%0 Journal Article %J Neuroimage %D 2011 %T Causal influence of gamma oscillations on the sensorimotor rhythm. %A Grosse-Wentrup, Moritz %A Schölkopf, B %A Jeremy Jeremy Hill %K Adult %K Cerebral Cortex %K Electroencephalography %K Female %K Humans %K Imagination %K Male %K Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted %K User-Computer Interface %X

Gamma oscillations of the electromagnetic field of the brain are known to be involved in a variety of cognitive processes, and are believed to be fundamental for information processing within the brain. While gamma oscillations have been shown to be correlated with brain rhythms at different frequencies, to date no empirical evidence has been presented that supports a causal influence of gamma oscillations on other brain rhythms. In this work, we study the relation of gamma oscillations and the sensorimotor rhythm (SMR) in healthy human subjects using electroencephalography. We first demonstrate that modulation of the SMR, induced by motor imagery of either the left or right hand, is positively correlated with the power of frontal and occipital gamma oscillations, and negatively correlated with the power of centro-parietal gamma oscillations. We then demonstrate that the most simple causal structure, capable of explaining the observed correlation of gamma oscillations and the SMR, entails a causal influence of gamma oscillations on the SMR. This finding supports the fundamental role attributed to gamma oscillations for information processing within the brain, and is of particular importance for brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). As modulation of the SMR is typically used in BCIs to infer a subject's intention, our findings entail that gamma oscillations have a causal influence on a subject's capability to utilize a BCI for means of communication.

%B Neuroimage %V 56 %P 837-42 %8 05/2011 %G eng %U http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20451626 %N 2 %R 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.04.265 %0 Journal Article %J Epilepsy Behav %D 2008 %T Voluntary brain regulation and communication with electrocorticogram signals. %A Hinterberger, T. %A Widman, Guido %A Lal, T.N %A Jeremy Jeremy Hill %A Tangermann, Michael %A Rosenstiel, W. %A Schölkopf, B %A Elger, Christian %A Niels Birbaumer %K Adult %K Biofeedback, Psychology %K Cerebral Cortex %K Communication Aids for Disabled %K Dominance, Cerebral %K Electroencephalography %K Epilepsies, Partial %K Female %K Humans %K Imagination %K Male %K Middle Aged %K Motor Activity %K Motor Cortex %K Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted %K Software %K Somatosensory Cortex %K Theta Rhythm %K User-Computer Interface %K Writing %X

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) can be used for communication in writing without muscular activity or for learning to control seizures by voluntary regulation of brain signals such as the electroencephalogram (EEG). Three of five patients with epilepsy were able to spell their names with electrocorticogram (ECoG) signals derived from motor-related areas within only one or two training sessions. Imagery of finger or tongue movements was classified with support-vector classification of autoregressive coefficients derived from the ECoG signals. After training of the classifier, binary classification responses were used to select letters from a computer-generated menu. Offline analysis showed increased theta activity in the unsuccessful patients, whereas the successful patients exhibited dominant sensorimotor rhythms that they could control. The high spatial resolution and increased signal-to-noise ratio in ECoG signals, combined with short training periods, may offer an alternative for communication in complete paralysis, locked-in syndrome, and motor restoration.

%B Epilepsy Behav %V 13 %P 300-6 %8 08/2008 %G eng %U http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18495541 %N 2 %R 10.1016/j.yebeh.2008.03.014