Covert Sensorimotor Mapping for Guiding Brain-Computer Interfaces

用于指导脑机接口的隐蔽感觉运动映射

• 批准号: 9186960
• 负责人: MICHAEL L. BONINGER
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-01-01 至 2018-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9186960
• 关键词: Afferent Pathways; Area; Auditory; Back; Brain; Brain Mapping; Brain region; Cerebral cortex; Clinical; Code; Cues; Cutaneous; Diagnosis; Efferent Pathways; Electric Stimulation; Electrical Stimulation of the Brain; Electrodes; Epilepsy; Esthesia; Feedback; Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Future; Goals; Hand; Imagery; Impairment; Implanted Electrodes; Injury; Intention; Intervention; Investigation; Knowledge; Limb structure; Literature; Maps; Measurement; Measures; Medial; Methods; Motor; Motor Cortex; Movement; Neural Pathways; Neurons; Participant; Pattern; Persons; Population; Procedures; Prosthesis; Protocols documentation; Publishing; Quadriplegia; Recruitment Activity; Rehabilitation therapy; Reporting; Research; Self-Help Devices; Sensory; Somatosensory Cortex; Spinal cord injury; Stimulus; Stroke; Structure; Techniques; Testing; Translating; Upper Extremity; Upper limb movement; Veterans; Visual; Volition; arm; auditory feedback; base; brain computer interface; design; improved; insight; joint mobilization; limb movement; nervous system disorder; neurofeedback; neuroimaging; novel; public health relevance; rehabilitation paradigm; restoration; sensory stimulus; somatosensory

DESCRIPTION: Advanced understanding of brain structure and function has improved the diagnosis and treatment of neurological disorders such as epilepsy, stroke, and spinal cord injury (SCI). Over half a century ago, Penfield used electrical stimulation of motor and sensory areas of cerebral cortex and revealed a distinct somatotopic organization of the brain. Today, this and additional knowledge of neuronal coding functions are being used to develop brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) that establish functional connections between cortical neurons and prosthetic and assistive devices. BCIs often use electrodes placed in brain areas responsible for volitional control and sensation of limb movements, particularly the arm and hand regions. Mapping brain regions is possible using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), although studies are difficult to perform in persons with motor and sensory impairments. People with SCI have disrupted efferent and afferent pathways between the cortex and the limbs making it necessary to rely on covert techniques, such as kinesthetic motor imagery, to map sensorimotor brain activity. Challenges associated with brain mapping likely contribute to the varying reports regarding the extent of functional reorganization occurring in the brain following SCI. The goal of the proposed research is to develop novel covert paradigms for mapping sensorimotor brain activity. Visual or auditory cueing has been shown to improve the timing and vividness of motor imagery. Therefore, we expect that increasing sensory enrichment will strengthen the activation observed in the sensorimotor cortex during covert motor and sensory tasks. We will test multiple levels of sensory enrichment with the goal of enhancing sensorimotor activation. The four conditions that will be tested are: (1) simple imagery of a single- joint movement or sensory stimulus, (2) goal-directed imagery, (2) goal-directed imagery with auditory enrichment, (3) goal-directed imagery with auditory and somatosensory enrichment. Functional MRI will be used to measure motor, cutaneous, and proprioceptive cortical representations using the covert mapping paradigms described above. Able-bodied subjects will be recruited to allow for comparison of imagery-based cortical activation patterns to that measured during overt movement and sensory stimulation. We will also recruit participants with tetraplegia due to SCI allowing for confirmation that the covert mapping paradigms translate to the clinical population. We will test whether covert movement and stimuli activate the sensorimotor cortex in the expected manner based on published literature and overt mapping in able-bodied subjects. Enriched covert brain mapping will allow for measurement of cortical reorganization when overt techniques cannot be used. Through this study, we will gain an understanding of how imagined movement, cutaneous stimulation, and passive movement produce similar (or different) activation of the motor and somatosensory cortex. In future studies, we plan to use covert mapping to guide BCI electrode design and placement. Moreover, these advanced mapping procedures will provide new insights into the functional interactions between sensory and motor areas of the brain in able-bodied persons, and the effects of SCI on these functions. Neurofeedback rehabilitation protocols could be designed to target abnormal cortical activity directly, or sensory enrichments could be incorporated into traditional rehabilitation paradigms to facilitate activation of dormant neural pathways.

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