Brain-computer interface (BCI) based stroke rehabilitation: Clinical and physiological effects

Stroke survivors often experience some level of spontaneous recovery during the acute stage and reach a functional plateau after which the upper and lower limb motor recovery is generally slow or stagnant.

In a longitudinal study of stroke patients with moderate to severe arm paresis we investigate both clinical and neuroplastic changes induced by short-time BCI training. Indeed short-term BCI training leads to measurable improvements in paretic arm function. Notably, these clinical gains are accompanied by resting-state connectivity changes within a bilateral network involving motor and premotor regions (Grigoryan et al., 2025).

These findings motivate a follow-up study in which repetitive TMS is applied to modulate the motor network prior to BCI training in stroke patients (Flores-Sandoval et al., ongoing work). This approach aims to test the potential of physiologically informed, targeted interventions.