Conversion of a medical implant into a versatile computer-brain interface.
Brain Stimul
; 17(1): 39-48, 2024.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38145752
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Information transmission into the human nervous system is the basis for a variety of prosthetic applications. Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) systems are widely available, have a well documented safety record, can be implanted minimally invasively, and are known to stimulate afferent pathways. Nonetheless, SCS devices are not yet used for computer-brain-interfacing applications.OBJECTIVE:
Here we aimed to establish computer-to-brain communication via medical SCS implants in a group of 20 individuals who had been operated for the treatment of chronic neuropathic pain.METHODS:
In the initial phase, we conducted interface calibration with the aim of determining personalized stimulation settings that yielded distinct and reproducible sensations. These settings were subsequently utilized to generate inputs for a range of behavioral tasks. We evaluated the required calibration time, task training duration, and the subsequent performance in each task.RESULTS:
We could establish a stable spinal computer-brain interface in 18 of the 20 participants. Each of the 18 then performed one or more of the following tasks A rhythm-discrimination task (n = 13), a Morse-decoding task (n = 3), and/or two different balance/body-posture tasks (n = 18; n = 5). The median calibration time was 79 min. The median training time for learning to use the interface in a subsequent task was 140 min. In each task, every participant demonstrated successful performance, surpassing chance levels.CONCLUSION:
The results constitute the first proof-of-concept of a general purpose computer-brain interface paradigm that could be deployed on present-day medical SCS platforms.Palavras-chave
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Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Interfaces Cérebro-Computador
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2024
Tipo de documento:
Article