Brain–Computer Interfaces: Recent Advances, Challenges, and Future Directions

Editorial: Global excellence in brain-computer interfaces: Europe

“…BCI applications and use case scenarios are diverse but still constrained to several application domains: replacing functions that were lost due to injury or disease [e.g., communication in severely disabled (Savić et al, 2021 ; Vansteensel et al, 2023 )]; restoring the lost functions [e.g., though controlled electrical stimulation of muscles in paralysis (Benabid et al, 2019 )]; improving affected functions [e.g., BCI-based therapeutic interventions post-stroke (Nojima et al, 2022 )]; enhancing the functions [e.g., neuromodulation of attention, memory, workload, motor skills (Sciaraffa et al, 2022 ; Novičić and Savić, 2023 )]; and using BCI technology as research tools to study brain functions (Brunner et al, 2015 ). BCIs may not only serve the medical field and healthcare and could be applied in other areas, such as entertainment, gaming, education, ergonomics, marketing, and more (Falk et al, 2023 ; Soekadar et al, 2023 ).…”

“…Nevertheless, BCIs are a rapidly evolving technology with the potential to revolutionize human-machine interaction, a pursuit embraced by an increasing number of startup companies utilizing various technologies, including: sensors, signal processing methods, machine learning algorithms, and devices, or software applications designed for control (Soekadar et al, 2023).BCI applications and use case scenarios are diverse but still constrained to several application domains: replacing functions that were lost due to injury or disease [e.g., communication in severely disabled (Savić et al, 2021;Vansteensel et al, 2023)]; restoring the lost functions [e.g., though controlled electrical stimulation of muscles in paralysis (Benabid et al, 2019)]; improving affected functions [e.g., BCI-based therapeutic interventions post-stroke (Nojima et al, 2022)]; enhancing the functions [e.g., neuromodulation of attention, memory, workload, motor skills (Sciaraffa et al, 2022; Novičić and Savić, 2023)]; and using BCI technology as research tools to study brain functions (Brunner et al, 2015). BCIs may not only serve the medical field and healthcare and could be applied in other areas, such as entertainment, gaming, education, ergonomics, marketing, and more (Falk et al, 2023;Soekadar et al, 2023).This Research Topic comprises papers addressing trending topics relevant to the BCI field, such as the state of the art and future directions of BCIs for rehabilitation, feature extraction methods for BCI applications, home-based BCI intervention for pain treatment, theoretical models of decision-making in BCI applications, systems applicable in hybrid BCIs for neuroergonomics, electrophysiological biomarkers for early diagnosis of neurological diseases, and the exploration of cognitive mechanisms involved in humancomputer interaction. All of these topics are closely related to innovative approaches and applications of BCI technologies.…”