Changes in brain activity due to the sudden apparition of an obstacle during gait

Abstract

This work presents a study of the electroencephalographic (EEG) signals when an obstacle suddenly appears while a subject walks. The main goal is to evaluate how the brain activity changes due to the presence of an obstacle in order to apply this information in the control of a wearable robot to perform lower limb rehabilitation tasks. Different responses were evaluated and the results reveal the existence of a change in the EEG potential when an obstacle appears and the subject reacts immediately to it. The potential has a similar behavior to the early stage of the contingent negativity variation (CNV) which reflects the processing of a warning signal and the anticipation to the upcoming event.