Transcranial focused ultrasound to V5 enhances human visual motion brain-computer interface by modulating...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Biomedical Engineering
• Brain-Computer Interfaces

Background:

• Non-invasive brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) show promise for device control but suffer from high error rates.
• Neuromodulation techniques are being explored to enhance BCI performance.
• Transcranial focused ultrasound (tFUS) offers precise, non-invasive neuromodulation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if tFUS can improve BCI accuracy.
• To explore the neural mechanisms underlying tFUS effects on BCI performance using EEG source imaging.

Main Methods:

• Participants performed a BCI speller task.
• Targeted neuromodulation was applied using V5-targeted tFUS.
• High-density electroencephalography (EEG) source imaging (ESI) analyzed brain activity patterns.

Main Results:

• V5-targeted tFUS significantly reduced errors in the BCI speller task.
• EEG source imaging revealed increased theta and alpha activity in the V5 region and dorsal visual pathway under tFUS.
• Correlation analyses showed preserved dorsal pathway connectivity and weakened ventral pathway connectivity during tFUS.

Conclusions:

• V5-targeted tFUS effectively improves BCI performance by reducing errors.
• The findings suggest tFUS enhances feature-based attention to visual motion via modulation of the dorsal visual processing pathway.