Neurophysiological investigations for the clinical usability of endogeneously modulated ECoG signals from striate and extrastriate visual cortex by estimating the focus of attention at the level single trials

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The transfer of knowledge about the functional dynamics of neuronal population activity from basic neuroscience to clinical applications is a central goal for systems neuroscience. Multielectrode arrays play an important role in this process, since they have a high potential for clinical applications that depend on spatiotemporally highly resolved neuronal activity patterns, and are easy to implant. In the current project, newly invented multielectrode arrays will be used to record ECoG signals from primary visual cortex and to identify the focus of attention in data fragments of a few hundred milliseconds utilizing methods from machine learning. The project aims to a) acquire the basic knowledge of the information content of ECoG signals and their attention-dependent modulation for the detection of the attentional focus in single trials from early visual cortex, b) apply this knwledge for developing a fast and easy communication method for patients suffering from locked-in sydrome, and c) gain better knowledge on the long-term usability of chronically implanted multielectrode arrays and the efficient analysis of ECoG signals for clinical purposes.