Two-dimensional movement control using electrocorticographic signals in humans

We show here that a brain–computer interface (BCI) using electrocorticographic activity (ECoG) and imagined or overt motor tasks enables humans to control a computer cursor in two dimensions. Over a brief training period of 12–36 min, each of five human subjects acquired substantial control of particular ECoG features recorded from several locations over the same hemisphere, and achieved average success rates of 53–73% in a two-dimensional four-target center-out task in which chance accuracy was 25%. Our results support the expectation that ECoG-based BCIs can combine high performance with technical and clinical practicality, and also indicate promising directions for further research.