Exploring Self-Paced Embodiable Neurofeedback for Post-stroke Motor Rehabilitation.

Neurofeedback-guided motor-imagery training (NF-MIT) has been proposed as a promising intervention following upper limb motor impairment. In this intervention, paretic stroke patients receive online feedback about their brain activity while conducting a motor-imagery (MI) task with the paretic limb. Typically, the feedback provided in NF-MIT protocols is an abstract visual signal based on a fixed trial. Here we developed a self-paced NF-MIT paradigm with an embodiable feedback signal (EFS), which was designed to resemble the content of the mental act as closely as possible. To this end, the feedback was delivered via an embodiable, anthropomorphic robotic hand (RH), which was integrated into a closed-looped EEG-based brain-computer interface (BCI). Whenever the BCI identified a new instance of a hand-flexion or hand-extension imagination by the participant, the RH carried out the corresponding movement with minimum delay. Nine stroke patients and nine healthy participants were instructed to control RH movements as accurately as possible, using mental activity alone. We evaluated the general feasibility of our paradigm on electrophysiological, subjective and performance levels. Regarding electrophysiological measures, individuals showed the predicted event-related desynchronization (ERD) patterns over sensorimotor brain areas. On the subjective level, we found that most individuals integrated the RH into their body scheme. With respect to RH control, none of our participants achieved a high level of control, but most managed to control the RH actions to some degree. Importantly, patients and controls achieved similar performance levels. The results support the view that self-paced embodiable NF-MIT is feasible for stroke patients and can complement classical NF-MIT.

A mind-brain-body dataset of MRI, EEG, cognition, emotion, and peripheral physiology in young and old adults.

We present a publicly available dataset of 227 healthy participants comprising a young (N=153, 25.1±3.1 years, range 20-35 years, 45 female) and an elderly group (N=74, 67.6±4.7 years, range 59-77 years, 37 female) acquired cross-sectionally in Leipzig, Germany, between 2013 and 2015 to study mind-body-emotion interactions. During a two-day assessment, participants completed MRI at 3 Tesla (resting-state fMRI, quantitative T1 (MP2RAGE), T2-weighted, FLAIR, SWI/QSM, DWI) and a 62-channel EEG experiment at rest. During task-free resting-state fMRI, cardiovascular measures (blood pressure, heart rate, pulse, respiration) were continuously acquired. Anthropometrics, blood samples, and urine drug tests were obtained. Psychiatric symptoms were identified with Standardized Clinical Interview for DSM IV (SCID-I), Hamilton Depression Scale, and Borderline Symptoms List. Psychological assessment comprised 6 cognitive tests as well as 21 questionnaires related to emotional behavior, personality traits and tendencies, eating behavior, and addictive behavior. We provide information on study design, methods, and details of the data. This dataset is part of the larger MPI Leipzig Mind-Brain-Body database.

The Senses of Agency and Ownership: A Review.

Usually, we do not question that we possess a body and act upon the world. This pre-reflective awareness of being a bodily and agentive self can, however, be disrupted by different clinical conditions. Whereas sense of ownership (SoO) describes the feeling of mineness toward one's own body parts, feelings or thoughts, sense of agency (SoA) refers to the experience of initiating and controlling an action. Although SoA and SoO naturally coincide, both experiences can also be made in isolation. By using many different experimental paradigms, both experiences have been extensively studied over the last years. This review introduces both concepts, with a special focus also onto their interplay. First, current experimental paradigms, results and neurocognitive theories about both concepts will be presented and then their clinical and therapeutic relevance is discussed.