The EEGLAB News #15
Maryam Mahmoudi, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Associate, University of Minnesota
Postdoctoral Associate Maryam Mahmoudi, Ph.D., came to this EEGLAB 2022 workshop to learn EEGLAB basics, but she had an additional reason: To network. “One of my goals is to hopefully find a connection with someone at the workshop who has BCI and EEGLAB technical skills so that we can collaborate as a team,” she explains. “At the University of Minnesota, I am trying to start a BCI project for people who have intellectual and physical disabilities, who cannot communicate verbally. We are hoping to use BCI to recognize brain signals that might be associated with specific words. We would then try to translate the signals to an output so that people can understand what the person is attending to or possibly trying to say.” This idea, she explains, is challenging because little work has been done in this area.
Dr. Mahmoudi hopes that her study (and others) will eventually help improve the quality of life for people who have intellectual and physical disabilities. “It is their right to be able to communicate their needs,” she says with conviction. “There is a spectrum. Even for people who are verbal, there are still some concepts that they cannot express. That leads to frustration. Many of us have experienced that,” she says. “And studies have shown that in those who are unable to speak or express their needs, that frustration can lead to a higher rate of self-injury. So I thought, if we can facilitate this communication, it could help decrease negativity, and improve their feelings and the quality of their lives.” It is this path that led her to UC San Diego. “At this EEGLAB Workshop, I feel like everybody has the exact expertise that I need – like a piece of the puzzle to help make the team complete.”