Chaudhary, Ujwal, Niels Birbaumer, and Ander Ramos-Murguialday. "Brain–computer interfaces for communication and rehabilitation." Nature Reviews Neurology 12.9 (2016): 513.
Controlling ones environment with their thought has often been seen as a thing of scientific fiction in the past. However, with the advancement in the research on neurotechnologies,
Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are making it a reality.
BCI is a set of systems that acquire brain signals, analyze them, and translate them into commands that are relayed to output devices that carry out desired action [1]. Figure 1 summarizes the parts of a BCI system. Electrical signals from the brain are initially recorded using electrodes (invasive, semi-invasive or non invasive) depending on whether the neural content is extracted from either within the brain, on the cortical surface or the scalp. These tiny electrical potentials are then amplified and digitized to be read into a computer. The most relevant features and patterns for the particular task (what BCI is built for) are then extracted from the brain signal. These features are then translated into different commands that can control the environment/device of interest, such as prosthetic arm, wheelchair, speller etc. Feedback from sensory mechanisms and the device itself informs the user to modify the brain signals to improve the BCI performance.
1. Shih, Jerry J., Dean J. Krusienski, and Jonathan R. Wolpaw. "Brain-computer interfaces in medicine." Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Vol. 87. No. 3. Elsevier, 2012.
Comments