Effect of a Brain-Computer Interface Based on Pedaling Motor Imagery on Cortical Excitability and Connectivity.

Vivianne Flávia Cardoso,Leticia Silva,Teodiano Freire Bastos-Filho,Flávia A Loterio,Sridhar Krishnan,Denis Delisle-Rodriguez,Anselmo Frizera-Neto,Dharmendra Gurve,Carlos Valadão,Maria Alejandra Romero-Laiseca,Alan Floriano

doi:10.3390/s21062020

Abstract

Recently, studies on cycling-based brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) have been standing out due to their potential for lower-limb recovery. In this scenario, the behaviors of the sensory motor rhythms and the brain connectivity present themselves as sources of information that can contribute to interpreting the cortical effect of these technologies. This study aims to analyze how sensory motor rhythms and cortical connectivity behave when volunteers command reactive motor imagery (MI) BCI that provides passive pedaling feedback. We studied 8 healthy subjects who performed pedaling MI to command an electroencephalography (EEG)-based BCI with a motorized pedal to receive passive movements as feedback. The EEG data were analyzed under the following four conditions: resting, MI calibration, MI online, and receiving passive pedaling (on-line phase). Most subjects produced, over the foot area, significant event-related desynchronization (ERD) patterns around Cz when performing MI and receiving passive pedaling. The sharpest decrease was found for the low beta band. The connectivity results revealed an exchange of information between the supplementary motor area (SMA) and parietal regions during MI and passive pedaling. Our findings point to the primary motor cortex activation for most participants and the connectivity between SMA and parietal regions during pedaling MI and passive pedaling.

Highlights

Introduction published maps and institutional affilCurrently, there is a growing interest in extending research on brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) to a variety of applications, such as to induce neuroplasticity and neural functional restoration
Our study aims to analyze the sensory motor rhythm behavior and cortical connectivity through EEG when a BCI is activated by pedaling motor imagery, offering passive pedaling as real-time feedback
Our results demonstrate the feasibility of using EEG to identify brain electrical activity during motor imagery (MI) tasks and passive pedaling while triggering the BCI

Summary

Introduction

There is a growing interest in extending research on brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) to a variety of applications, such as to induce neuroplasticity and neural functional restoration. BCIs can couple intention with action, where the electroencephalography (EEG) techniques have been widely used in several studies related to lower limb movements [4,5,8,9,10]. This interest of researchers in developing BCIs for the recovery of lower limbs arises from the fact that gait recovery is one of the main objectives of affected subjects iations

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