Prof. Gert Pfurtscheller, Austria

Laboratory of Brain-Computer Interface
Institute for Computer Graphics and Vision
Graz University of Technology
Graz, Austria
E-mail: pfurtscheller@tugraz.at

Gert Pfurtscheller is Professor for Brain-Computer Interfaces at the University of Technology in Graz, Austria and Director of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Medical Informatics and Neuroinformatics. He is a graduate of the Graz University of Technology and was visiting Professor at Cape Town University and Vancouver University. He is author of more than 400 scientific articles, 4 books and is a member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

Gert Pfurtscheller is/was partner/co-investigator of the following international research projects in the field of BCI research: Co-Investigator on the project "EEG-based Brain Computer-Interface" supported by the "National Institute of Health" (Grant HD30146), Albany, New York, USA.

Co-Investigator on the project „Direct Brain Interface“ supported by the „National Institute of Health“ (1R01 NS40681-01) in cooperation with the University of Michigan.

Partner of the EU-projects “SIESTA” – A new standard for integrating polygraphic sleep recordings into a comprehensive model of human sleep and its validation in sleep disorders” (BMH4-CT97-204) and “PRESENCIA” Presence: Research Encompassing Sensory Enhancement, Neuroscience and Cognition, with Interactive Applications (IST-2001-37927).

For decades it’s been a great challenge for scientists to realize a direct communication between the brain and a computer. Such a direct communication, also known as a Brain-Computer Interface (BCI), is especially important for patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Scleroses (ALS) to communicate via a spelling device with their environment, for patients with spinal cord injuries to restore e.g. grasping functions and recently also in biofeedback therapy.

Mental activity such as for example thinking about movement of specific body parts (motor imagery), focussing attention to a visual object or mental calculation are not only accompanied by active changes in distributed neural assembles in the brain but can be also measured by electrical potential recordings either non-invasively or invasively. The classical non-invasive method is the recording of the electroencephalogram (EEG) on the intact scalp. Intracranial recordings with either subdural or intracortical electrode arrays belong to the invasive methods.

In the BCI, these recorded brain potentials have to be analyzed and classified on-line and in real-time and transformed into a control signal at the output of the BCI. Beside electrical potentials, also the changes in blood oxygen level measured by real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can be used as an input signal for a BCI. At this time, a BCI is not only used for patients to increase their quality of life but can be also used in multimedia application e.g. for control of navigation in a virtual environment. Recently it was demonstrated that walking in a virtual street is possible, by only imagination of leg/feet movement.

G. Pfurtscheller, Ch. Neuper and N. Birbaumer EEG-based Brain Computer Communications. In: Motor Cortex in Voluntary Movements. Eds. Riehle A.and Vaadia E. pp. 367-401, CRC Press (2005).