Brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) are the only currently viable means of communication for many individuals suffering from locked-in syndrome (LIS) – profound paralysis that results in severely limited or total loss of voluntary motor control. By inferring user intent from task-modulated neurological signals and then translating those intentions into actions, BMIs can enable LIS patients increased autonomy. Significant effort has been devoted to developing BMIs over the last three decades, but only recently have the combined advances in hardware, software, and methodology provided a setting to realize the translation of this research from the lab into practical, real-world applications. Non-invasive methods, such as those based on the electroencephalogram (EEG), offer the only feasible solution for practical use at the moment, but suffer from limited communication rates and susceptibility to environmental noise. Maximization of the efficacy of each decoded intention, therefore, is critical. This thesis addresses the challenge of implementing a BMI intended for practical use with a focus on an autonomous assistive robot application. First an adaptive EEG- based BMI strategy is developed that relies upon code-modulated visual evoked potentials (c-VEPs) to infer user intent. As voluntary gaze control is typically not available to LIS patients, c-VEP decoding methods under both gaze-dependent and gaze- independent scenarios are explored. Adaptive decoding strategies in both offline and online task conditions are evaluated, and a novel approach to assess ongoing online BMI performance is introduced. Next, an adaptive neural network-based system for assistive robot control is presented that employs exploratory learning to achieve the coordinated motor planning needed to navigate toward, reach for, and grasp distant objects. Exploratory learning, or “learning by doing,” is an unsupervised method in which the robot is able to build an internal model for motor planning and coordination based on real-time sensory inputs received during exploration. Finally, a software platform intended for practical BMI application use is developed and evaluated. Using online c-VEP methods, users control a simple 2D cursor control game, a basic augmentative and alternative communication tool, and an assistive robot, both manually and via high-level goal-oriented commands.

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Episodic memory is processed by the extended hippocampal system, and pathology or injury to individual components of this system can result in deficits in spatial learning and memory (Aggleton & Brown, 1999). Extensive research regarding spatial memory has been carried out on the anterior thalamic nuclei, a component of the extended hippocampal system, but the contribution of the laterodorsal thalamic nuclei, an adjacent structure with similar neural connections, is less clear. The purpose of the present study was to compare the effects of selective anterior thalamic nuclei lesions (AT) with selective laterodorsal thalamic nuclei lesions (LD) in a novel land-based spatial reference memory task. This assessed the use of proximal and distal visual cues on the propensity to use allocentric or egocentric navigation strategies to locate a specific place in space, as well as the temporal evolution of these navigation strategies. AT lesion impairments were observed in the acquisition trials in both proximal and distal cue conditions. LD lesion rats were unimpaired in the acquisition trials in both visual cue conditions. Across the probe trials, lesion effects were not observed when tested for general navigation, egocentric or allocentric strategies, and there was no clear improvement in performance over the four weeks of probe trials. However, performance was consistently poorer for all groups when proximal cues facilitated navigation compared to distal cues. Performance differences related to cue proximity may reflect the influence of motion parallax, the perceived displacement rate of visual cues. The absence of lesion effects across probes were thought to be due to the preferential use of cued navigation, which was reliant on a single salient beacon, and the lack of integration between cued and place navigation, which was reliant on the formation of a spatial representation.

The basal ganglia (BG) are a group of brain nuclei situated deep in the cerebral hemispheres. While BG were primarily associated with motor functions, in recent years there has been an increasing evidence that BG are also significantly involved in a wide range of non-motor functions. This work focused on some of the non-motor symptoms associated with two typical basal ganglia disorders: Parkinson's disease (PD) and Huntington's disease (HD). The first study concerned spatial navigation impairment in patients with HD. Their spatial navigation skills were tested using the Blue Velvet Arena, technique evaluating spatial navigation in real space, capable to selectively differentiate between two components of spatial navigation - allocentric (environment-oriented) and egocentric (self-oriented). Allocentric navigation is linked to hippocampal function, whereas egocentric navigation is usually associated with striatum, a structure predominantly affected in HD. We found that spatial navigation is not significantly affected in the early stages of HD and that in more advanced stages, when spatial navigation is already impaired, there is no significant difference between allocentric and egocentric navigation impairment. We speculate that the striatal involvement does not contribute to the impairment of the...