@article {2149, title = {Silent Communication: toward using brain signals.}, journal = {IEEE Pulse}, volume = {3}, year = {2012}, month = {01/2012}, pages = {43-6}, abstract = {

From the 1980s movie Firefox to the more recent Avatar, popular science fiction has speculated about the possibility of a persons thoughts being read directly from his or her brain. Such braincomputer interfaces (BCIs) might allow people who are paralyzed to communicate with and control their environment, and there might also be applications in military situations wherever silent user-to-user communication is desirable. Previous studies have shown that BCI systems can use brain signals related to movements and movement imagery or attention-based character selection. Although these systems have successfully demonstrated the possibility to control devices using brain function, directly inferring which word a person intends to communicate has been elusive. A BCI using imagined speech might provide such a practical, intuitive device. Toward this goal, our studies to date addressed two scientific questions: (1) Can brain signals accurately characterize different aspects of speech? (2) Is it possible to predict spoken or imagined words or their components using brain signals?

}, keywords = {Animals, Brain, Brain Waves, Humans, Movement, User-Computer Interface}, issn = {2154-2287}, doi = {10.1109/MPUL.2011.2175637}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22344951}, author = {Pei, Xiao-Mei and Jeremy Jeremy Hill and Gerwin Schalk} } @article {2204, title = {Nonuniform high-gamma (60-500 Hz) power changes dissociate cognitive task and anatomy in human cortex.}, journal = {J Neurosci}, volume = {31}, year = {2011}, month = {02/2011}, pages = {2091-100}, abstract = {

High-gamma-band (\>60 Hz) power changes in cortical electrophysiology are a reliable indicator of focal, event-related cortical activity. Despite discoveries of oscillatory subthreshold and synchronous suprathreshold activity at the cellular level, there is an increasingly popular view that high-gamma-band amplitude changes recorded from cellular ensembles are the result of asynchronous firing activity that yields wideband and uniform power increases. Others have demonstrated independence of power changes in the low- and high-gamma bands, but to date, no studies have shown evidence of any such independence above 60 Hz. Based on nonuniformities in time-frequency analyses of electrocorticographic (ECoG) signals, we hypothesized that induced high-gamma-band (60-500 Hz) power changes are more heterogeneous than currently understood. Using single-word repetition tasks in six human subjects, we showed that functional responsiveness of different ECoG high-gamma sub-bands can discriminate cognitive task (e.g., hearing, reading, speaking) and cortical locations. Power changes in these sub-bands of the high-gamma range are consistently present within single trials and have statistically different time courses within the trial structure. Moreover, when consolidated across all subjects within three task-relevant anatomic regions (sensorimotor, Broca{\textquoteright}s area, and superior temporal gyrus), these behavior- and location-dependent power changes evidenced nonuniform\ trends\ across the population. Together, the independence and nonuniformity of power changes across a broad range of frequencies suggest that a new approach to evaluating high-gamma-band cortical activity is necessary. These findings show that in addition to time and location, frequency is another fundamental dimension of high-gamma dynamics.

}, keywords = {Acoustic Stimulation, Adolescent, Adult, Analysis of Variance, Brain Mapping, Brain Waves, Cerebral Cortex, Cognition Disorders, Electroencephalography, Epilepsy, Evoked Potentials, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Neuropsychological Tests, Nonlinear Dynamics, Photic Stimulation, Reaction Time, Spectrum Analysis, Time Factors, Vocabulary}, issn = {1529-2401}, doi = {10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4722-10.2011}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21307246}, author = {Charles M Gaona and Sharma, Mohit and Zachary V. Freudenberg and Breshears, Jonathan and Bundy, David T and Roland, Jarod and Barbour, Dennis L and Gerwin Schalk and Leuthardt, E C} } @article {2208, title = {Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Advances in Electrocorticography.}, journal = {Epilepsy Behav}, volume = {22}, year = {2011}, month = {12/2011}, pages = {641-50}, abstract = {

The Second International Workshop on Advances in Electrocorticography (ECoG) was convened in San Diego, CA, USA, on November 11-12, 2010. Between this meeting and the inaugural 2009 event, a much clearer picture has been emerging of cortical ECoG physiology and its relationship to local field potentials and single-cell recordings. Innovations in material engineering are advancing the goal of a stable long-term recording interface. Continued evolution of ECoG-driven brain-computer interface technology is determining innovation in neuroprosthetics. Improvements in instrumentation and statistical methodologies continue to elucidate ECoG correlates of normal human function as well as the ictal state. This proceedings document summarizes the current status of this rapidly evolving field.

}, keywords = {Brain, Brain Mapping, Brain Waves, Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted, Electroencephalography, Epilepsy, Humans, United States, User-Computer Interface}, issn = {1525-5069}, doi = {10.1016/j.yebeh.2011.09.028}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22036287}, author = {A L Ritaccio and Boatman-Reich, Dana and Peter Brunner and Cervenka, Mackenzie C and Cole, Andrew J and Nathan E. Crone and Duckrow, Robert and Korzeniewska, Anna and Litt, Brian and Miller, John W and Moran, D and Parvizi, Josef and Viventi, Jonathan and Williams, Justin C and Gerwin Schalk} }