Developing a tablet-based brain-computer interface and robotic prototype for upper limb rehabilitation.

Background: The current study explores the integration of a motor imagery (MI)-based BCI system with robotic rehabilitation designed for upper limb function recovery in stroke patients.

Methods: We developed a tablet deployable BCI control of the virtual iTbot for ease of use. Twelve right-handed healthy adults participated in this study, which involved a novel BCI training approach incorporating tactile vibration stimulation during MI tasks.

Motor Imagery Performance through Embodied Digital Twins in a Virtual Reality-Enabled Brain-Computer Interface Environment.

This study introduces an innovative framework for neurological rehabilitation by integrating brain-computer interfaces (BCI) and virtual reality (VR) technologies with the customization of three-dimensional (3D) avatars. Traditional approaches to rehabilitation often fail to fully engage patients, primarily due to their inability to provide a deeply immersive and interactive experience. This research endeavors to fill this gap by utilizing motor imagery (MI) techniques, where participants visualize physical movements without actual execution.

Insights into dietary phytochemicals targeting Parkinson's disease key genes and pathways: A network pharmacology approach.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a complex neurological disease associated with the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons. Oxidative stress is a key player in instigating apoptosis in dopaminergic neurons. To improve the survival of neurons many dietary phytochemicals have gathered significant attention recently.

Feasibility and usability of a virtual-reality-based sensorimotor activation apparatus for carpal tunnel syndrome patients.

Purpose: This study aimed to assess the usability of a virtual reality-assisted sensorimotor activation (VRSMA) apparatus for individual digit rehabilitation. The study had two main objectives: Firstly, to collect preliminary data on the expectations and preferences of patients with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) regarding virtual reality (VR) and an apparatus-assisted therapy for their affected digits. Secondly, to evaluate the usability of the VRSMA apparatus that was developed.

The effect of combining action observation in virtual reality with kinesthetic motor imagery on cortical activity.

Introduction: In the past, various techniques have been used to improve motor imagery (MI), such as immersive virtual-reality (VR) and kinesthetic rehearsal. While electroencephalography (EEG) has been used to study the differences in brain activity between VR-based action observation and kinesthetic motor imagery (KMI), there has been no investigation into their combined effect. Prior research has demonstrated that VR-based action observation can enhance MI by providing both visual information and embodiment, which is the perception of oneself as part of the observed entity.

Evaluation of EEG Oscillatory Patterns and Classification of Compound Limb Tactile Imagery.

: The purpose of this study was to investigate the cortical activity and digit classification performance during tactile imagery (TI) of a vibratory stimulus at the index, middle, and thumb digits within the left hand in healthy individuals. Furthermore, the cortical activities and classification performance of the compound TI were compared with similar compound motor imagery (MI) with the same digits as TI in the same subjects. Twelve healthy right-handed adults with no history of upper limb injury, musculoskeletal condition, or neurological disorder participated in the study.

The Effect of Tactile Imagery Training on Reaction Time in Healthy Participants.

Background: Reaction time is an important measure of sensorimotor performance and coordination and has been shown to improve with training. Various training methods have been employed in the past to improve reaction time. Tactile imagery (TI) is a method of mentally simulating a tactile sensation and has been used in brain-computer interface applications.

The Effects of Subthreshold Vibratory Noise on Cortical Activity During Motor Imagery.

Previous studies have demonstrated that both visual and proprioceptive feedback play vital roles in mental practice of movements. Tactile sensation has been shown to improve with peripheral sensory stimulation via imperceptible vibratory noise by stimulating the sensorimotor cortex. With both proprioception and tactile sensation sharing the same population of posterior parietal neurons encoding within high-level spatial representations, the effect of imperceptible vibratory noise on motor imagery-based brain-computer interface is unknown.

Review of EEG-based neurofeedback as a therapeutic intervention to treat depression.

Depression, or major depressive disorder, is a common mental disorder that affects individuals' behavior, mood, and physical health, and its prevalence has increased during the lockdowns implemented to curb the COVID-19 pandemic. There is an urgent need to update the treatment recommendations for mental disorders during such crises. Conventional interventions to treat depression include long-term pharmacotherapy and cognitive behavioral therapy.

Neurofeedback for the Education of Children with ADHD and Specific Learning Disorders: A Review.

Neurofeedback (NF) is a type of biofeedback in which an individual's brain activity is measured and presented to them to support self-regulation of ongoing brain oscillations and achieve specific behavioral and neurophysiological outcomes. NF training induces changes in neurophysiological circuits that are associated with behavioral changes. Recent evidence suggests that the NF technique can be used to train electrical brain activity and facilitate learning among children with learning disorders.

Age-related and individual variations in altered prefrontal and cerebellar connectivity associated with the tendency of developing internet addiction.

Internet addiction refers to problematic patterns of internet use that continually alter the neural organization and brain networks that control impulsive behaviors and inhibitory functions. Individuals with elevated tendencies to develop internet addiction represent the transition between healthy and clinical conditions and may progress to behavioral addictive disorders. In this network neuroscience study, we used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) to examine how and whether individual variations in the tendency of developing internet addiction rewire functional connectivity and diminish the amplitude of spontaneous low-frequency fluctuations in healthy brains.

Healthy Aging Alters the Functional Connectivity of Creative Cognition in the Default Mode Network and Cerebellar Network.

Creativity is a higher-order neurocognitive process that produces unusual and unique thoughts. Behavioral and neuroimaging studies of younger adults have revealed that creative performance is the product of dynamic and spontaneous processes involving multiple cognitive functions and interactions between large-scale brain networks, including the default mode network (DMN), fronto-parietal executive control network (ECN), and salience network (SN). In this resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) study, group independent component analysis (group-ICA) and resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) measures were applied to examine whether and how various functional connected networks of the creative brain, particularly the default-executive and cerebro-cerebellar networks, are altered with advancing age.

Static and dynamic functional connectivity supports the configuration of brain networks associated with creative cognition.

Creative cognition is recognized to involve the integration of multiple spontaneous cognitive processes and is manifested as complex networks within and between the distributed brain regions. We propose that the processing of creative cognition involves the static and dynamic re-configuration of brain networks associated with complex cognitive processes. We applied the sliding-window approach followed by a community detection algorithm and novel measures of network flexibility on the blood-oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal of 8 major functional brain networks to reveal static and dynamic alterations in the network reconfiguration during creative cognition using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).