Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) delivers electrical impulses to the vagus nerve — the longest cranial nerve, running from the brainstem through the neck to the thorax and abdomen — to modulate neural circuits involved in epilepsy, depression, inflammation, and motor recovery.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a non-invasive brain-stimulation technique that uses rapidly changing magnetic fields generated by a coil placed on the scalp to induce electric currents in underlying cortical tissue.
Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) delivers weak direct electrical current (typically 1-2 mA) to the brain through electrodes placed on the scalp.
Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) applies sinusoidal electrical currents to the scalp at specific frequencies, with the goal of entraining endogenous brain oscillations.
Steady-state visually evoked potentials (SSVEPs) are periodic neural responses generated in the visual cortex when a person gazes at a visual stimulus flickering at a constant frequency.
Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) delivers electrical pulses to the dorsal columns or dorsal root entry zones of the spinal cord via implanted epidural electrodes.
Spiking neural networks (SNNs) are computational models that process information using discrete spikes — binary events transmitted between units at specific times — mirroring the fundamental signaling mechanism of biological neurons.
Seizure detection and prediction systems use neural signal analysis to identify epileptic seizures in real time or forecast their occurrence before clinical onset.
Retinal prostheses are neural-implants designed to restore visual perception in individuals with outer retinal degenerative diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration.
Peripheral nerve interfaces are devices that establish electrical communication with nerves outside the brain and spinal cord, typically targeting motor and sensory nerves in the limbs.
The P300 is a positive-going event-related potential (ERP) component that peaks approximately 300 milliseconds after an infrequent or task-relevant stimulus is presented within a stream of frequent stimuli.
Optogenetics is a biological technique that uses light to control neurons that have been genetically modified to express light-sensitive ion channels (opsins).
Neurotechnology ethics encompasses the moral, social, and legal questions raised by technologies that record, stimulate, or interface with the human nervous system.
Neurorehabilitation is the medical process of aiding recovery from nervous system injury or disease, encompassing therapeutic strategies for stroke, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, and neurodegenerative conditions.
Neuroimaging refers to the set of techniques used to visualize brain structure and function, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), functional MRI (fMRI), positron emission tomography (PET), magnetoencephalography (MEG), eeg, and optical imaging methods.
Neurofeedback is a form of biofeedback in which real-time measurements of brain activity are presented to the user, enabling them to learn voluntary self-regulation of specific neural signals.
Neural decoding refers to the computational process of extracting information about stimuli, intentions, or cognitive states from recorded neural activity.
Magnetoencephalography (MEG) measures the weak magnetic fields generated by electrical currents in neuronal assemblies, providing a non-invasive window into brain activity with millisecond temporal resolution.
Local field potentials (LFPs) are extracellular voltage fluctuations recorded from within brain tissue, reflecting the aggregate synaptic activity, dendritic processing, and subthreshold membrane oscillations of neuronal populations near the electrode tip.
Intracortical microstimulation (ICMS) delivers small electrical currents through microelectrodes implanted directly in the cerebral cortex to activate nearby neurons with high spatial and temporal precision.
Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a non-invasive optical neuroimaging technique that measures changes in cerebral oxygenation by detecting the differential absorption of near-infrared light by oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) measures brain activity indirectly by detecting changes in blood oxygenation — the blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal — that accompany neural activity.
Functional electrical stimulation (FES) applies controlled electrical currents to peripheral nerves or muscles to produce functional movements in individuals with paralysis or motor impairment.
Foundation models for neural data are large-scale, pre-trained models designed to learn general representations from brain recordings — spanning EEG, ECoG, fMRI, and intracortical spike trains — that can then be fine-tuned or adapted for specific downstream tasks.
Focused ultrasound stimulation-and-neuromodulation uses converging beams of low-intensity acoustic energy to non-invasively modulate neural activity in targeted brain regions.
Endovascular brain-computer interfaces are neural recording and stimulation devices implanted through the vascular system rather than via open craniotomy.
Electrocorticography (ECoG) records electrical activity directly from the surface of the cerebral cortex using electrode grids or strips placed subdurally.
Deep brain-stimulation (DBS) involves the surgical implantation of electrodes into specific subcortical brain structures, delivering continuous or patterned electrical stimulation to modulate neural circuit activity.
Cochlear implants are neural-implants that restore auditory perception in individuals with severe-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss by directly stimulating the auditory nerve.
Closed-loop neurotechnology refers to systems that record neural or physiological signals, process them in real time, and use the decoded information to adjust stimulation, feedback, or device output on a moment-to-moment basis.
A brain-spine interface is a closed-loop neuroprosthetic system that creates a wireless digital bridge between the brain and the spinal cord, restoring volitional control of movement after paralysis.
Brain stimulation encompasses a family of techniques that modulate neural activity by delivering energy — electrical, magnetic, acoustic, or optical — to brain tissue.
Bioelectronic medicine is an emerging therapeutic paradigm that uses implanted or external devices to modulate electrical signaling in the peripheral nervous system to treat disease.
Neural Noise