Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering最新文献

{"title":"A user-friendly ear-EEG-based brain-computer interface using text sequence stimulation","authors":"Xiaoyang Li,&nbsp;Zhuoran Xu,&nbsp;Bowen Li,&nbsp;Yijun Wang,&nbsp;Xiaorong Gao","doi":"10.1016/j.bbe.2026.10.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bbe.2026.10.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Ear-EEG-based brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) provide improved wearability and comfort compared to traditional scalp-EEG systems. However, their performance is constrained by low signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) and high rates of BCI illiteracy under conventional luminance-modulated steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) paradigms.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>This study introduces a text sequence stimulation paradigm to address these limitations. Using offline frequency-sweeping experiments across 4–8 Hz, we identified optimal stimulus parameters (4.6–6.8 Hz with 0.25π phase shifts) and integrated them into a 12-target BCI system. We further conducted online experiments to compare the response characteristics and real-time spelling performance between the proposed text sequence stimulation and conventional luminance stimulation.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Comparative experiments with 14 participants demonstrated that text sequence stimulation achieved an average information transfer rate (ITR) of 44.59 ± 10.50 bits/min, representing a 76.18% higher ITR than the tested luminance stimulation implementation. Notably, 13 of the 14 participants achieved at least 70% accuracy with text sequence stimulation, while the remaining participant achieved 69.17% (mean: 86.37 ± 9.61%). In comparison, seven participants achieved less than 70% accuracy under luminance stimulation.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>Text sequence stimulation received more favorable short term subjective ratings than luminance stimulation. The online results indicate its potential as a high performance and user friendly paradigm for ear-EEG BCIs. However, because the two implementations differed in stimulus content and stimulation parameters, further studies with matched control conditions and larger samples are needed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55381,"journal":{"name":"Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering","volume":"46 4","pages":"Pages 696-706"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149161023","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Online identification for characterizing renal pressure–flow dynamics during ex vivo rabbit kidney NMP: A proof-of-concept study","authors":"Shiwei Wang,&nbsp;Junwei Jiang,&nbsp;Jiang Zhang,&nbsp;Jie Hou,&nbsp;Hanlin Wang,&nbsp;Xiaolei Chen,&nbsp;Haowen Luo,&nbsp;Shutong Bai,&nbsp;Daidi Zhong,&nbsp;Pan Yang","doi":"10.1016/j.bbe.2026.09.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bbe.2026.09.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div><strong>Objective</strong>Ex vivo normothermic machine perfusion (NMP) supports kidney preservation and assessment, but conventional measurements mainly describe operating-point or endpoint conditions. This proof-of-concept study examined whether controlled flow perturbation and online system identification can characterize renal pressure–flow dynamics during rabbit kidney NMP.</div><div><strong>Methods</strong>Three isolated rabbit kidneys (<span><math><mrow><mi>n</mi><mo>=</mo><mn>3</mn></mrow></math></span>) were perfused on a custom NMP platform. Pseudo-random binary sequence perturbations were applied to nominal pump-commanded perfusion flow, with renal arterial pressure as the output. Second-, third-, and fourth-order transfer-function models were identified using recursive least squares with adaptive multiple forgetting factors (RLS-MFF). Chronological online tracking was assessed using FIT and RMSE; fixed training-end models were evaluated using AIC/BIC, residual autocorrelation, and Ljung–Box testing. Parameter trajectories and frequency responses were also examined.</div><div><strong>Results</strong>Online adaptive tracking accuracy increased with model order. For the selected third-order structure, online-evaluation FIT ranged from 84.81% to 86.00%, with a mean RMSE of 1.48 mmHg. Fourth-order models achieved the highest FIT and lowest RMSE but required two additional coefficients. AIC/BIC favored the third-order model in two records, while both third- and fourth-order structures satisfied the primary 10-lag Ljung–Box criterion in two of three records.</div><div><strong>Conclusion</strong>Controlled hydraulic perturbation and adaptive online identification provided kidney-specific pressure–flow dynamic descriptors during rabbit kidney NMP. The third-order model offered a parsimonious common structure across records. With only three kidneys and no independent kidney-quality reference outcome, the findings demonstrate methodological feasibility rather than validated organ assessment.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55381,"journal":{"name":"Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering","volume":"46 4","pages":"Pages 676-695"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149161024","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The influence of micro-implant assisted T-loop on closing interdental space based on indirect action: a finite element analysis","authors":"Liang Yao,&nbsp;Jin-Gang Jiang,&nbsp;Cheng-Lei Zhang,&nbsp;Yuan-Ming Zhang,&nbsp;Yong-De Zhang,&nbsp;Jing-Chao Wang,&nbsp;Shan Zhou,&nbsp;Yi Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.bbe.2026.06.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bbe.2026.06.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The synergistic mechanical and biomechanical mechanisms of mini-implant anchorage combined with T-loops for interdental space closure remain insufficiently explored, with most researches focusing on isolated components. To address this, this research established micro-implant assisted T-loop (MIATL) models with variable parameters based on a clinically derived, complete mandibular reconstruction. An indirect finite element analysis (FEA) strategy was developed to decouple the analysis, overcoming the inherent limitation of directly simulating the dynamic interaction between the deforming appliance and the biological system. Mechanical FEA revealed that T-loop restoring force is positively correlated with archwire elastic modulus, cross-sectional dimensions, and horizontal arm length, but negatively correlated with vertical arm length and gap distance. MIATL provided enhanced anchorage, with its force positively correlated with implant height and trigonometrically related to the traction hook distance. Biomechanical FEA confirmed that tooth movement directly correlates with the applied force, with MIATL introducing a crown-root intrusive component. Safety was validated by periodontal ligament (PDL) stress analysis: the maximum stress concentration at the mesial root of No. 46 remained below the critical 26 kPa threshold. This PDL stress was positively correlated with micro-implant diameter and length, and negatively correlated with implantation depth. This work provides a quantitative framework for optimizing personalized orthodontic design, advances digital treatment planning, and resolves a key FEA limitation in simulating the complete orthodontic force pathway from appliance deformation to tooth movement.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55381,"journal":{"name":"Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering","volume":"46 3","pages":"Pages 515-536"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148527178","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A framework based on information dynamics to assess and dissect complex cardiovascular interactions across pathophysiological states","authors":"Stefano Cimignolo,&nbsp;Chiara Barà,&nbsp;Riccardo Pernice,&nbsp;Luca Faes,&nbsp;Giandomenico Nollo,&nbsp;Michela Masè","doi":"10.1016/j.bbe.2026.07.003","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bbe.2026.07.003","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The assessment of cardiovascular dynamics from heart period (RR) and systolic arterial pressure (SAP) time series requires analytical tools capable of capturing the complexity and nonlinearity of the underlying regulatory mechanisms and the directionality of their interactions. This work presented and tested a methodological framework combining Mutual Information Rate (MIR) with multiple surrogate data analysis to quantify and statistically validate complexity, causality, and nonlinearity in cardiovascular dynamics. Specifically, MIR was estimated through a model-free nearest-neighbor approach and decomposed into measures of complexity (i.e., entropy rate) and causality (i.e., transfer entropy). The capability of the method to characterize cardiovascular regulation was evaluated across young normotensive healthy subjects, older healthy individuals, and post-acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients, undergoing an orthostatic stress test. In healthy young subjects, orthostatic stress induced the expected reduction in cardiovascular entropy rate and nonlinear coupling, reflecting a regulated baroreflex response. In contrast, older adults and post-AMI patients exhibited altered dynamics already at rest and lacked the adaptive modulation observed in the young group. These results demonstrated the potential of MIR decomposition, supported by surrogate analysis, as a robust framework to characterize the modulation of cardiovascular control mechanisms in response to orthostatic stress and their alterations across pathophysiological conditions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55381,"journal":{"name":"Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering","volume":"46 3","pages":"Pages 608-618"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148736246","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The asymmetry of deceleration input into the heart rate transitions - a study over healthy subjects in head up tilt","authors":"Rafał Pawłowski,&nbsp;Paweł Zalewski,&nbsp;Katarzyna Buszko","doi":"10.1016/j.bbe.2026.07.004","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bbe.2026.07.004","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper is focused on the Heart Rate Asymmetry (HRA) issue – a still insufficiently understood feature of Heart Rate Variability (HRV). We compared the conventional methods of HRA metrics (Porta Index, Guzik Index, Ehlers Index and Slope Index) and introduced a new direct measure of HRA: the Deceleration Input (DI) into the transitions between heart rate accelerations and decelerations. The study conducted on 151 healthy males undergoing head-up tilt allowed deepened cognition of HRA, HRV and relations in between them. 60.3% of the studied heart rate signals were asymmetric in supine (assessed by DI). Moreover, different types of time irreversibility in human heart rate was observed by analyzing the distance between consecutive points on Poincaré plot. Non-linear relations between time- and frequency domain HRV metrics have been measured. The correlation between asymmetry indices gives deeper insight into this phenomenon and indicates that the nature of the HRA is observable not only in the global count of heart rate accelerations and decelerations, but also in the specific dynamics of transitions between them. The DI index outperforms most of other HRA metrics in resistance to the outliers in signal.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55381,"journal":{"name":"Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering","volume":"46 3","pages":"Pages 593-607"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148738719","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Multi-scale shape-aware diffusion models for retinal biomarkers segmentation in OCT images","authors":"Hao Sun,&nbsp;Xiaoming Liu,&nbsp;Ying Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.bbe.2026.07.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bbe.2026.07.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Retinal biomarker segmentation in optical coherence tomography (OCT) images can provide critical pathomorphological indicators for ocular and systemic disease progression, aiding clinicians in diagnosis. However, retinal biomarker segmentation remains challenging due to the large variations in biomarker scale and shape, as well as the presence of noise and artifacts in OCT images. To address these challenges, we propose a multi-scale shape-aware network based on a <strong>Diff</strong>usion model for <strong>R</strong>etinal <strong>B</strong>iomarker <strong>Seg</strong>mentation (DiffRBSeg). This framework incorporates three novel components specifically tailored for retinal biomarker segmentation: the <strong>C</strong>ross-<strong>A</strong>ttention <strong>F</strong>usion <strong>M</strong>odule (CAFM), the <strong>W</strong>avelet <strong>E</strong>nhancement <strong>M</strong>odule (WEM), and the <strong>D</strong>ynamic <strong>D</strong>eformable <strong>C</strong>onvolution <strong>M</strong>odule (DDCM). Specifically, we first propose CAFM, which employs cross-transformer blocks to establish cross-feature global contextual information. This module is designed to promote global information interaction and fusion between the conditional input and noise representation, thereby guiding the network to focus on key regions. In addition, we design WEM to suppress interference and enhance the texture details of features. By incorporating wavelet transforms, this module interacts with multi-scale wavelet-domain features to refine representations and improve feature expressiveness. Furthermore, the proposed DDCM uses timestep-adaptive dynamic weighting to fuse multi-scale deformable convolution blocks, enabling the capture of diverse morphological characteristics of biomarkers and producing more accurate shapes and boundaries. Comprehensive evaluation on two clinical datasets demonstrates that our method achieves superior performance compared with existing methods on the evaluated datasets.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55381,"journal":{"name":"Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering","volume":"46 3","pages":"Pages 568-582"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148527176","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Physiology-guided artificial intelligence digital twins for simulating glucose dynamics in type 2 diabetes","authors":"Valentina Roquemen-Echeverri,&nbsp;Clara Escorihuela-Altaba,&nbsp;Taisa Kushner,&nbsp;Peter G. Jacobs,&nbsp;Jose Garcia-Tirado,&nbsp;Clara Mosquera-Lopez","doi":"10.1016/j.bbe.2026.08.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bbe.2026.08.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div><strong>Background:</strong> Metabolic simulators help accelerate the development of diabetes technologies, but existing mechanistic models for type 2 diabetes (T2D) are difficult to individualize and provide limited explanation of the complex interplay between physiology and available treatments. <strong>Methods:</strong> First, we trained NeuralOGTT, a neural network state-space model that replicates glucose-insulin dynamics during the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) in T2D. Next, we determined the minimal model architecture using a variance-based sensitivity analysis. Finally, we created digital twins (DT-NeuralOGTT) by adding auxiliary sub-networks to the NeuralOGTT trained using individuals data from a free-living observational study (N=38, age: 50 ± 10 years; 27 females; 1 high risk of diabetes, 9 pre-T2D, and 28 T2D). We simulated study scenarios and assessed the digital twins ability to replicate real-world glucose outcomes: time in range (TIR,<span><math><mrow><mn>70</mn><mo>−</mo><mn>180</mn></mrow></math></span> mg/dL), time in tight range (TITR,<span><math><mrow><mn>70</mn><mo>−</mo><mn>140</mn></mrow></math></span> mg/dL), time below range (TBR, &lt; 70 mg/dL), and time above range (TAR, &gt; 180 mg/dL). <strong>Results:</strong> NeuralOGTT replicated glucose dynamics during OGTTs. Personalized DT-NeuralOGTT enabled generalization under free-living conditions across 12-h simulations, achieving simulated glucose outcomes that are statistically identical to observed outcomes: TIR: 91.8 (95% CI:82.2–96.0)% vs. 92.1 (95% CI:83.5–95.8)%, TITR: 56.0 (95% CI:36.6–77.4)% vs. 59.3 (95% CI:48.7–76.4)%, TAR: 6.3 (95% CI:1.6–15.8)% vs. 7.4 (95% CI:3.8–15.7)%, and TBR: 0.5 (95% CI:0.0–1.0)% vs. 0.1 (95% CI:0.1–0.2)%. <strong>Conclusion:</strong> NeuralOGTT models glucose–insulin dynamics using a structure that preserves explainability while requiring small amounts of training data. DT-NeuralOGTT incorporates individual variability to better capture dynamics in pre-T2D and T2D. Code available: <span><span>https://github.com/mosqueralopez/T2DSim_AI</span><svg><path></path></svg></span></div></div>","PeriodicalId":55381,"journal":{"name":"Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering","volume":"46 3","pages":"Pages 619-635"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148769863","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The effect of endplate lesions on lumbar disc degeneration and the mitigating potential of traction intervention: a finite element analysis","authors":"Liang-dong Zheng,&nbsp;Ting Ying,&nbsp;Xiao-wu Yan,&nbsp;Xin-wei Shi,&nbsp;Kai Zhang,&nbsp;Rui Zhu","doi":"10.1016/j.bbe.2026.06.003","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bbe.2026.06.003","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study aims to simulate the process of disc degeneration induced by endplate lesions, quantify the effect of lesion type and severity on disc biomechanical response, and explore the potential of traction intervention in mitigating degenerative changes. A finite element model of the lumbar disc was constructed based on cell-activity coupled mechano-electrochemical mixture theory. Nutrient concentrations, cell density, glycosaminoglycan (GAG) content, water content, and tissue deformation within the disc were predicted under different endplate lesions (endplate calcification and Schmorl's nodes). The impact of traction loadings (100 N, 200 N, and 300 N) on the disc was investigated. The results showed that endplate lesion worsened nutrient concentrations, triggering cell death, which over time led to decreased GAG content, ultimately resulting in tissue shrinkage and a reduction in water content. With increasing endplate lesion severity, GAG content, water content, and volume ratio decreased, while disc height loss and disc radial deformation increased. Moreover, traction intervention increased the minimum glucose concentration, reduced the relative critical volume, and enhanced GAG content in a load-dependent linear manner (R² &gt; 0.93). This study characterizes the process of disc degeneration induced by endplate lesions, highlighting the significance of endplate integrity in maintaining disc health. A dose-response relationship exists between the severity of endplate lesions and the degree of disc degeneration, with endplate calcification appearing more detrimental than Schmorl's nodes. Furthermore, traction intervention may be effective in mitigating the progression of endplate lesion-induced disc degeneration.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55381,"journal":{"name":"Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering","volume":"46 3","pages":"Pages 552-567"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148527204","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A postural balance assessment method based on plantar three-point support force information measurement and its effectiveness verification","authors":"Baoliang Chen,&nbsp;Shanshan Hu,&nbsp;Jingsong Mu,&nbsp;Yong Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.bbe.2026.07.002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bbe.2026.07.002","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Plantar force distribution is a critical factor in assessing balance control. This paper proposed a novel balance assessment method based on the force adjustment volume (FAV) of plantar force and preliminarily validated its effectiveness through comprehensive testing. We recruited 27 young adults and 39 elderly adults to perform stance trials under three balance conditions: double-leg stance with eyes closed, double-leg stance with eyes open, and single-leg stance with eyes open. The partition measurement of plantar force was completed using a corresponding three-partition distributed force platform (3P-DFP). After defining and solving FAV variables, we examined their ability to distinguish among the three different balance conditions. A correlation analysis was performed between FAV variables and the gold standard center of pressure (CoP) variables to validate the effectiveness of FAV variables. Furthermore, the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was used to compare the reliability of FAV variables and CoP variables. The results showed that FAV variables could distinguish the three different balance conditions (<em>p</em> &lt; 0.01) and were significantly correlated with CoP variables (<em>p</em> &lt; 0.01). Compared with classic CoP variables, the reliability of the FAV variables exhibited certain advantages, particularly in the medial-lateral directions. These findings demonstrate that FAV-based assessment offers a promising alternative that warrants further validation for evaluating balance control. The effectiveness of 3P-DFP as a new force plate posturography was preliminarily verified.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55381,"journal":{"name":"Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering","volume":"46 3","pages":"Pages 583-592"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148635688","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Low-frequency textured Gabor flicker enhances neural entrainment and visual comfort for brain-computer interface control","authors":"Jules Gomel,&nbsp;Marie-Constance Corsi,&nbsp;Frédéric Dehais","doi":"10.1016/j.bbe.2026.06.002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bbe.2026.06.002","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) are widely used in cognitive neuroscience and brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), but the visual discomfort induced by repetitive luminance flicker limits their usability, particularly in multi-target settings due to strong peripheral distraction. Textured flicker composed of Gabor patches has been proposed as a more comfortable alternative, but its suitability for SSVEP paradigms and its frequency-dependent impact on neural entrainment remain unclear. Here, we directly compared textured Gabor-based flicker and classical luminance flicker using a frequency sweep followed by a multi-class SSVEP BCI task. In Session 1 (<span><math><mrow><mi>N</mi><mo>=</mo><mn>24</mn></mrow></math></span>), we measured SSVEP signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), inter-trial coherence (ITC), and subjective comfort across 13 stimulation frequencies (3-18 Hz). Gabor-based textures elicited higher SNR and ITC than plain flicker at low frequencies (3-9 Hz), whereas plain flicker produced stronger and more phase-consistent responses at higher frequencies (12-18 Hz), revealing a robust crossover in entrainment. Across almost all frequencies, Gabor stimuli were rated as more comfortable. Based on these results, we defined a low-frequency Gabor-optimized band (5-7 Hz) and a higher plain-optimized band (14-16 Hz). In Session 2 (<span><math><mrow><mi>N</mi><mo>=</mo><mn>18</mn></mrow></math></span>), these bands were used in a five-class offline SSVEP BCI. Classification accuracy was highest (Gabor: 95.7% at 5-7 Hz; plain: 98.1% at 14-16 Hz) when each stimulus type was used in its optimal band and decreased markedly when stimulus type and frequency band were mismatched. Gabor stimuli were consistently rated as more comfortable and nearly imperceptible in peripheral vision. Together, these findings establish textured Gabor flicker as a comfortable and effective alternative to luminance flicker for low-frequency SSVEP paradigms. A demonstration of the stimuli is provided in Supplementary Video 1.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55381,"journal":{"name":"Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering","volume":"46 3","pages":"Pages 537-551"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148527177","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}