Abstract
(December 4, 2012) The majority of subjects who attempt to learn
control of a brain–computer interface (BCI) can do so with adequate training.
Much like when one learns to type or ride a bicycle, BCI users report
transitioning from a deliberate, cognitively focused mindset to near automatic
control as training progresses. What are the neural correlates of this process
of BCI skill acquisition? Seven subjects were implanted with
electrocorticography (ECoG) electrodes and had multiple opportunities to
practice a 1D BCI task. As subjects became proficient, strong initial
task-related activation was followed by lessening of activation in prefrontal
cortex, premotor cortex, and posterior parietal cortex, areas that have
previously been implicated in the cognitive phase of motor sequence learning
and abstract task learning. These results demonstrate that, although the use of
a BCI only requires modulation of a local population of neurons, a distributed
network of cortical areas is involved in the acquisition of BCI proficiency.