Progress in technology and application of brain-computer interface / 中国药理学与毒理学杂志

Brain-computer interface (BCI) is a direct communication channel between the brain and a computer or other external devices, providing a new method for human-machine interactions. The main components of BCI include signal acquisition, signal processing and interactive control. Brain signals, such as steady state visually evoked potentials, motion imagery, P300 and hybrid BCI, are usually used in BCI. The signal processing methods are signal preprocessing, feature extraction and classification algorithm. The three classical BCI applications involve the spelling system, motor control system and image searching application. How to improve the information transfer rate, imple-ment real-life applications,and reduce individual differences will the challenges in the future.

Significance of visual electrophysiological techniques in the early diagnosis of glaucoma / 国际眼科杂志(Guoji Yanke Zazhi)

Glaucoma is a group of diseases which can threaten and damage the optic nerve and its visual pathway, leading to visual impairment as a result. Glaucomatous optic neuropathy is a chronic disease accompanied by apoptosis of retinal ganglion cells ( RGCs ) , visual field defect and cupping of optic nerve head. The gold standard in functional glaucoma evaluation is standard automated perimetry ( SAP) , but it is often limited to the subjective feelings of the patients. Still, visual electrophysiological techniques cannot replace the conventional inspection, but with its rapid development, it has provided a new strategy for the early diagnosis of glaucoma as a supplement because it can show changes in amplitude and latency before visual field defect. Here we review three special electroretinograms and multifocal focal visually evoked potentials in the early diagnosis of glaucoma.

Comparative neurophysiology of spatial luminance contrast sensitivity

The luminance contrast sensitivity function has been investigated using behavioral and electrophysiological methods in many vertebrate species. Some features are conserved across species as a shape of the function, but other features, such as the contrast sensitivity peak value, spatial frequency contrast sensitivity peak, and visual acuity have changed. Here, we review contrast sensitivity across different classes of vertebrates, with an emphasis on the frequency contrast sensitivity peak and visual acuity. We also correlate the data obtained from the literature to test the power of the association between visual acuity and the spatial frequency of the contrast sensitivity function peak.