title: Cortical plasticity and brain computer interface.
abstract: There is increasing evidence to support the concept that adult brain has the remarkable ability to plastically reorganize itself. Brain plasticity involves distinct functional and structural components and plays a crucial role in reorganizing central nervous system's networks after any lesion in order to partly or totally restore lost and/or compromised functions. The idea that a computer can decode brain electromagnetic signals to infer the intentions of a human and then enact those intentions directly through a machine is becoming a reasonable technical possibility. In neurological patients unable to move and to communicate with the external environment, technologies implementing brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) can be of valuable aid and support. The emerging possibility, through neuro-imaging advanced techniques, to clarify some crucial issues underlying brain plasticity will give the possibility to modulate these mechanisms in a BCI-oriented way. This approach may have a tremendous impact in a variety of neuropsychiatric disorders and the clinical advent of this technology will usher in a new era of restorative medicine.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Catholic University, Rome, Italy. paolomaria.rossini@afar.it
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Rossini
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Noris Ferilli
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ferreri
mesh_terms: D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D003143:Communication Devices for People with Disabilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D008328:Man-Machine Systems; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D014584:User-Computer Interface