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Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience pp 11–18Cite as

Brain-Machine Interface: Overview

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Synonyms

Brain-computer interfaces; Neural interfaces

Definition

A brain-machine interface (BMI) is a direct communication pathway between the nervous system and a man-made computing device. This communication is unidirectional in BMIs that either record neural activity in the nervous system to affect the state of an external device or stimulate neural activity to affect the state of the nervous system. It can also be bidirectional, such as BMIs that record activity from certain parts of the nervous system and use this activity – or features extracted from it – in real time to stimulate activity in other parts of that system. This communication can occur at multiple levels, which may include muscles, peripheral nerves, spinal cord, or the brain.

Detailed Description

BMIs fundamentally rely on the concept of causation between electricity and movement or between electricity and cognition. The causal link between electrical current injection into the body and movement of parts of that...

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Abbreviations

AP:

Action potentials

BCI:

Brain-computer interfaces

BMI:

Brain-machine interface

ECoG:

Electrocorticogram

EEG:

Electroencephalogram

EMG:

Electromyogram

FES:

Functional electrical stimulation

LTD:

Long-term depression

LTP:

Long-term potentiation

MIMO:

Multi-input multi-output

NI:

Neural interfaces

SCI:

Spinal cord injury

SISO:

Single-input single-output

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Electrical and Computer Engineering, Neuroscience and Cognitive Science, Michigan State University, 428 S. Shaw Lane, 48824, East Lansing, MI, USA

    Karim G. Oweiss

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  1. Karim G. Oweiss
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Correspondence to Karim G. Oweiss .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Dieter Jaeger

  2. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA

    Ranu Jung

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Oweiss, K.G. (2015). Brain-Machine Interface: Overview. In: Jaeger, D., Jung, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6675-8_783

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