Assessment of EEG event-related desynchronization in stroke survivors performing shoulder-elbow movements

• Published in: Proceedings 2006 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2006. ICRA 2006 pp. 3158 - 3164
• Main Authors: Fu, M.J., Daly, J.J., Cavusoglu, M.C.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 2006
• Subjects: Brain computer interfaces; Computer science; Control systems; Couplings; Electroencephalography; Medical treatment; Neural prosthesis; Registers; Rehabilitation robotics; Signal processing
• ISBN: 0780395050; 9780780395053
• ISSN: 1050-4729; 2577-087X
• DOI: 10.1109/ROBOT.2006.1642182

It is unknown whether electroencephalography (EEG) signal characteristics in stroke survivors with motor deficits register enough activity for use with brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). This research studied pre-movement EEG from shoulder-elbow movement in stroke survivors to identify signal characteristics potentially useful for robot-assisted stroke rehabilitation. Pre-movement event-related desynchronization (ERD) was examined in the alpha band mu rhythm for control (n = 7) and stroke subjects (n = 11). Subjects were all right-hand dominant; stroke subjects used their impaired arm and controls were assigned a side to match stroke subjects. Both non-dominant-arm-tested stroke and control subjects exhibited greater ERD intensity vs. those using their dominant arm (p < 0.05). Also, pre-movement ERD was detected in stroke survivors, which suggests at the possibility of using ERD as a BCI system control signal. However, the peak ERD of stroke survivors was significantly lower than that of healthy subjects (p < 0.05), which brings doubt to whether the intensity of ERD in stroke survivors is large enough to be used as a BCI system control signal