Toward methodologies for motor imagery enhancement: a tDCS-BCI study

Abstract

Motor imagery (MI) becomes a powerful rehabilitation tool, particularly when combined with brain–computer interfaces (BCI). Therefore, methods to improve MI accuracy are a trending topic in the BCI field. Here, we examined the effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and MI priming on the MI signature in an EEG-based MI-BCI triple-blind study. Thirty healthy younger adults participated in this study and were designated to one of two priming groups: A bimanual tracking task and a MI task as primers for MI-BCI. During the performance of the primer task, participants received anodal and sham tDCS in two randomized sessions with a one-week wash-out period between sessions. Subsequently, participants performed an EEG-driven BCI-MI task. EEG time–frequency analyses revealed that desynchronization of the Beta Region precedes desynchronization in the Alpha Region, implying that the Beta frequency band might be best-suited to extract MI signatures as it could lead to faster MI-BCI. Contrary to our hypotheses, no effect of tDCS or priming task on EEG activity during the BCI-MI task was found. Future research should carefully consider the added value of tDCS and priming tasks BCI performance improvement. Electric field modeling studies and high-definition tDCS motor cortex stimulation might be promising avenues.