BCI and INTUITION in Greece

Tutorial 2: Brain-Computer Interfaces principles and development Athens, Greece, October 4-5, 2007, Speaker: Gunther Krausz, Ing. Mag. g.tec medical engineering GmbH, Austria One of the most fascinating fields of science is BCI (Brain-Computer Interface) research. The idea behind is to control something just by the power of your mind. Performing a mental task such as the imagery of a hand movement or simply putting attention to a target stimulus causes changes in the brain's activity. Such changes can be measured using e.g. the EEG (electroencephalogram). A BCI-system detects such changes of activation of the human brain and transforms it into a control signal which can be used to move a cursor on a computer monitor, to control a robotic arm, to select letters on a screen or even to interact with a virtual environment. There are patients suffering from a complete paralysis (locked-in) who can use a BCI as the only possible way to communicate with their environment. Different approaches and methods to achieve this challenge were developed and tested by a number of research groups all over the world during the past 10 - 20 years. In the first part of the session an overview of various techniques and resulting problems will be given. As a second part we plan to do a life-experiment using a BCI to spell words or to control a simple VR application. A volunteer subject may participate in this experiment. 1st session: 17:00 – 18:20, BCI fundamental concepts - definition of a brain computer interface - the EEG, non-invasive recording of brain activity - assets and drawbacks of EEG-based BCI - BCI approaches: the slow cortical potentials - BCI approaches: oscillatory activity, alpha-, mu- and beta rhythms - BCI approaches: steady-state evoked potentials - BCI approaches: the P-300 approach - limits of speed and accuracy with EEG-based BCI applications 2nd session: 18:30 – 19:30, BCI application – life experiment - use of the EEG electrode cap, how to mount EEG electrodes - individual training of volunteer subject - see the classification result / performance of the subject - BCI-based control of a VR-application (together with Franco Tecchia, if possible) - short movie about using BCI for navigation in a VR (cave, London)