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Article

Post Hoc Event-Related Potential Analysis of Kinesthetic Motor Imagery-Based Brain-Computer Interface Control of Anthropomorphic Robotic Arms

by
Miltiadis Spanos
1,
Theodora Gazea
2,3,
Vasileios Triantafyllidis
2,3,
Konstantinos Mitsopoulos
3,
Aristidis Vrahatis
1,4,
Maria Hadjinicolaou
1,
Panagiotis D. Bamidis
3 and
Alkinoos Athanasiou
1,2,3,*
1
Bioinformatics & Neuroinformatics, School of Science & Technology, Hellenic Open University, 26331 Patras, Greece
2
Center for Neurosciences & Biomedical Technology (CENEBIT), 54645 Thessaloniki, Greece
3
Medical Physics & Digital Innovation Laboratory, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH), 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
4
Bioinformatics and Human Electrophysiology Laboratory, Department of Informatics, Ionian University, 49100 Corfu, Greece
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Electronics 2025, 14(15), 3106; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics14153106
Submission received: 13 June 2025 / Revised: 26 July 2025 / Accepted: 27 July 2025 / Published: 4 August 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue EEG Analysis and Brain–Computer Interface (BCI) Technology)

Abstract

Kinesthetic motor imagery (KMI), the mental rehearsal of a motor task without its actual performance, constitutes one of the most common techniques used for brain–computer interface (BCI) control for movement-related tasks. The effect of neural injury on motor cortical activity during execution and imagery remains under investigation in terms of activations, processing of motor onset, and BCI control. The current work aims to conduct a post hoc investigation of the event-related potential (ERP)-based processing of KMI during BCI control of anthropomorphic robotic arms by spinal cord injury (SCI) patients and healthy control participants in a completed clinical trial. For this purpose, we analyzed 14-channel electroencephalography (EEG) data from 10 patients with cervical SCI and 8 healthy individuals, recorded through Emotiv EPOC BCI, as the participants attempted to move anthropomorphic robotic arms using KMI. EEG data were pre-processed by band-pass filtering (8–30 Hz) and independent component analysis (ICA). ERPs were calculated at the sensor space, and analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine potential differences between groups. Our results showed no statistically significant differences between SCI patients and healthy control groups regarding mean amplitude and latency (p < 0.05) across the recorded channels at various time points during stimulus presentation. Notably, no significant differences were observed in ERP components, except for the P200 component at the T8 channel. These findings suggest that brain circuits associated with motor planning and sensorimotor processes are not disrupted due to anatomical damage following SCI. The temporal dynamics of motor-related areas—particularly in channels like F3, FC5, and F7—indicate that essential motor imagery (MI) circuits remain functional. Limitations include the relatively small sample size that may hamper the generalization of our findings, the sensor-space analysis that restricts anatomical specificity and neurophysiological interpretations, and the use of a low-density EEG headset, lacking coverage over key motor regions. Non-invasive EEG-based BCI systems for motor rehabilitation in SCI patients could effectively leverage intact neural circuits to promote neuroplasticity and facilitate motor recovery. Future work should include validation against larger, longitudinal, high-density, source-space EEG datasets.
Keywords: brain–computer interface; cortical plasticity; electroencephalography; event-related potentials; kinesthetic motor imagery; motor imagery; sensorimotor network; spinal cord injury brain–computer interface; cortical plasticity; electroencephalography; event-related potentials; kinesthetic motor imagery; motor imagery; sensorimotor network; spinal cord injury

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Spanos, M.; Gazea, T.; Triantafyllidis, V.; Mitsopoulos, K.; Vrahatis, A.; Hadjinicolaou, M.; Bamidis, P.D.; Athanasiou, A. Post Hoc Event-Related Potential Analysis of Kinesthetic Motor Imagery-Based Brain-Computer Interface Control of Anthropomorphic Robotic Arms. Electronics 2025, 14, 3106. https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics14153106

AMA Style

Spanos M, Gazea T, Triantafyllidis V, Mitsopoulos K, Vrahatis A, Hadjinicolaou M, Bamidis PD, Athanasiou A. Post Hoc Event-Related Potential Analysis of Kinesthetic Motor Imagery-Based Brain-Computer Interface Control of Anthropomorphic Robotic Arms. Electronics. 2025; 14(15):3106. https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics14153106

Chicago/Turabian Style

Spanos, Miltiadis, Theodora Gazea, Vasileios Triantafyllidis, Konstantinos Mitsopoulos, Aristidis Vrahatis, Maria Hadjinicolaou, Panagiotis D. Bamidis, and Alkinoos Athanasiou. 2025. "Post Hoc Event-Related Potential Analysis of Kinesthetic Motor Imagery-Based Brain-Computer Interface Control of Anthropomorphic Robotic Arms" Electronics 14, no. 15: 3106. https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics14153106

APA Style

Spanos, M., Gazea, T., Triantafyllidis, V., Mitsopoulos, K., Vrahatis, A., Hadjinicolaou, M., Bamidis, P. D., & Athanasiou, A. (2025). Post Hoc Event-Related Potential Analysis of Kinesthetic Motor Imagery-Based Brain-Computer Interface Control of Anthropomorphic Robotic Arms. Electronics, 14(15), 3106. https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics14153106

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