School of Engineering, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University, Melbourne, Australia.
Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering, Shantou University, Guangdong, China.
Biomed Eng Online. 2021 Feb 2;20(1):13. doi: 10.1186/s12938-021-00850-2.
Recently, error-related negativity (ERN) signals are proposed to develop an assist-as-needed robotic stroke rehabilitation program. Stroke patients' state-of-mind, such as motivation to participate and active involvement in the rehabilitation program, affects their rate of recovery from motor disability. If the characteristics of the robotic stroke rehabilitation program can be altered based on the state-of-mind of the patients, such that the patients remain engaged in the program, the rate of recovery from their motor disability can be improved. However, before that, it is imperative to understand how the states-of-mind of a participant affect their ERN signal.
This study aimed to determine the association between the ERN signal and the psychological and cognitive states of the participants. Experiments were conducted on stroke patients, which involved performing a physical rehabilitation exercise and a questionnaire to measure participants' subjective experience on four factors: motivation in participating in the experiment, perceived effort, perceived pressure, awareness of uncompleted exercise trials while performing the rehabilitation exercise. Statistical correlation analysis, EEG time-series and topographical analysis were used to assess the association between the ERN signals and the psychological and cognitive states of the participants.
A strong correlation between the amplitude of the ERN signal and the psychological and cognitive states of the participants was observed, which indicate the possibility of estimating the said states using the amplitudes of the novel ERN signal.
The findings pave the way for the development of an ERN based dynamically adaptive assist-as-needed robotic stroke rehabilitation program of which characteristics can be altered to keep the participants' motivation, effort, engagement in the rehabilitation program high. In future, the single-trial prediction ability of the novel ERN signals to predict the state-of-mind of stroke patients will be evaluated.
最近，错误相关负向波（ERN）信号被提议用于开发按需辅助的机器人中风康复计划。中风患者的心态，如参与的动机和积极参与康复计划的程度，会影响他们从运动障碍中恢复的速度。如果机器人中风康复计划的特点可以根据患者的心态进行改变，使患者保持参与该计划，那么他们从运动障碍中恢复的速度就可以提高。然而，在此之前，了解参与者的心态如何影响他们的 ERN 信号是至关重要的。
本研究旨在确定 ERN 信号与参与者的心理和认知状态之间的关系。实验在中风患者中进行，涉及进行物理康复运动和问卷调查，以测量参与者在四个因素上的主观体验：参与实验的动机、感知的努力、感知的压力、在执行康复运动时意识到未完成的运动试验。使用统计相关分析、脑电图时间序列和地形图分析来评估 ERN 信号与参与者的心理和认知状态之间的关系。
观察到 ERN 信号的振幅与参与者的心理和认知状态之间存在很强的相关性，这表明使用新型 ERN 信号的振幅来估计所述状态是有可能的。
这些发现为开发基于 ERN 的动态自适应按需辅助机器人中风康复计划铺平了道路，该计划的特点可以改变，以保持参与者的动机、努力和对康复计划的参与度。在未来，将评估新型 ERN 信号对中风患者心态的单次试验预测能力。
