Functional Mapping of the Brain for Brain-Computer Interfacing: A Review

Brain-computer interfacing has been applied in a range of domains including rehabilitation, neuro-prosthetics, and neurofeedback. Neuroimaging techniques provide insight into the structural and functional aspects of the brain. There is a need to identify, map and understand the various structural areas of the brain together with their functionally active roles for the accurate and efficient design of a brain-computer interface. In this review, the functionally active areas of the brain are reviewed by analyzing the research available in the literature on brain-computer interfacing in conjunction with neuroimaging experiments. This review first provides an overview of various approaches of brain-computer interfacing and basic components in the BCI system and then discuss active functional areas of the brain being utilized in non-invasive brain-computer interfacing performed with hemodynamic signals and electrophysiological recording-based signals. This paper also discusses various challenges and limitations in BCI becoming accessible to a novice user, including security issues in the BCI system, effective ways to overcome those issues, and design implementations.