Brain-Computer Interfaces and Neural Engineering Laboratory, School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering, University of Essex, Colchester, CO4 3SQ, United Kingdom.
J Neural Eng. 2018 Apr;15(2):026022. doi: 10.1088/1741-2552/aa9c8c.
Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) based on motor control have been suggested as tools for stroke rehabilitation. Some initial successes have been achieved with this approach, however the mechanism by which they work is not yet fully understood. One possible part of this mechanism is a, previously suggested, relationship between the strength of the event-related desynchronization (ERD), a neural correlate of motor imagination and execution, and corticospinal excitability. Additionally, a key component of BCIs used in neurorehabilitation is the provision of visual feedback to positively reinforce attempts at motor control. However, the ability of visual feedback of the ERD to modulate the activity in the motor system has not been fully explored.
We investigate these relationships via transcranial magnetic stimulation delivered at different moments in the ongoing ERD related to hand contraction and relaxation during BCI control of a visual feedback bar.
We identify a significant relationship between ERD strength and corticospinal excitability, and find that our visual feedback does not affect corticospinal excitability.
Our results imply that efforts to promote functional recovery in stroke by targeting increases in corticospinal excitability may be aided by accounting for the time course of the ERD.
基于运动控制的脑机接口（BCI）已被提议作为中风康复的工具。这种方法已经取得了一些初步的成功，但是其工作机制尚不完全清楚。该机制的一个可能部分是先前提出的事件相关去同步（ERD）强度与运动想象和执行的神经相关性之间的关系，以及皮质脊髓兴奋性。此外，神经康复中使用的 BCI 的一个关键组成部分是提供视觉反馈，以积极强化运动控制的尝试。然而，ERD 的视觉反馈调节运动系统活动的能力尚未得到充分探索。
我们通过在与 BCI 控制视觉反馈条相关的手收缩和放松过程中的 ERD 进行不同时刻的经颅磁刺激来研究这些关系。
我们确定了 ERD 强度与皮质脊髓兴奋性之间的显著关系，并且发现我们的视觉反馈不会影响皮质脊髓兴奋性。
我们的结果表明，通过靶向增加皮质脊髓兴奋性来促进中风功能恢复的努力可能会通过考虑 ERD 的时程得到帮助。
