Batista Aaron
Department of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States.
Handb Clin Neurol. 2020;168:233-247. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-444-63934-9.00017-2.
Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) provide a powerful new tool for basic neuroscience investigators. This is because the BCI approach forges a tight link between the observation of neural activity and well-controlled manipulations of neural activity, driven by the BCI user's own volition. As in all branches of science, progress in neuroscience rests on observation and manipulation. In neuroscience, our observations are typically measurements of neural activity and behavior, and our manipulations are lesions and the addition of neural activity through direct neural stimulation, which cause changes in behavior and in the activity of other neurons. A BCI links observation and manipulation directly because the participant in the experiment observes a mapping of his or her own neural activity, and through volitional control, manipulates that activity. Researchers employing the BCI approach in a basic neuroscience context have made new progress toward understanding the neural basis of motor control, learning, and cognition. To date, most of the basic research using the BCI approach has been applied to understanding the motor system, but future basic science research objectives using the BCI approach include the neural basis of cognitive and emotional function, and explorations of the computational limits of neural circuitry.
脑机接口（BCIs）为基础神经科学研究者提供了一种强大的新工具。这是因为脑机接口方法在神经活动的观察与由脑机接口用户自身意愿驱动的对神经活动的精确控制操作之间建立了紧密联系。如同在所有科学分支中一样，神经科学的进展依赖于观察和操作。在神经科学中，我们的观察通常是对神经活动和行为的测量，而我们的操作是损伤以及通过直接神经刺激增加神经活动，这些会导致行为和其他神经元活动的变化。脑机接口直接将观察和操作联系起来，因为实验参与者观察到自己神经活动的映射，并通过意志控制来操纵该活动。在基础神经科学背景下采用脑机接口方法的研究人员在理解运动控制、学习和认知的神经基础方面取得了新进展。迄今为止，大多数使用脑机接口方法的基础研究都应用于理解运动系统，但未来使用脑机接口方法的基础科学研究目标包括认知和情感功能的神经基础，以及对神经回路计算极限的探索。
