Zhang Jack, Jadavji Zeanna, Zewdie Ephrem, Kirton Adam
Calgary Pediatric Stroke Program, Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.
Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.
Front Hum Neurosci. 2019 Feb 4;13:24. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2019.00024. eCollection 2019.
The options for severely disabled children with intact cognition to interact with their environment are extremely limited. A brain computer interface (BCI) has the potential to allow such persons to gain meaningful function, communication, and independence. While the pediatric population might benefit most from BCI technology, research to date has been predominantly in adults. In this prospective, cross-over study, we quantified the ability of healthy school-aged children to perform simple tasks using a basic, commercially available, EEG-based BCI. Typically developing children aged 6-18 years were recruited from the community. BCI training consisted of a brief set-up and EEG recording while performing specific tasks using an inexpensive, commercially available BCI system (EMOTIV EPOC). Two tasks were trained (driving a remote-control car and moving a computer cursor) each using two strategies (sensorimotor and visual imagery). Primary outcome was the kappa coefficient between requested and achieved performance. Effects of task, strategy, age, and learning were also explored. Twenty-six of thirty children completed the study (mean age 13.2 ± 3.6 years, 27% female). Tolerability was excellent with >90% reporting the experience as neutral or pleasant. Older children achieved performance comparable to adult studies, but younger age was associated with lesser though still good performance. The car task demonstrated higher performance compared to the cursor task ( = 0.027). Thought strategy was also associated with performance with visual imagery strategies outperforming sensorimotor approaches ( = 0.031). Children can quickly achieve control and execute multiple tasks using simple EEG-based BCI systems. Performance depends on strategy, task and age. Such success in the developing brain mandates exploration of such practical systems in severely disabled children.
认知功能完好的重度残疾儿童与周围环境互动的方式极为有限。脑机接口（BCI）有潜力使这些人获得有意义的功能、交流能力和独立性。虽然儿科人群可能从BCI技术中获益最多，但迄今为止的研究主要集中在成年人身上。在这项前瞻性交叉研究中，我们使用一种基本的、市售的基于脑电图的BCI，对健康学龄儿童执行简单任务的能力进行了量化。从社区招募了6至18岁发育正常的儿童。BCI训练包括简短的设置和脑电图记录，同时使用一种廉价的市售BCI系统（EMOTIV EPOC）执行特定任务。训练了两项任务（驾驶遥控汽车和移动电脑光标），每项任务使用两种策略（感觉运动和视觉想象）。主要结果是要求的表现与实际表现之间的kappa系数。还探讨了任务、策略、年龄和学习的影响。30名儿童中有26名完成了研究（平均年龄13.2±3.6岁，27%为女性）。耐受性极佳，超过90%的人表示体验为中性或愉快。年龄较大的儿童取得的表现与成人研究相当，但年龄较小的儿童表现稍差，不过仍然良好。汽车任务的表现高于光标任务（P = 0.027）。思维策略也与表现相关，视觉想象策略的表现优于感觉运动方法（P = 0.031）。儿童可以使用简单的基于脑电图的BCI系统快速实现控制并执行多项任务。表现取决于策略、任务和年龄。发育中的大脑取得的这种成功促使人们探索在重度残疾儿童中使用这种实用系统。
