Application of brain-computer interfaces in the rehabilitation of post-stroke emotional and sleep disorders

Table 1 Evidence map of direct, indirect, and adjacent evidence for brain-computer interfaces-related post-stroke emotional and sleep rehabilitation

Evidence type	Population	Intervention	Outcomes	Relevance to this review	Ref.
Direct evidence	Hemiplegic patients after stroke	BCI combined with mindfulness therapy	Motor function, ADL, mindful attention, sleep quality, quality of life	Early evidence linking BCI-based rehabilitation with sleep and quality-of-life outcomes	Wang et al[9], 2023
Indirect BCI evidence	Stroke survivors	BCI-based motor rehabilitation	Motor recovery	Supports BCI as a motor rehabilitation platform; emotional and sleep effects remain indirect	Cervera et al[7], 2018
					Tonin et al[8], 2025
					Mortezaei et al[37], 2026
Representative BCI trials	Stroke survivors	MI-BCI, BCI-robot, BCI-exoskeleton	Upper-limb motor function	Demonstrates feasibility of intention-driven feedback-based rehabilitation	Ang et al[23], 2015
					Pichiorri et al[24], 2015
					Frolov et al[25], 2017
BCI-FES evidence	Stroke survivors	BCI-controlled FES	Upper-limb recovery	Supports closed sensorimotor feedback and neuroplasticity rationale	Ren et al[26], 2024
					Zhang et al[38], 2025
Adjacent VR evidence	Stroke survivors	VR-based rehabilitation	Motor function, depression, participation	Supports immersive and motivational feedback but is not direct BCI evidence	Laver et al[31], 2025
					Wei et al[32], 2025
					Liu et al[33], 2023
Adjacent neurofeedback evidence	Non-stroke or mixed populations	Electroencephalogram neurofeedback	Depression, anxiety, insomnia, sleep quality	Provides theoretical bridge for brain-state self-regulation	Marzbani et al[34], 2016
					Patil et al[36], 2023
					Recio-Rodriguez et al[16], 2024

Direct evidence refers to brain-computer interface-based stroke rehabilitation studies reporting emotional, sleep-related, or quality-of-life outcomes. Adjacent evidence refers to related neurofeedback, virtual reality, mindfulness-based rehabilitation, or sleep-feedback studies that provide mechanistic or translational support but do not directly establish brain-computer interface efficacy for post-stroke emotional or sleep disorders.

BCI: Brain-computer interfaces; ADL: Activities of daily living; MI: Motor imagery; FES: Functional electrical stimulation; VR: Virtual reality.