Navigation of a telepresence robot via covert visuospatial attention and real-time fMRI.

ABSTRACT: Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) allow people with severe neurological impairment and without ability to control their muscles to regain some control over their environment. The BCI user performs a mental task to regulate brain activity, which is measured and translated into commands controlling some external device. We here show that healthy participants are capable of navigating a robot by covertly shifting their visuospatial attention. Covert Visuospatial Attention (COVISA) constitutes a very intuitive brain function for spatial navigation and does not depend on presented stimuli or on eye movements. Our robot is equipped with motors and a camera that sends visual feedback to the user who can navigate it from a remote location. We used an ultrahigh field MRI scanner (7 Tesla) to obtain

SUBMITTER: Andersson P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3536975 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature