Could the beta rebound in the EEG be suitable to realize a “brain switch”?

Experimental paradigm; a cross was presented from t= 0–6s and, a visual cue together with a short beep at t=2s (top). Time course of beta power changes (mean+SD) during cue-based motor imagery with peri-imagery ERD and post-imagery ERS; time windows (gray vertical bars) used to define classes 1 for ERD and ERS classification, respectively (C) (middle). Class 1 labels were assigned to the EEG segments during two different time windows for ERD detection between 2.5 and 3.5s and ERS detection between 4 and 5s; any other segment was labelled as class 0 (bottom).

Time–frequency maps of all subjects, calculated for the runs #1, #2 and #3 and all 3 runs together. Displayed are only significant band power changes in the ranges 0–7s with 2s prior to cue-onset in the range 6–40Hz. The reference period for ERD/ERS calculation is marked by a gray vertical bar. The colour red indicates significant power decrease (ERD) and blue significant power increase (ERS).

Example of ongoing EEG (Laplacian) (top). Time courses of classifier probability for ERD and ERS detection. A control event is detected every time the class probability exceeds the threshold (dashed line) for a time equal to the dwell time; correct ERD detections are marked with a circle and correct ERS detections with an asterisk (middle). Timing of cue presentation (bottom).