Morozova Marina, Bikbavova Alsu, Bulanov Vladimir, Lebedev Mikhail A
Vladimir Zelman Center for Neurobiology and Brain Rehabilitation, Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Moscow, Russia.
VIBRAINT RUS LLC, Moscow, Russia.
Front Behav Neurosci. 2023 Jun 15;17:1122849. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2023.1122849. eCollection 2023.
Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) are devices designed for establishing communication between the central nervous system and a computer. The communication can occur through different sensory modalities, and most commonly visual and auditory modalities are used. Here we propose that BCIs can be expanded by the incorporation of olfaction and discuss the potential applications of such olfactory BCIs. To substantiate this idea, we present results from two olfactory tasks: one that required attentive perception of odors without any overt report, and the second one where participants discriminated consecutively presented odors. In these experiments, EEG recordings were conducted in healthy participants while they performed the tasks guided by computer-generated verbal instructions. We emphasize the importance of relating EEG modulations to the breath cycle to improve the performance of an olfactory-based BCI. Furthermore, theta-activity could be used for olfactory-BCI decoding. In our experiments, we observed modulations of theta activity over the frontal EEG leads approximately 2 s after the inhalation of an odor. Overall, frontal theta rhythms and other types of EEG activity could be incorporated in the olfactory-based BCIs which utilize odors either as inputs or outputs. These BCIs could improve olfactory training required for conditions like anosmia and hyposmia, and mild cognitive impairment.
脑机接口（BCIs）是用于在中枢神经系统和计算机之间建立通信的设备。这种通信可以通过不同的感觉模态进行，最常用的是视觉和听觉模态。在此我们提出，通过纳入嗅觉可以扩展脑机接口，并讨论此类嗅觉脑机接口的潜在应用。为了证实这一想法，我们展示了两项嗅觉任务的结果：一项任务要求在不进行任何公开报告的情况下专注于气味感知，另一项任务是让参与者区分连续呈现的气味。在这些实验中，对健康参与者进行脑电图（EEG）记录，同时他们在计算机生成的口头指令引导下执行任务。我们强调将脑电图调制与呼吸周期相关联对于提高基于嗅觉的脑机接口性能的重要性。此外，θ波活动可用于嗅觉脑机接口的解码。在我们的实验中，我们观察到在吸入气味后约2秒，额叶脑电图导联上的θ波活动出现调制。总体而言，额叶θ波节律和其他类型的脑电图活动可纳入基于嗅觉的脑机接口，这些接口将气味用作输入或输出。这些脑机接口可以改善嗅觉丧失、嗅觉减退和轻度认知障碍等病症所需的嗅觉训练。
