CBM342 BRAIN COMPUTER INTERFACE AND APPLICATIONS

UNIT-II-ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL SOURCES

D.GOPINATH AP/ECE
RAMCO INSTITUTE OF
TECHNOLOGY, RAJAPALAYAM
UNIT-I-INTRODUCTION TO BCI
Sensorimotor activity – Mu rhythm, Movement Related Potentials –
Slow Cortical Potentials-P300 - Visual Evoked Potential - Activity of
Neural Cells - Multiple Neuromechanisms.

06/16/2024 2
The Need for BCIs
• People affected by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), brainstem stroke, brain or
spinal cord injury, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophies, multiple sclerosis, and
numerous other diseases often lose normal muscular control.
• The most severely affected may lose most or all voluntary muscle control and
become totally “locked-in” to their bodies, unable to communicate in any way.
• These individuals can nevertheless lead lives that are enjoyable and productive if
they can be provided with basic communication and control capability.
• Unlike conventional assistive communication technologies, all of which require
some measure of muscle control, a BCI provides the brain with a new, non-
muscular output channel for conveying messages and commands to the external
world.

06/16/2024 3
The Origin of Brain Signals Used in BCIs
• In theory, a BCI might use brain signals recorded by a variety of methodologies.
These include: recording of electric or magnetic fields; functional magnetic
resonance imaging (fMRI); positron emission tomography (PET); and functional
near infrared (fNIR) imaging.
• In reality, however, most of these methods are at present not practical for clinical
use due to their intricate technical demands, prohibitive expense, limited real-
time capabilities, and/or early stage of development.
• Only electric field recording (and possibly fNIR ]) is likely to be of significant
practical value for clinical applications in the near future.
• Electric field recordings measure changes in membrane potentials of CNS
synapses, neurons, and axons as they receive and transmit information.
• Neurons receive and integrate synaptic inputs and then transmit the results down
their axons the form of action potentials.

06/16/2024 4
The Origin of Brain Signals Used in BCIs
• Synaptic potentials and action potentials reflect changes in the flow of ions across
the neuronal membranes.
• The electric fields produced by this activity can be recorded as voltage changes
on the scalp (EEG), on the cortical surface (electrocorticographic activity (ECoG)),
or within the brain (local field potentials (LFPs) or neuronal action potentials
(spikes)). These three alternative recording methods are shown in Fig.

06/16/2024 5
The Origin of Brain Signals Used in BCIs
• Any voltage change that can be detected with these recording methods might
constitute a brain signal feature useful for a BCI.
• Intracortical electrodes can detect modulations in the spiking frequencies of
single neurons; LFP, ECoG, or EEG recording can detect event related voltage
potentials (ERPs) or rhythmic voltage oscillations (such as mu or beta rhythms).
• ERPs are best observed in the averaged signal time-locked to the evoking event or
stimulus, and cortical oscillations are best observed by examining the frequency
components of the signal.

06/16/2024 6
Brain Signal Features Measured Noninvasively
• Scalp-recorded EEG provides the most practical noninvasive access to brain
activity. EEG is traditionally analyzed in the time domain or the frequency
domain.
• In the time domain, the EEG is measured as voltage levels at particular times
relative to an event or stimulus. When changes in voltage are time-locked to a
particular event or stimulus, they are called “event-related potentials” (ERPs).
• In the frequency domain, the EEG is measured as voltage oscillations at particular
frequencies (e.g., 8–12 Hz mu or 18–26 Hz beta rhythms over sensorimotor
cortex).
• EEG features measured in both the time and the frequency domains have proved
useful for BCIs.

06/16/2024 7
Event-related Potentials (ERPs)-(Time Domain)
• Brain processing of a sensory stimulus or another event can produce a time-
locked series of positive-negative deflections in the EEG.
• These event-related potential (ERP) components are distinguished by their scalp
locations and latencies.
• Earlier components with latencies <100 ms originate largely in primary sensory
cortices and are determined mainly by the properties of the evoking stimulus.
• Later ERP components with latencies of 100–>500 msec reflect to a greater
extent ongoing brain processes and thus are more variable in form and latency.
• They originate in cortical areas associated with later and more complex
processing.
• The longest latency ERPs, or slow cortical potentials (SCPs), have latencies up to
several seconds or even minutes and often reflect response-oriented brain
activity.

06/16/2024 8
ERP-Visual Evoked Potentials (VEP)
• The most extensively studied ERP is the visual evoked potential (VEP). The VEP
comprises at least three successive features, or components, that occur in the
first several hundred milliseconds after a visual stimulus.
• The polarities, latencies, and cortical origins of the components vary with the
stimulus presented. Typically, an initial negative component at 75 msec originates
in primary visual cortex (area V1).
• It is followed by a positive component at ~100 ms (P1 or P100) and a negative
complex at ~145 msec (N1 or N145).
• The steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) is elicited by repetitive pattern
reversal stimulation. It is thought to arise from the same areas that produce the
VEP, plus the motion sensitive area MT/V5.

06/16/2024 9
ERP-Visual Evoked Potentials (VEP)
• The VEP and SSVEP depend mainly on the properties of the visual stimulus.
• They have not been shown to vary with intent on a trial-by-trial basis.
Nevertheless, the first BCI systems and some modern systems are VEP- or SSVEP-
based.
• For example, the BCI user can modulate the SSVEP by looking at one of several
visual stimuli, each with different stimulus properties (i.e., different flash rates).
• SSVEP features vary according to the stimulus properties and are measured to
determine which target is being looked at.
• The computer then executes the command associated with the target that the
user is looking at.
• Recent evidence suggests that it is possible to modulate SSVEP features by
shifting attention, and thus that the SSVEP might support operation of an
independent BCI (i.e., a BCI that does not depend on neuromuscular function).

06/16/2024 10
ERP-P300
• When an auditory, visual, or somatosensory (touch) stimulus that is infrequent,
desirable, or in other ways significant is interspersed with frequent or routine
stimuli, it typically evokes a positive peak at about 300ms after stimulus onset
(i.e., a P300 ERP) in the EEG over centroparietal cortex.
• A stimulation protocol of this kind is known as an ‘oddball’ paradigm. Evocation of
the P300 in the oddball paradigm requires that the subject attend to the target
stimulus.
• While the underlying neural generators of the P300 are debated, it is thought
that the signal reflects rapid neural inhibition of ongoing activity and that this
inhibition facilitates transmission of stimulus/task information from frontal to
temporal-parietal cortical areas.

06/16/2024 11
ERP-P300
• In a P300-based BCI system, the user is presented with an array of auditory,
visual, or somatosensory stimuli, each of which represents a particular output
(e.g., spelling a particular letter), and pays attention to the stimulus that
represents the action s/he desires.
• That attended stimulus elicits a P300 and the other stimuli do not (Fig. 2a).
• The BCI recognizes the P300 and then executes the output specified by the
eliciting stimulus. Since it requires only that a user modulate attention, rather
than any muscular output, a P300-based BCI is an independent BCI.
• The first P300-based BCI system was developed by Donchin and his colleagues. It
presents the user with a 6 × 6 matrix of letters, numbers, and/or other symbols.
• The individual rows and columns of the array flash in succession as the user
attends to the desired item and counts how many times it flashes.

06/16/2024 12
ERP-P300

06/16/2024 13
ERP-P300
• The intersection of the row and column that produce the largest P300 identifies
the target item, and the BCI then produces the output associated with that item.
• In recent work, improved signal processing methods and presentation
parameters have extended this basic protocol to a 9 × 8 matrix of items and
combined it with specific applications such as word-processing with a predictive
speller and e-mail.
• P300-based BCI systems have several important advantages: the P300 is
detectable in most potential users; its relatively short latency, supports faster
communication;
• With an appropriate protocol it does not attenuate significantly;
• initial system calibration to each user usually requires less than 1 h; and very little
user training is needed.
• In people with visual impairments, auditory or tactile stimuli could potentially be
used instead.
06/16/2024 14
ERP-Slow Cortical Potentials (SCP)
• The slowest features of the scalp-recorded EEG yet used in BCI systems are slow
voltage changes generated in cortex. These potential shifts occur over 0.5–10.0 s
and are called slow cortical potentials (SCPs).
• In normal brain function, negative SCPs accompany mental preparation, while
positive SCPs probably accompany mental inhibition.
• Negative and positive SCPs probably reflect an increase and decrease,
respectively, in excitation of cortical neurons.
• This change in activation may be further modulated by dopaminergic and
cholinergic systems.
• For example, the contingent negative variation is a slowly developing negative
SCP that occurs between a warning stimulus and a stimulus requiring a response.
• It reflects increased activation and decreased firing thresholds in cortical
networks associated with the preparatory process preceding the response.

06/16/2024 15
ERP-Slow Cortical Potentials (SCP)
• In studies spanning more than 30 years, Birbaumer and his colleagues have
demonstrated that people can learn to control SCP amplitude through an operant
conditioning protocol, and can use this control to operate a BCI system.
• In the standard format, SCP amplitude is displayed as the vertical position of a
cursor, and after a 2-s baseline period, the user increases or decreases negative
SCP amplitude to select the top or bottom target, respectively.
• The system can also operate in a mode that translates SCP amplitude into an
auditory or tactile output. This SCP based BCI can support basic word-processing
and other simple control tasks.
• People who are severely disabled by ALS, and have little or no ability to use
conventional assistive communication technology, may be able to master SCP
control and use it for basic communication.

06/16/2024 16
Cortical Oscillations-Frequency Domain
• Brain activity is reflected in a variety of oscillations, or rhythms, in scalp-recorded
EEG.
• Each rhythm is distinguished by its frequency range, scalp location, and
correlations with ongoing brain activity and behavioral state.
• While these rhythms are traditionally believed to simply reflect brain activity, it is
possible that they play functional roles (e.g., in synchronizing cortical regions).
• Rhythms that can be modulated independently of motor outputs are potentially
useful for BCI applications. Up to the present, mainly sensorimotor rhythms have
been applied to this purpose.

06/16/2024 17
Sensorimotor Rhythms

06/16/2024 18