the influence of BCIs overrides free will and control over sensory-motor actions, claims that cognitive intention was inaccurately translated due to a BCI malfunction. Personality changes involved caused by deep-brain stimulation. blurring of the division between human and machine, inability to distinguish between human vs. Machine-controlled actions. use of the technology in advanced interrogation techniques by governmental authorities,. selective enhancement and social stratification,. questions of research ethics that arise when progressing from animal experimentation to application in human subjects,.
and privacy,.In their current form, most BCIs are far removed from the ethical issues considered above. They are actually similar to corrective therapies in function. Clausen stated in 2009 that “BCIs pose ethical challenges, but these are conceptually similar to those that bioethicists have addressed for other realms of therapy”. Moreover, he suggests that bioethics is well-prepared to deal with the issues that arise with BCI technologies. Haselager and colleagues pointed out that expectations of BCI efficacy and value play a great role in ethical analysis and the way BCI scientists should approach media. Furthermore, standard protocols can be implemented to ensure ethically sound informed-consent procedures with locked-in patients.The case of BCIs today has parallels in medicine, as will its evolution. Much as pharmaceutical science began as a balance for impairments and is now used to increase focus and reduce need for sleep, BCIs will likely transform gradually from therapies to enhancements.
Researchers are well aware that sound ethical guidelines, appropriately moderated enthusiasm in media coverage and education about BCI systems will be of utmost importance for the societal acceptance of this technology. Thus, recently more effort is made inside the BCI community to create consensus on ethical guidelines for BCI research, development and dissemination. The case for free and open-source software With technology involving sensitive, private data, necessary safeguards must be put in place to achieve trust between users and the software they use. Some believe that is the only way to achieve this.For instance, such tools may need to be entirely to be trusted and audited by the world (like blockchain technology), and executed locally (not in the cloud) for security.
The BCI as a means to prevent the obsolescence of humans in front of the rise of artificial intelligence With the rise of artificial intelligence, a hypothetical scenario is that artificial intelligence surpasses human intelligence , as for example. With that in mind comes the possibility to ask oneself: could we be the machine instead of being surpassed by machines? Elon Musk also believes that might take place. As such, he suggests that the BCI is a way to keep humans in the loop.
Analyzing possibles outcomes, he reportedly thinks that being the machines ourselves is the least risky outcome in front of the rise of, and that people would better embrace this change as a mean to protect themselves.Low-cost BCI-based interfaces. Main article:Recently a number of companies have scaled back medical grade EEG technology (and in one case, NeuroSky, rebuilt the technology from the ground up ) to create inexpensive BCIs.
This technology has been built into toys and gaming devices; some of these toys have been extremely commercially successful like the NeuroSky and Mattel MindFlex. In 2006 patented a neural interface system allowing radio waves to affect signals in the neural cortex. In 2007 released the first affordable consumer based EEG along with the game NeuroBoy. This was also the first large scale EEG device to use dry sensor technology. In 2008 developed a device for use in video games relying primarily on. In 2008 the developer announced that it was partnering with NeuroSky to create a game, Judecca.
In 2009 partnered with NeuroSky to release the, a game that used an EEG to steer a ball through an obstacle course. By far the best selling consumer based EEG to date. In 2009 partnered with NeuroSky to release the, a game designed to create the illusion of possessing. In 2009 released the EPOC, a 14 channel EEG device that can read 4 mental states, 13 conscious states, facial expressions, and head movements.
The EPOC is the first commercial BCI to use dry sensor technology, which can be dampened with a saline solution for a better connection. In November 2011 selected 'necomimi' produced by as one of the best inventions of the year. The company announced that it expected to launch a consumer version of the garment, consisting of cat-like ears controlled by a brain-wave reader produced by, in spring 2012. In February 2014 They Shall Walk (a nonprofit organization fixed on constructing exoskeletons, dubbed LIFESUITs, for paraplegics and quadriplegics) began a partnership with James W. Shakarji on the development of a wireless BCI.
In 2016, a group of hobbyists developed an open-source BCI board that sends neural signals to the audio jack of a smartphone, dropping the cost of entry-level BCI to £20. Basic diagnostic software is available for devices, as well as a text entry app for.Future directions. Brain-computer interfaceA consortium consisting of 12 European partners has completed a roadmap to support the European Commission in their funding decisions for the new framework program. The project, which was funded by the European Commission, started in November 2013 and published a roadmap in April 2015. A 2015 publication led by Dr. Clemens Brunner describes some of the analyses and achievements of this project, as well as the emerging Brain-Computer Interface Society. For example, this article reviewed work within this project that further defined BCIs and applications, explored recent trends, discussed ethical issues, and evaluated different directions for new BCIs.
As the article notes, their new roadmap generally extends and supports the recommendations from the Future BNCI project managed by Dr. Brendan Allison, which conveys substantial enthusiasm for emerging BCI directions.Other recent publications too have explored the most promising future BCI directions for new groups of disabled users (e.g., ).
Some prominent examples are summarized below.Disorders of consciousness (DOC) Some persons have a (DOC). This state is defined to include persons with coma, as well as persons in a vegetative state (VS) or minimally conscious state (MCS). New BCI research seeks to help persons with DOC in different ways.
A key initial goal is to identify patients who are able to perform basic cognitive tasks, which would of course lead to a change in their diagnosis. That is, some persons who are diagnosed with DOC may in fact be able to process information and make important life decisions (such as whether to seek therapy, where to live, and their views on end-of-life decisions regarding them).
Some persons who are diagnosed with DOC die as a result of end-of-life decisions, which may be made by family members who sincerely feel this is in the patient's best interests. Given the new prospect of allowing these patients to provide their views on this decision, there would seem to be a strong ethical pressure to develop this research direction to guarantee that DOC patients are given an opportunity to decide whether they want to live.These and other articles describe new challenges and solutions to use BCI technology to help persons with DOC.
One major challenge is that these patients cannot use BCIs based on vision. Hence, new tools rely on auditory and/or vibrotactile stimuli. Patients may wear headphones and/or vibrotactile stimulators placed on the wrists, neck, leg, and/or other locations. Another challenge is that patients may fade in and out of consciousness, and can only communicate at certain times. This may indeed be a cause of mistaken diagnosis.
Some patients may only be able to respond to physicians' requests during a few hours per day (which might not be predictable ahead of time) and thus may have been unresponsive during diagnosis. Therefore, new methods rely on tools that are easy to use in field settings, even without expert help, so family members and other persons without any medical or technical background can still use them. This reduces the cost, time, need for expertise, and other burdens with DOC assessment. Automated tools can ask simple questions that patients can easily answer, such as 'Is your father named George?' Or 'Were you born in the USA?'
Automated instructions inform patients that they may convey yes or no by (for example) focusing their attention on stimuli on the right vs. This focused attention produces reliable changes in EEG patterns that can help determine that the patient is able to communicate. The results could be presented to physicians and therapists, which could lead to a revised diagnosis and therapy. In addition, these patients could then be provided with BCI-based communication tools that could help them convey basic needs, adjust bed position and (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning), and otherwise empower them to make major life decisions and communicate.This research effort was supported in part by different EU-funded projects, such as the project led by Prof.
Andrea Kuebler at the. This project contributed to the first BCI system developed for DOC assessment and communication, called.
This system is designed to help non-expert users work with DOC patients, but is not intended to replace medical staff. An EU-funded project that began in 2015 called conducted further research and development to improve DOC prediction, assessment, rehabilitation, and communication, called 'PARC' in that project. Another project funded by the National Science Foundation is led by Profs. Dean Krusienski and Chang Nam. This project provides for improved vibrotactile systems, advanced signal analysis, and other improvements for DOC assessment and communication.Motor recovery People may lose some of their ability to move due to many causes, such as stroke or injury. Several groups have explored systems and methods for motor recovery that include BCIs.
In this approach, a BCI measures motor activity while the patient imagines or attempts movements as directed by a therapist. The BCI may provide two benefits: (1) if the BCI indicates that a patient is not imagining a movement correctly (non-compliance), then the BCI could inform the patient and therapist; and (2) rewarding feedback such as functional stimulation or the movement of a virtual avatar also depends on the patient's correct movement imagery.So far, BCIs for motor recovery have relied on the EEG to measure the patient's motor imagery. However, studies have also used fMRI to study different changes in the brain as persons undergo BCI-based stroke rehab training. Future systems might include the fMRI and other measures for real-time control, such as functional near-infrared, probably in tandem with EEGs. Non-invasive brain stimulation has also been explored in combination with BCIs for motor recovery.Like the work with BCIs for DOC, this research direction was funded by different public funding mechanisms within the EU and elsewhere. The project included work on a new system for stroke rehabilitation focused on BCIs and advanced virtual environments designed to provide the patient with immersive feedback to foster recovery. This project, and the RecoveriX project that focused exclusively on a new BCI system for stroke patients, contributed to a hardware and software platform called.
This system includes a BCI as well as a functional electrical stimulator and virtual feedback. In September 2016, a training facility called a opened in Austria, in which therapists use this system to provide motor rehab therapy to persons with stroke.Functional brain mapping Each year, about 400,000 people undergo during neurosurgery. This procedure is often required for people with tumors or epilepsy that do not respond to medication.
During this procedure, electrodes are placed on the brain to precisely identify the locations of structures and functional areas. Patients may be awake during neurosurgery and asked to perform certain tasks, such as moving fingers or repeating words. This is necessary so that surgeons can remove only the desired tissue while sparing other regions, such as critical movement or language regions.
Removing too much brain tissue can cause permanent damage, while removing too little tissue can leave the underlying condition untreated and require additional neurosurgery. Thus, there is a strong need to improve both methods and systems to map the brain as effectively as possible.In several recent publications, BCI research experts and medical doctors have collaborated to explore new ways to use BCI technology to improve neurosurgical mapping. This work focuses largely on high gamma activity, which is difficult to detect with non-invasive means.
Results have led to improved methods for identifying key areas for movement, language, and other functions. A recent article addressed advances in functional brain mapping and summarizes a workshop. Flexible devices are or other flexible materials (e.g., ) that are printed with; the flexible nature of the background materials allowing the electronics created to bend, and the used to create these devices resembles those used to create and (MEMS). Flexible electronics were first developed in the 1960s and 1970s, but research interest increased in the mid-2000s. Neural dust.