2021 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report
Brain-controlled neuroprosthetic for restoration of upper-limb function
| Project/Area Number |
19K23606
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| Research Institution | Osaka University |
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Principal Investigator |
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| Project Period (FY) |
2019-08-30 – 2022-03-31
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| Keywords | brain-computer interface / neuroprosthetics / upper-limb / rehabilitation / neuroplasticity / neuromodulation |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
The objectives of this research project were to: (1) develop a BCI system that can detect hand movements using non-invasive cortical (brain) signal recordings from human participants during motor imagery; (2) evaluate a neuroprosthetic technology that can activate upper-limb muscles through FES; and (3) test the feasibility of using BCI-controlled FES neuroprosthetic to examine how it can contribute to restoration of upper-limb motor function through central nervous system neuromodulation. Based on these objectives, we developed and tested a BCI-controlled FES system and demonstrated the underlying mechanisms for recovery of upper-limb motor function that can be elicited via Hebbian-type neuroplasticity. Specifically, we first compared a BCI-controlled FES intervention and demonstrated that it can elicit rapid corticospinal excitability modulation of the stimulated muscles, while FES alone was ineffective. We then compared primary motor cortex (M1) BCI-controlled FES to that when premotor cortical areas were used for BCI operation. Our results demonstrated that M1-based BCI-controlled FES intervention was superior to elicit corticospinal modulation. In summary, a BCI-FES system with an accuracy of ~85% was developed and tested both offline and in real-time operation using threshold-based and machine learning approaches. Our results demonstrated that a motor imagery-based motor cortical BCI-controlled FES system, which we developed in this project, could rapidly neuromodulate central nervous system excitability.
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