BCI control using 4 direction spatial visual attention and real-time fMRI at 7T

The goal of Brain-Computer-Interface (BCI) technologies is to "outsource" the muscular control to a computer and create new communication channels, e.g. to people with severe paralysis, by measuring cortical activation changes and linking these changes to commands. Using real-time fMRI at 7T we show that visuospatial attention can be used to reliably regulate cortical activity and that it is possible to separate the cortical responses to multiple attention target regions in real time. The activated regions were first located on the fly using an incremental statistical analysis and the subjects were then given feedback based on the activity in these regions. Visuospatial attention is an attractive addition to the existing BCI control strategies, and the fact that it leaves the motor system still available makes it suitable also for applications aimed for healthy people.