Motor imagery is a conventional method for brain computer interface and motor learning. To avoid the great individual difference of the motor imagery ability, object-oriented motor imagery was applied, and the effects were studied. Kinesthetic motor imagery and visual observation were administered to 15 healthy volunteers. The EEG during cue-based simple imagery (SI), object-oriented motor imag...

In the adult human brain, passive observation of actions performed by others activates some of the same cortical areas that are involved in the execution of actions, thereby contributing to action recognition. This mechanism appears to occur through activation of a population of action-coding cells known as mirror neurons (MN). In the adult motor cortex, performing actions and observing human m...

Two electrophysiological studies tested the hypothesis that operant conditioning of mu rhythms via neurofeedback training can renormalize mu suppression, an index of mirror neuron activity, and improve behavior in children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). In Study 1, eight high-functioning ASDparticipants were assigned to placebo or experimental groups before 10 weeks of training...

Title of Document: DEVELOPMENT OF THE MU RHYTHM: UNDERSTANDING FUNCTION THROUGH TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH. Ross Edwin Vanderwert, Ph.D. 2012 Directed By: Professor Nathan A. Fox Human Development The incidental discovery of mirror neurons (MN) has renewed interest in motor theories of development and has sparked considerable debate as to the existence and potential function of mirror neurons in hu...

A novel musical instrument and biofeedback device was created using electroencephalogram (EEG) posterior dominant rhythm (PDR) or mu rhythm to control a synthesized piano, which we call the Encephalophone. Alpha-frequency (8-12 Hz) signal power from PDR in the visual cortex or from mu rhythm in the motor cortex was used to create a power scale which was then converted into a musical scale, whic...

Current movement-based brain-computer interfaces (BCI's) utilize spontaneous electroencephalogram (EEG) rhythms associated with movement, such as the mu rhythm, or responses time-locked to movements that are averaged across multiple trials, such as the readiness potential (RP), as control signals. In one study, we report that the mu rhythm is not only modulated by the expression of self-generat...

One model of addiction suggests that neural circuits in the frontal cortex adapt to drug use and become sensitized leading to excessive attribution of incentive salience to drug-associated cues. The present study examined changes associated with cigarette use in the frontal mirror neuron system (MNS) of the human brain, as reflected in mu rhythm responsiveness. Mirror neurons in premotor cortex...

In healthy humans, the cortical brain rhythm shows specific mu (~6-14 Hz) and beta (~18-24 Hz) band patterns in the cases of both real and imaginary motor movements. As cerebellar ataxia is associated with impairment of precise motor movement control as well as motor imagery, ataxia is an ideal model system in which to study the role of the cerebellocortical circuit in rhythm control. We hypoth...