The effects of self-movement, observation, and imagination on μ rhythms and readiness potentials (RP's): toward a brain-computer interface (BCI)

Current movement-based brain-computer interfaces (BCI's) utilize spontaneous electroencephalogram (EEG) rhythms associated with movement, such as the μ rhythm, or responses time-locked to movements that are averaged across multiple trials, such as the readiness potential (RP), as control signals. In one study, the authors report that the μ rhythm is not only modulated by the expression of self-generated movement but also by the observation and imagination of movement. In another study, the authors show that simultaneous self-generated multiple limb movements exhibit properties distinct from those of single limb movements. Identification and classification of these signals with pattern recognition techniques provides the basis for the development of a practical BCI.