Effects on Cortical Rhythms Produced by Robotic Glove Assistance During Motor Imagery

In recent years, advances in Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) have gained recognition for the design of rehabilitation and/or assistance strategies for populations with neuromotor disabilities. In BCIs, the study of EEG phenomena during hand Motor Imagery (MI) tasks is still challenging. Therefore, to deepen the field, a novel protocol based on MI tasks is proposed in this study, which is compared to the classical MI protocol based on static Action Observation (AO). The proposed protocol is based on a combination of visual stimulation by AO and passive movements generated by a robotic glove. To address cortical effects, Electroencephalography (EEG) analysis was performed to examine the differences in cortical rhythms in the frequency domain. The results allow concluding that the use of the robotic glove generated a greater decrease in power (desynchronization) in the central parietal cortex of the brain, especially for electrode C3. These findings allow further neuroscience studies and will be used to deepen the analysis and detection of MI patterns towards a BCI-controlled upper limb assistance device.