Clinical Applications of Brain-Computer Interfaces: Current State and Future Prospects

By Joseph N. F. Mak, Jonathan R. Wolpaw. IEEE Reviews in Biomedical Engineering, 2009

498 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Braincomputer interfaces (BCIs) allow their users to communicate or control external devices using brain signals rather than the brain's normal output pathways of peripheral nerves and muscles. Motivated by the hope of restoring independence to severely disabled individuals and by interest in further extending human control of external systems, researchers from many fields are engaged in this challenging new work. BCI research and development has grown explosively over the past two decades. Efforts have begun recently to provide laboratory-validated BCI systems to severely disabled individuals for real-world applications. In this paper, we discuss the current status and future prospects of BCI technology and its clinical applications. We will define BCI, review the BCI-relevant signals from the human brain, and describe the functional components of BCIs. We will also review current clinical applications of BCI technology and identify potential users and potential applications. Lastly, we will discuss current limitations of BCI technology, impediments to its widespread clinical use, and expectations for the future.

Subfields: Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, Cognitive Neuroscience, Electrical and Electronic Engineering

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/f2c4082faeff5d63b0144ef371c8964621ee33bf

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In Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience

In Cognitive Neuroscience

In Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Citations in the corpus

Combining Brain–Computer Interfaces and Assistive Technologies: State-of-the-Art and Challenges (2010, background): “Within the BCI community, the opportunity to use BCI protocols to promote recovery of motor function by encouraging and guiding plasticity phenomena occurring after stroke (or more generally after brain injury) is at a very preliminary stage (for review see [33, 13, 109]).”
Progress in Brain Computer Interface: Challenges and Opportunities (2019, background): “Either by providing direct control of assistive technologies or by neural rehabilitation, BCI can help patients who may suffer from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, cerebral palsy, brainstem stroke, spinal cord injuries, muscular dystrophies, or chronic peripheral neuropathies [106].”
Brain-Machine Interfaces: From Basic Science to Neuroprostheses and Neurorehabilitation. (2017, background): “BMIs have also been coupled with a variety of traditional medical devices (522).”