Every paper, book, standard, and dataset the lessons point to
References
Everything the lessons cite, in one place: the short citation links out, and each entry says why it is worth a learner's time and where it is cited.
Phase 1: First contact
A quantitative description of membrane current and its application to conduction and excitation in nerve
The four equations behind every spiking model in Phase 4, still readable in the original.
Cited in: What was that sound?, Project A: Neurons from the equations up
Driven-right-leg circuit design
The original analysis of the driven-right-leg circuit that keeps mains hum out of biopotential recordings.
Cited in: Why so small?
IEC 60601-1, Medical electrical equipment, general requirements for basic safety and essential performance
The standard behind patient leakage limits, where batteries pass trivially and wall supplies must be designed.
Cited in: Why the hum?, Electrical safety, with the numbers
Beyond Boundaries
A first-person history of BCI research by one of its founders, read for the story.
Cited in: The reading track
Alpha-band oscillations, attention, and controlled access to stored information
The inhibition view of alpha: the rhythm you recorded is the sound of the brain holding things back.
Cited in: Alpha and the back of the head
AD8232 single-lead heart rate monitor front end
A complete biopotential front end with driven lead, and the first four pages explain the DRL resistor.
Cited in: Why so small?, Instrumentation amplifiers, properly
EEG artifact removal: state-of-the-art and guidelines
A survey of every artifact-removal method with guidance on which fits which recording.
Cited in: The artifact bestiary
But what is the Fourier Transform, a visual introduction
The visual version of the spectrum page in twenty minutes, watch it with the plotter open.
Cited in: What the spectrum did
Livewired
Plasticity and sensory substitution for a general reader, good motivation for Phase 5.
Cited in: The reading track
Principles of Neural Science
The reference text of neuroscience, read a chapter a week in the site order for about a year.
Cited in: Neuron biophysics, Synapses and plasticity, A reading order for Kandel, The reading track
Phase 2: Build the instrument
High-quality recording of bioelectric events
The classic analysis of interference and common-mode rejection in biopotential amplifiers.
Cited in: Instrumentation amplifiers, properly
Low-Noise Electronic System Design
The full treatment of electronic noise when the Horowitz and Hill chapter runs out.
Cited in: Noise, and where the microvolt goes
INA128 precision, low power instrumentation amplifier
The through-hole instrumentation amplifier on the breadboard builds, read its first page first.
Cited in: Instrumentation amplifiers, properly
Removing electroencephalographic artifacts by blind source separation
The paper that made ICA the standard way to remove blinks and heartbeats from EEG.
Cited in: Artifact removal, three ways
Electric Fields of the Brain, The Neurophysics of EEG
The book on what the scalp potential means physically, from dipole to electrode.
Cited in: Spatial filters and montages, Where oscillations come from
Medical Instrumentation, Application and Design
The classic on biopotential amplifiers, electrodes, and electrical safety, old and still right.
Cited in: The electrode-electrolyte interface, The reading track
AD620 low cost, low power instrumentation amplifier
The interchangeable alternative to the INA128, worth comparing pin for pin.
Cited in: Instrumentation amplifiers, properly
ADS1299 low-noise, 8-channel, 24-bit analog front end for biopotential measurements
The eight-channel converter behind the Phase 2 board, read the modulator and decimation filter sections.
Cited in: Instrumentation amplifiers, properly, Analog to digital
RHD2000 series digital electrophysiology interface chips
The spike-recording chips that set the noise floor comparison for every research amplifier.
Cited in: Instrumentation amplifiers, properly
The Art of Electronics
The hardware spine bible, with the op-amp, noise, and precision chapters behind your amplifier.
Cited in: Instrumentation amplifiers, properly, Noise, and where the microvolt goes, The reading track
Digital filter design for electrophysiological data, a practical approach
Read this before filtering any ERP data, since the wrong filter invents effects.
Signal processing for neuroscience, lecture series
An hour of filtering lectures that saves a year of mistakes with EEG filters.
Phase 3: Read intent
Talking off the top of your head, toward a mental prosthesis utilizing event-related brain potentials
The original P300 speller, six by six and still the design every speller project starts from.
Cited in: Project B: The P300 speller
Event-related EEG/MEG synchronization and desynchronization, basic principles
The ERD paper: why imagining movement quiets mu and beta, which is what motor imagery decoders detect.
Brain-computer interfaces for communication and control
The review that defined information transfer rate, the one number that compares spellers honestly.
Cited in: Classification done honestly
Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning
The classifiers behind the decoders, free as a PDF from the author, read selectively.
Cited in: The reading track
Bayesian population decoding of motor cortical activity using a Kalman filter
The Kalman decoder paper behind cursor control, worth reading for the prediction step alone.
Cited in: Bayesian decoding and the Kalman filter
Nonparametric statistical testing of EEG- and MEG-data
The cluster permutation paper, which solves the multiple-comparisons problem across channels and time points.
Cited in: Statistics for small experiments
A high-performance neural prosthesis enabled by control algorithm design
The ReFIT paper, which showed that retraining the decoder with its own output doubles cursor performance.
Cited in: Bayesian decoding and the Kalman filter
Brain-Computer Interfacing, An Introduction
The best single textbook introduction to BCI, from signals to decoders to ethics.
Cited in: The reading track
Analyzing Neural Time Series Data
The practical guide to time-frequency analysis with code, paired with free video lectures.
Cited in: Event-related potentials and oscillations, The reading track
An Introduction to the Event-Related Potential Technique
Everything about running and analyzing ERP experiments without fooling yourself.
Cited in: Event-related potentials and oscillations, Designing an experiment that can fail, The reading track
Exceeding chance level by chance
The tables that say what accuracy counts as above chance for your trial count, so a 62 percent does not fool you.
Cited in: Classification done honestly, Statistics for small experiments
Deep learning with convolutional neural networks for EEG decoding and visualization
ShallowConvNet and DeepConvNet, the standard baselines next to EEGNet, with filter visualizations.
Cited in: Deep learning for EEG
EEGNet, a compact convolutional neural network for EEG-based brain-computer interfaces
A two-thousand-parameter network that mirrors the classical pipeline, and the first deep model to try on your data.
Cited in: Project F: Reproduce a paper, Deep learning for EEG
A review of classification algorithms for EEG-based BCIs, a 10-year update
Everything on the classification page with citations, and the honest baseline every new method must beat.
Cited in: Classification done honestly
DANDI, Distributed Archives for Neurophysiology Data Integration
Neurophysiology in NWB format, including the human intracortical data behind the speech BCI papers.
Cited in: Project E: Intracortical data
Deep learning-based electroencephalography analysis, a systematic review
A map of what deep learning had and had not achieved on EEG by 2019, useful before trusting a new claim.
Cited in: Deep learning for EEG
The Neural Latents Benchmark
Standard monkey datasets with held-out evaluation, the right place to compare a decoder against the field.
Cited in: Bayesian decoding and the Kalman filter, Neural coding, Project E: Intracortical data
Phase 4: The brain behind the signal
EEG electrode sensitivity, an application of reciprocity
The reciprocity result behind the three-sphere head model, which says what a scalp electrode can see.
Thalamocortical oscillations in the sleeping and aroused brain
Where sleep rhythms come from mechanistically: thalamus and cortex ringing together, which explains the scalp spectra.
Cited in: Where oscillations come from
Foundations of Cellular Neurophysiology
The deep end on channels, cables, and synaptic physiology for the electrophysiology spine.
Cited in: Neuron biophysics, The reading track
Speech recognition with primarily temporal cues
Four bands of modulated noise carry most of speech, the result that says why cochlear implants work.
Cited in: Project C: Prosthesis simulators
Spikes, Exploring the Neural Code
The timing side of the neural code question, short and precise.
Cited in: Neural coding
Theoretical Neuroscience
The standard computational neuroscience text, dense and rewarding, about $40 in paperback; the authors' page has a sample chapter only.
Cited in: Synapses and plasticity, Neural coding, The reading track
Invariant visual representation by single neurons in the human brain
Single human neurons that fire for one person however they appear, the sharpest evidence for sparse timing codes.
Cited in: Neural coding
Rhythms of the Brain
Dense and opinionated on where brain rhythms come from, and the standard on the subject.
Cited in: Where oscillations come from, The reading track
Emergence of a stable cortical map for neuroprosthetic control
With a fixed decoder the brain learns a stable new map, which is the plasticity behind every long-term BCI user.
Cited in: Synapses and plasticity
The memory function of sleep
The consolidation review that says what sleep is for, so the stimulation project tests a real hypothesis.
Cited in: Sleep neuroscience
Principles of Computational Modelling in Neuroscience
A gentler on-ramp to modelling than Dayan and Abbott, with worked examples.
Cited in: Neuron biophysics, The reading track
The Axon Guide, Electrophysiology and Biophysics Laboratory Techniques
The practical side of patch clamp, free from the company that makes the amplifiers.
Cited in: The reading track
Auditory closed-loop stimulation of the sleep slow oscillation enhances memory
The exact closed-loop click protocol the sleep band project reimplements, with effect sizes to compare against.
Cited in: Project E: The sleep band, Sleep neuroscience
Decoding motor imagery from the posterior parietal cortex of a tetraplegic human
Intention decoded from parietal cortex rather than motor cortex, which widens where a BCI can listen.
Cited in: Motor cortex and the systems BCIs target
Restoration of reaching and grasping movements through brain-controlled muscle stimulation in a person with tetraplegia
Cortex bridged to muscle with stimulation, so a paralyzed arm moves by thought through its own muscles.
Cited in: Motor cortex and the systems BCIs target
Neural manifolds for the control of movement
Population activity lives on a low-dimensional manifold, which is why modern decoders model dynamics instead of single neurons.
Cited in: Neural coding
Principles and Practice of Sleep Medicine
The clinical reference on sleep medicine behind the sleep neuroscience pages.
Cited in: Sleep neuroscience
Why We Sleep
A popular tour of sleep science, readable but somewhat overstated, so check its claims against Kryger.
Cited in: Sleep neuroscience
Biomimetic sensory feedback through peripheral nerve stimulation improves dexterous use of a bionic hand
Biomimetic touch feedback through a nerve array from the Utah group, the closest lab result to Phase 5.
Cited in: Sensory systems as prosthesis targets
A brain-computer interface that evokes tactile sensations improves robotic arm control
Cortical touch feedback that halved task time, the result your haptic prosthetic is chasing.
Cited in: Sensory systems as prosthesis targets
A high-performance neuroprosthesis for speech decoding and avatar control
The second 2023 speech BCI, decoding speech and facial movement together, with public data.
Cited in: Project F: Reproduce a paper, Motor cortex and the systems BCIs target, Project E: Intracortical data
A high-performance speech neuroprosthesis
Speech decoded from motor cortex at conversational rates, with data public for your own reimplementation.
Cited in: Project F: Reproduce a paper, Motor cortex and the systems BCIs target, Project E: Intracortical data
Phase 5: Build for a person
An experimental system for auditory image representations
The vOICe mapping from pixels to sound that the sensory substitution project implements directly.
Cited in: Project D: Sensory substitution
The seven principles of universal design
Equitable use, flexibility, and the other five principles that still anchor inclusive design.
Cited in: Universal and accessible design
Design controls, 21 CFR 820.30, and the FDA design control guidance
Two pages of regulation plus a readable guidance that say how a device must be designed on paper.
The Checklist Manifesto
Why process saves lives, which is design controls in another guise.
Cited in: The reading track
The Design of Everyday Things
Why doors and stoves defeat people, which is the same subject as medical device usability.
Cited in: Human factors and use error
IEC 62366-1, Medical devices, application of usability engineering to medical devices
The usability engineering standard, paired with the FDA guidance which is free and clearer.
Cited in: Human factors and use error
Biodesign, The Process of Innovating Medical Technologies
The textbook of needs-driven device innovation, and the method behind Phase 5.
Cited in: Needs finding, The reading track
ISO 13485, Medical devices, quality management systems
The quality system behind design controls internationally, which every device company runs on.
Towards new human rights in the age of neuroscience and neurotechnology
The neurorights proposal that Chile later wrote into its constitution, in the authors own words.
Four ethical priorities for neurotechnologies and AI
The short comment that set the neuroethics agenda: privacy, identity, agency, and access.
Global Medical Device Podcast
Regulatory and quality work described by people who do it, good background listening for Phase 5.
Cited in: Regulatory pathways
Mismatch, How Inclusion Shapes Design
Exclusion as a design problem with methods for fixing it, directly applicable to assistive devices.
Cited in: Universal and accessible design
ISO 14971, Medical devices, application of risk management to medical devices
The risk management standard behind every FMEA, with free summaries from notified bodies.
Cited in: Risk management and the FMEA
What Can a Body Do, How We Meet the Built World
Bodies and buildings in conflict, the mindset behind designing with disabled users instead of for them.
Cited in: Universal and accessible design
Implanted Brain-Computer Interface Devices for Patients with Paralysis or Amputation, non-clinical testing and clinical considerations
What testing the FDA expects before an implanted BCI reaches a person, in the agency own words.
Cited in: Regulatory pathways
Constitutional reform on neurorights, Law 21.383
The constitutional amendment that made Chile the first country to protect mental privacy at that level.
Their bionic eyes are now obsolete and unsupported
What happened to Second Sight retinal implant users when the company moved on, and why support plans matter.
Colorado HB24-1058, neural data added to sensitive data
The first US law classifying neural data as sensitive personal information, with consent and deletion rights.
Phase 6: Beyond the scalp
A silicon-based, three-dimensional neural interface, manufacturing processes for an intracortical electrode array
The original Utah Array paper, where a hundred needles from one silicon block started.
Cited in: The Utah Array, a history
A model of safe levels for electrical stimulation
The line on the log-log plot that bounds safe charge and charge density, with all its caveats.
Cited in: Stimulation safety and electrochemistry
Electrical stimulation of excitable tissue, design of efficacious and safe protocols
The stimulation safety review everyone in neuromodulation has read, covering charge, chemistry, and damage.
Cited in: Stimulation safety and electrochemistry, The reading track
Response of brain tissue to chronically implanted neural electrodes
What the glial scar actually is and when it forms, the biology every electrode material must answer.
Neuronal ensemble control of prosthetic devices by a human with tetraplegia
The first BrainGate human result: cursor and arm control from motor cortex, the paper the whole field cites.
Cited in: The Utah Array, a history
Corrosion of silicon integrated circuits and lifetime predictions in implantable electronic devices
Why implants die of water, not wear, and how to predict encapsulation lifetime before implanting.
Cited in: Packaging, power, and telemetry
Transcranial direct current stimulation, five important issues we are not discussing but probably should be
The review that deflated casual tDCS claims, assigned reading before taking any stimulation result at face value.
Cited in: Neuromodulation, mechanisms and evidence
Tissue damage thresholds during therapeutic electrical stimulation
A reappraisal of the Shannon limit against newer data, which is where the boundary stands now.
Cited in: Stimulation safety and electrochemistry
Clinical applications of penetrating neural interfaces and Utah Electrode Array for restoration of function
A retrospective by the inventor on what the array did in twenty-five years and where it falls short.
Cited in: The Utah Array, a history
Ultraflexible nanoelectronic probes form reliable, glial scar-free neural integration
Probes that move with the brain and provoke almost no scar, the strongest case for the flexible bet.
Glial responses to implanted electrodes in the brain
The modern review of the foreign-body response, with the design rules that fall out of it.
Targeted neurotechnology restores walking in humans with spinal cord injury
Timed spinal stimulation that restored walking within days, the clearest demonstration of targeted SCS.
Cited in: Neuromodulation, mechanisms and evidence
Deep brain stimulation, current challenges and future directions
The DBS state of the field: targets, mechanisms, and the open problems a newcomer could work on.
Cited in: Neuromodulation, mechanisms and evidence
Neural Engineering
Graduate-level survey chapters across the field, read the ones that match your spine.
Cited in: The reading track
Ceramic packaging in neural implants
A survey of hermetic ceramic packages, the alternative when polymers let water through.
Cited in: Packaging, power, and telemetry
Threads / general
The Emperor of All Maladies
Not neuro, but the best account of how a field learns, which is what the reading file is for.
Cited in: The reading track
Bad Blood
What device and diagnostic hype does to patients, the cautionary tale for Phase 5 claims.
Cited in: The reading track