Mobile Brain/Body Imaging: A Decade of Emergence

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Mobile Brain/Body Imaging: A Decade of Emergence Scott Makeig1* 1 Institute for Neural Computation, University of California, San Diego, Swartz Center for Computational Neuroscience, United States A decade ago, when my colleague Howard Poizner approached me with the idea to record EEG during a behavioral reaching experiment, the wider possibilities for performing functional EEG imaging during nearly any motor behavior dawned on me only slowly. I knew that the independent component analysis (ICA) data decomposition method I and my colleagues were pioneering, originally at Terry Sejnowski’s lab at the Salk Institute and then at our UCSD Swartz Center for Computational Neuroscience, could separate out the profuse contributions to scalp EEG from eye movements and neck muscle activities during natural movements. Thus, the technical means were at hand to separate, for the first time, potentials generated in the brain from non-brain processes that are summed in high-density scalp EEG. Non-trivial results from our first pilot experiment began to appear when we extended our ICA method to include in the analysis not only the nature of the movement the participant was making, but their immediately previous movement history. ICA-based EEG imaging revealed dynamics of cortical networks involved in motor planning and evaluation, processes that are near-continually active during what Klaus Gramann later dubbed our natural cognition. It struck me that previous brain imaging, whether of participants lying rigidly still in an fMRI, PET, or MEG scanner or staring at an EEG experiment screen fixation point, may not have seen or revealed the brain’s repertoire or cortical dynamics that supports human agency, a root aspect of human consciousness. Indeed, the human brain has evolved to support our ability to move intelligently, meaning so as to optimize the results of our behavior. These ideas seemed so scientifically important to me that I felt the new research direction deserved a name – and, optimally, its own four-letter acronym (i.e., not ‘f-m-r-I’) that might inspire and focus research interest on this new field of brain research studying how cortical network dynamics support our everyday living. I decided to venture a new term, mobile brain/body imaging, and for it a new acronym, MoBI. In my talk I will explore these thoughts and will comment (from my limited viewpoint) on the now everywhere emerging brain studies of our natural embodied cognition, and on how the high-resolution EEG methods we and others are now developing can fulfill the promise of those first pilot experiments, a decade ago, which involved participants seated in darkness and attempting to reach out to touch briefly illuminated points of light. Keywords: Mobile brain/body imaging (MoBI), independent component analysis (ICA), EEG, Signal processing, applied neuroscience Conference: 2nd International Neuroergonomics Conference, Philadelphia, PA, United States, 27 Jun - 29 Jun, 2018. Presentation Type: Oral Presentation Topic: Neuroergonomics Citation: Makeig S (2019). Mobile Brain/Body Imaging: A Decade of Emergence. Conference Abstract: 2nd International Neuroergonomics Conference. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2018.227.00002 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 16 Apr 2018; Published Online: 27 Sep 2019. * Correspondence: Dr. Scott Makeig, Institute for Neural Computation, University of California, San Diego, Swartz Center for Computational Neuroscience, San Diego, United States, smakeig@ucsd.edu Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Scott Makeig Google Scott Makeig Google Scholar Scott Makeig PubMed Scott Makeig Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.