Welcome
Part of Cognition, Creativity, and Communication: The Future of BCI
Details
- Date
- Friday, January 22, 2027
- Time
- 4:00 PM – 4:04 PM
- Session type
- Concurrent Session
- Schedule
- See this day
About
Interest in brain-computer interface technology is moving beyond motor decoding and simple device control toward a broader goal: modulating and restoring complex human cognition and communication. This session will examine how neuromodulation and BCI science are beginning to engage higher-order domains such as cognitive control, internally directed creative thought, and complex communication, while also confronting the ethical and translational questions that arise when devices interact with identity-relevant brain functions. The session will bring together complementary perspectives from four leaders working across this emerging space. Sameer Sheth will frame the field through the lens of personalized neuromodulation for psychiatric disorders and intracranial neurophysiological studies of language architecture. Ben Shofty will discuss recent work linking large-scale default mode network dynamics and causal stimulation to creative thinking, highlighting how network neuroscience may inform future cognitive BCI targets. Ishita Basu will focus on computational and closed-loop neuromodulation approaches for decoding and modulating cognitive control. Kristin Kostick-Quenet will address the neuroethical implications of devices designed to sense, decode, and potentially alter complex mental states, including questions of agency, enhancement, privacy, trust, and responsible clinical translation. By integrating mechanistic science, engineering, clinical translation, and ethics, this session will offer attendees a forward-looking roadmap for how BCI may evolve from treating symptoms to engaging cognition itself.
Presenters
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Sameer A. Sheth, MD, PhD
Professor, Vice Chair of Research
Baylor College of Medicine · Houston, Texas
Sameer Sheth, MD, PhD is Professor of Neurosurgery, Cullen Foundation Endowed Chair, McNair Scholar, Vice-Chair of Clinical Research, and Director of Psychiatric Neurosurgery in the Department of Neurosurgery, Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Sheth directs the Gordon and Mary Cain Pediatric Neurology Research Foundation Laboratories at Texas Children’s Hospital. He also holds joint appointments in the Department of Neuroscience and Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Baylor and is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rice University. Clinically, Dr. Sheth specializes in stereotactic/functional neurosurgery, including the surgical treatment of movement disorders, epilepsy, and psychiatric disorders. He employs a combination of stereotactic and traditional open surgical techniques, including deep brain stimulation and other neuromodulation approaches, laser ablation, focused ultrasound, radiosurgery, and microsurgery, tailored to patient needs. Dr. Sheth’s research focuses on cognitive neurophysiology, using opportunities derived from his clinical work. He studies higher order human cognitive processes, including decision-making and emotional regulation, using intracranial electrophysiological recordings and non-invasive advanced imaging techniques. His lab also strives to improve neuromodulatory treatments for neurological and psychiatric disorders using surgical and non-invasive techniques.
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Ben Shofty, MD, PhD, is a functional neurosurgeon-scientist and tenure-track Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Utah, with more than 15 years of medical, scientific, and neurosurgical training and practice. His expertise includes neuromodulation for psychiatric disorders, movement disorders, epilepsy, and cancer pain, as well as human intracranial electrophysiology and the neural mechanisms of higher-order cognition.