EEG-Based Brain-Computer Interface for Tetraplegics

摘要

Movement-disabled persons typically require a long practice time to learn how to use a brain-computerinterface (BCI). Our aim was to develop a BCI which tetraplegic subjects couldcontrol only in 30 minutes. Six such subjects (level of injury C4-C5) operated a 6-channelEEG BCI. The task was to move a circle from the centre of the computer screen to its right orleft side by attempting visually triggered right- or left-hand movements. During the trainingperiods, the classifier was adapted to the user's EEG activity after each movement attempt in asupervised manner. Feedback of the performance was given immediately after starting the BCIuse. Within the time limit, three subjects learned to control the BCI. We believe that fast initiallearning is an important factor that increases motivation and willingness to use BCIs. We havepreviously tested a similar single-trial classification approach in healthy subjects. Our newresults show that methods developed and tested with healthy subjects do not necessarily workas well as with motor-disabled patients. Therefore, it is important to use motor-disabled personsas subjects in BCI development.