A Motor Imagery-Based Brain–Computer Interface with Vibrotactile Stimuli

Autor: Liburkina Sp, A. Ya. Kaplan, Lev Yakovlev, Anatoly N. Vasilyev, S. Yu. Gordleeva
Rok vydání: 2018
Předmět:
Zdroj: Neuroscience and Behavioral Physiology. 48:1067-1077
ISSN: 1573-899X
0097-0549
DOI: 10.1007/s11055-018-0669-2
Popis: Brain–computer interfaces (BCI) based on motor imagery allow people to use mental motor images recognized from the electroencephalogram (EEG) as control commands. With the aim of providing the most effective channel for interactions, interfaces of this type are under active development and modifi cation, though all currently require use of the visual modality in the control loop. We have proposed an interaction scheme using such BCI employing the vibrotactile channel – without use of visual control elements. The interface described here was tested in 11 healthy subjects who were presented with the task of learning motor imagery and using it in the BCI control loop, guided by stimuli delivered in the tactile modality – using vibration stimulators attached to the body. This paradigm provides for assessment of the effectiveness of motor imagery training with the eyes closed. During the study, which lasted seven experimental days, all subjects successfully acquired the motor imagery skill. Thus, users were found to be able to learn to operate in the BCI control loop without using the visual channel, when stimuli to carry out commands and feedback are delivered via the vibrational modality. The characteristics of EEG activity, corticospinal excitability, session-by-session dynamics, and the accuracy of BCI use in this approach were at least no different from those in the classical scheme with visual delivery of stimuli and feedback, and for some users the new mode had advantages in terms of a number of measures. The BCI paradigm proposed here opens up the potential for use by people with poor vision and widens the range of practical applications of BCI.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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