This article reviews research at the University of Houston on the design of non-invasive and reliable brain-machine interface (BMI) systems for the control of powered exoskeletons for restoration and rehabilitation of gait in persons with paraplegia and other forms of paralysis.
Vigilance (or brain arousal) strongly influences performance and neurophysiological reactions to stimuli and tasks. Dysregulation of vigilance is an important element in the pathophysiology of neuropsychiatric diseases. VIGALL 2.0 provides a tool to assess this basic aspect of brain function.
This user research summary is based on an article published as Rustamov, N., Rodriguez-Raecke, R., Timm, L., Agrawal, D., Dressler, D., Schrader, C., … Kopp, B. (in press). “Attention shifting in Parkinson’s disease: An analysis of behavioral and cortical responses”. Neuropsychology. which was designed to examine persistent (input selection) versus transient (input shifting) mechanisms of attention control in Parkinson’s disease (PD).
While recording EEG in microgravity has been proved to be successful, recording EEG underwater was thought to be nearly impossible. This was until we came up with the idea to use “hardcore” equipment to obtain data under this extreme condition.
The most prominent MR-related EEG artifacts are gradient artifacts and the ballistocardiogram. However, vibrations represent another problematic source of artifacts. Therefore, noise assessment and reduction is of special importance for EEG measurements within the MR scanner.
Currently there is a tendency to more and more use EEG not only for clinical analysis but also for Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) for disabled people, for gaming, or for supervision, e.g, during driving. Here, it is important to know how many sensors are needed, and how they should be placed. This enables an easy setup of the electrode cap with reduced resources, while at the same time maintaining the system’s performance. The summarized article deals with this topic and introduces and compares several methods to choose relevant electrodes (sensors).
