I. “Signals and Recording Methods” (org. by: Jonathan R. Wolpaw, Gerald E. Loeb)

 

This workshop will address the characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages for BCI use of different brain signals and recording methods. This issue is extremely important at present: many research groups are debating the relative capacities and limitations of non-invasive (i.e., EEG from scalp electrodes), minimally invasive (i.e., ECoG activity from epidural or subdural electrode arrays), and maximally invasive (i.e., single neuron activity or local field potentials from multi-electrode intracortical implants) techniques. The primary topics will include: the possible communication and control capacities of EEG, ECoG, and intracortical signals; the problems that must be overcome to achieve stable recording over months and years (particularly with intracortical implants) and current efforts to address these problems; prospects for simplifying the required software and hardware; the clinical risks associated with invasive implants and the ethical issues involved in their development and implementation; and the future possibilities for using other signal acquisition methods such as MEG or fMRI activity. The participants will include clinical and basic neuroscientists, cell biologists, engineers, and clinicians.