Prof. Dr. Michael Tangermann (Radboud-Universität Nijmegen) wird im Rahmen des Promotionsseminars der Abteilung Informatik und Data Science am 27. Februar 2026 in Bochum einen Vortrag zum Thema “Data Driven Neurotechnology” halten.

Vortrag: Data Driven Neurotechnology

Brain signal recordings, as obtained by the electroencephalogram (EEG), are rather difficult to interpret even for human domain specialists. However, machine learning approaches allow for the extraction of information from these noisy and highly variable signals quasi-instantaneously. This great opportunity can be utilized to drive neurotechnological systems such as brain-computer interface systems. Here, the extracted information can inform about the task executed by a study participant or a patient, monitor the ongoing brain state, or even be helpful in controlling brain implants. 

In my talk, I will present work from our lab, where a brain-computer interface system was used to support the rehabilitation training after stroke. The patients our team worked with were in a chronic state, and suffered from diverse language deficits, as the stroke had damaged (parts of) the language network in the left brain hemisphere. I will introduce the signal processing and machine learning methods necessary for decoding the brain states for this application, explain the patient's tasks and the outcome of this novel form of rehabilitation training.

In the following discussion, we can brainstorm about potential application fields, chances and limitations of this data-driven neurotechnology.