Brain–Computer Interfaces - Index of

376 B.Z. Allison
BCI systems are purchased by patients who need them. Since many patients cannot
afford a BCI system, there have been some instances when a research lab provides
them with a system for free.
The funding sources for both BCI research and equipment purchases are beginning
to change dramatically. Commercial entities such as Mattel, Uncle Milton,
NeuroSky, Emotiv, g.tec, Starlab, and Philips develop and sell BCI systems. These
and other companies will likely focus on different types of BCIs, and will develop
hardware and software that will be sold to individual end users rather than given
freely to research groups. As total sales increase, equipment costs will plummet,
thereby making BCIs more practical for different buyers. The increasing involvement
of industry should also greatly accelerate development of more practical,
wearable, usable, cosmetically appealing hardware systems.
Birbaumer and Sauseng (see chapter “Brain–Computer Interface in Neurorehabilitation”)
argue that insurance companies should be forced to pay for BCI
systems if they are necessary for patients. This is an excellent idea, but will probably
require legislation. In countries with more socialist economies, governments are
urged to consider providing funds for BCIs if needed.
3.2 User Groups Today
Who uses BCIs, and why? Today, most BCI users fall in to one of three categories
(see Table 1):
BCI research scientists and developers: Our main goals are to develop, test,
improve, describe, and disseminate our BCIs and views.
Their friends, family, or colleagues: These users may have similar goals, but
may also be motivated by friendly cajoling or begging.
Research subjects: In addition to some of the reasons above, subjects may be
motivated by cash payment or academic credit.
Most of these people are only BCI users for less than one hour, then never use
any BCI again. Although a few research subjects participate in dozens of training
sessions [15, 45], many BCI subjects participate in only one recording session.
Furthermore, most research subjects do not typically plan on using the BCI after the
research study is complete. As BCIs gain popularity outside of laboratory settings,
some people will use BCIs much more than ever before, creating new opportunities
to study changes in brain activity and develop new BCI paradigms. Similarly, if the
number of BCI users grows to thousands or more, and their raw data is available to
researchers, we could learn a lot more about how different brains learn and adapt.
What about patients? Since most BCI research focuses on helping patients,
shouldn’t they be in this table?