The process by which external stimulation aligns or shapes ongoing neural rhythms.
Neuromodulation
Error-related potential (ErrP)
An event-related EEG response that occurs when a user detects an error, often used to auto-correct or adapt BCI systems.
Brain-Computer Interface
Event marker
Timestamped label inserted into data streams to record task events, responses, or artifacts.
Tools and Infrastructure
Event-related design (fMRI)
Design in which individual trials are modeled separately, enabling fine-grained temporal analysis.
Neuroimaging
Event-related desynchronization (ERD)
A task- or stimulus-locked decrease in power of a specific frequency band, often reflecting local cortical activation (e.g., mu ERD during motor imagery).
Brain-Computer Interface
Event-related potential (ERP)
A time-locked EEG response to a stimulus, used in paradigms like P300 spelling.
Neuroimaging
Event-related synchronization (ERS)
A task- or stimulus-locked increase in band-limited power, often observed after movement or during idling states.
Brain-Computer Interface
Evoked response
Neural activity time-locked to stimulation, used to measure circuit engagement.
Neuromodulation
Executive function
A set of higher-order control processes including planning, inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility.
Cognitive and Mental Health
Experiment tracking
Tools that log hyperparameters, metrics, and artifacts across model training runs.
Tools and Infrastructure
Explainability requirement
Expectations that algorithms provide interpretable outputs for clinicians or regulators.
General
Explantation
Surgical removal of an implanted neural device.
Brain-Computer Interface
Exposure therapy
A treatment that gradually and repeatedly confronts feared stimuli or memories to reduce anxiety or avoidance.
Cognitive and Mental Health
Eye tracking (oculometry)
Measurement of gaze position, fixations, and saccades to study attention, cognition, or neural function.
Tools and Infrastructure
Eye-tracking system
Hardware and software that monitor gaze position, often integrated with neurotech experiments.
Tools and Infrastructure
FAIR data principles
Guidelines stating that data should be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable.
General
Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA)
Method to identify failure risks in devices or systems.
General
False activation
A command triggered when the user did not intend to issue one.
Brain-Computer Interface
False discovery rate (FDR)
The expected proportion of false positives among all significant findings.
Neuroimaging
Family-wise error (FWE) rate
The probability of making at least one false positive across all statistical tests.
Neuroimaging
Fear conditioning
Learning process in which neutral stimuli become associated with threat or fear responses.
Cognitive and Mental Health
Feature extraction
Processing steps converting raw signals into decodable features (e.g., power bands).
Brain-Computer Interface
Feature stability
How consistently a neural feature (band power, ERP, spike pattern) appears across sessions.
Tools and Infrastructure
Feature store
Centralized repository where engineered features are stored, versioned, and served for models.
Tools and Infrastructure
Federated learning
Training ML models across decentralized datasets without sharing raw data.
General
Feedback paradigm
The way users receive visual, auditory, or haptic feedback to refine control.
Brain-Computer Interface
Field map
An image showing local magnetic field inhomogeneities used for distortion correction.
Neuroimaging
Figure-of-eight coil
A common TMS coil shape that focuses stimulation on a relatively small cortical area.
Neuromodulation
File format converter
Tool for transforming neurotech data files between formats (e.g., EDF → BIDS).
Tools and Infrastructure
Firing rate
The average number of action potentials a neuron produces per unit time, commonly used as a decoding feature.
Brain-Computer Interface
Firmware update
Secure patch applied to embedded device software.
General
Flexible electrode array
Soft, bendable electrodes designed to conform to brain tissue and reduce scarring.
Brain-Computer Interface
Flexible polymer electrode array
Soft, compliant electrode arrays designed to reduce inflammation and conform to neural tissue.
Brain-Computer Interface
Focal stimulation
Stimulation designed to target a small, well-defined brain region.
Neuromodulation
Focused ultrasound neuromodulation (FUS)
Use of focused ultrasound to modulate neural activity non-invasively, with or without BBB interaction.
Neuromodulation
Foreign body response (FBR)
Tissue inflammation and scarring that form around implants and affect signals.
Brain-Computer Interface
Fractional anisotropy (FA)
A DTI-derived metric reflecting how directionally constrained water diffusion is in white matter tracts.
Neuroimaging
Frequency band power
The amplitude of neural oscillations within specific frequency ranges (e.g., alpha, beta, gamma).
Brain-Computer Interface
Functional MRI (fMRI)
MRI technique that infers brain activity from changes in blood oxygenation over time.
Neuroimaging
Functional connectivity
Statistical dependencies (e.g., correlations) between activity time courses in different brain regions.
Neuroimaging
Functional electrical stimulation (FES) BCI
BCIs triggering electrical stimulation of muscles or spinal circuits to restore movement.
Brain-Computer Interface
Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS)
Optical imaging that estimates cortical oxygenation changes using near-infrared light at the scalp.
Neuroimaging
Functional neuroimaging
Imaging techniques that measure dynamic brain activity or metabolism (e.g., fMRI, PET, MEG, fNIRS).
Neuroimaging
Functional ultrasound imaging (fUS)
High-resolution imaging that measures cerebral blood flow dynamics using Doppler ultrasound.
Neuroimaging
GAD-7
A 7-item questionnaire used to screen for and monitor generalized anxiety symptoms.
Cognitive and Mental Health
GPU cluster
Computing environment with multiple graphics processing units for accelerating ML and signal processing workloads.
Tools and Infrastructure
Gait analysis
Quantitative assessment of walking patterns to infer motor or neurological status.
Cognitive and Mental Health
Galvanic skin response (GSR)
Changes in skin conductance caused by sympathetic nervous system activity.
Cognitive and Mental Health
Gamma band (γ)
Faster oscillations above ~30 Hz, sometimes linked to local processing, feature binding, or high-level cognition.
Neuroimaging
General linear model (GLM)
A statistical framework used to relate experimental design or regressors to observed neuroimaging signals.
Neuroimaging
Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)
Chronic, excessive worry about multiple life domains, often accompanied by physical tension and restlessness.
Cognitive and Mental Health
Good Clinical Practice (GCP)
Ethical and scientific standards for designing and conducting clinical trials.
General
Graph neural network (GNN)
Deep learning model operating on graph structures, used in connectomic and EEG/MEG analysis.
Tools and Infrastructure
Graphene-based BCI
Brain–computer interface systems that use graphene electrodes to achieve high-resolution, low-noise neural recording with reduced foreign-body response.
Brain-Computer Interface
Graphene-based electrode
Ultra-thin, flexible neural recording electrode made from graphene, offering high conductivity, transparency, and biocompatibility.
Brain-Computer Interface
Grid cell
Entorhinal neuron with a hexagonal firing pattern supporting spatial navigation.
Cognitive and Mental Health
Ground truth labels
Reference annotations considered correct, against which model outputs or algorithms are evaluated.
Tools and Infrastructure
H-coil
A TMS coil geometry designed to stimulate deeper and broader brain regions than figure-of-eight coils.
Neuromodulation
HL7 FHIR integration
Using healthcare interoperability standards to connect neurotech systems with electronic health records.
Tools and Infrastructure
Haptic feedback loop
Closed-loop tactile feedback provided to users to improve BCI control and embodiment.
Brain-Computer Interface
Hardware synchronization
Aligning clocks or trigger lines between devices so signals and stimuli share a common time base.
Tools and Infrastructure
Headstage
Small preamplifier module close to electrodes or sensors that conditions signals before they travel through cables.
Tools and Infrastructure
Heart rate variability (HRV)
Beat-to-beat variability reflecting autonomic regulation and stress load.
Cognitive and Mental Health
Hebbian plasticity
Strengthening of synapses when neuronal firing is correlated (“cells that fire together wire together”).
General
Hemodynamic response function (HRF)
The model describing how neural activity leads to BOLD signal changes in fMRI.
Neuroimaging
Hidden Markov model (HMM)
Sequential model for inferring latent states, used in sleep staging and neural state decoding.
Tools and Infrastructure
High-definition tDCS (HD-tDCS)
tDCS configuration using multiple small electrodes to achieve more focal current distributions.
Neuromodulation
High-frequency stimulation
Stimulation at higher pulse rates (e.g., 100–200 Hz) often associated with symptom suppression.
Neuromodulation
High-gamma activity
Very high frequency activity (e.g., 60–200 Hz) often seen in ECoG and intracortical recordings as a marker of local population firing.
Neuroimaging
High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU)
Focused ultrasound used to lesion or ablate tissue, sometimes applied to movement disorders.
Neuromodulation
High-performance computing (HPC) cluster
Network of powerful machines used to run large-scale simulations or analyses in parallel.
Tools and Infrastructure
Human factors engineering
Designing devices around human capabilities and limitations.
General
Human factors validation
Testing that ensures a device is usable and safe under real-world conditions.
General
Human-centered design
Designing neurotech systems around user needs, limitations, preferences, and context.
General
Human-machine interface (HMI)
Interface enabling communication between humans and digital systems.
General
Hybrid BCI
Systems combining brain signals with other inputs (e.g., eye tracking, EMG) for improved performance.
Brain-Computer Interface
Hybrid cloud architecture
System combining on-premises and cloud infrastructure for performance and compliance.
Tools and Infrastructure
Hyperdirect pathway modulation
Affecting fast cortico–subcortical pathways, often discussed in DBS for movement disorders.
Neuromodulation
Hyperscanning
Simultaneous neuroimaging of two or more people to study social interaction and shared neural dynamics.
Neuroimaging
Hypomania
A less severe, elevated mood state with increased energy and activity, characteristic of bipolar II disorder.
Cognitive and Mental Health
ISO 13485
International standard for medical device quality management.
General
Idle-state detection
Algorithms identifying moments when users do not intend to control the BCI, reducing false activations.
Brain-Computer Interface
Imaging biomarker
A quantitative imaging-derived feature used to indicate disease presence, prognosis, or treatment response.
Neuroimaging
Implant longevity
Expected safe and effective operational lifespan of an implanted BCI.
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