Paired associative stimulation with brain-computer interfaces: A new paradigm for stroke rehabilitation

Abstract

In conventional rehabilitation therapy to help persons with stroke recover movement, there is no objective way to evaluate each patient’s motor imagery. Thus, patients may receive rewarding feedback even when they are not complying with the task instructions to imagine specific movements. Paired associative stimulation (PAS) uses brain-computer interface (BCI) technology to evaluate movement imagery in real-time, and use this information to control feedback presented to the patient. We introduce this approach and the RecoveriX system, a hardware and software platform for PAS. We then present initial results from two stroke patients who used RecoveriX, followed by future directions.