Effects of Luminosity Contrast and Stimulus Duration on User Performance and Preference in a P300-Based Brain–Computer Interface

Brain–computer interfaces (BCI) have potential to provide a new channel of communication and control for people with severe motor disabilities. Although many empirical studies exist, few have specifically evaluated the impact of contributing factors on user performance and perception in BCI applications, especially for users with motor disabilities. This article reports the effects of luminosity contrast and stimulus duration on user performance and usage preference in a P300-based BCI application, P300 Speller. Ten participants with neuromuscular disabilities (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and cerebral palsy) and 10 able-bodied participants were asked to spell six 10-character phrases in the P300 Speller. The overall accuracy was 76.5% for the able-bodied participants and 26.8% for participants with motor disabilities. The results showed that luminosity contrast and stimulus duration have significant effects on user performance. In addition, participants preferred high luminosity contrast with middle or short stimulus duration. However, these effects on user performance and preference varied for participants with and without motor disabilities. The results also indicated that although most participants with motor disabilities can establish BCI control, BCI illiteracy does exist. These results of the study should provide insights into the future research of the BCI systems, especially the real-world applicability of the BCI applications as a nonmuscular communication and control system for people with severe motor disabilities.     

Human–Computer Interface Issues in Controlling Virtual Reality With Brain–Computer Interface

We have integrated the Graz brain–computer interface (BCI) system with a highly immersive virtual reality (VR) Cave-like system. This setting allows for a new type of experience, whereby participants can control a virtual world using imagery of movement. However, current BCI systems still have many limitations. In this article we present two experiments exploring the different constraints posed by current BCI systems when used in VR. In the first experiment we let the participants make free choices during the experience and compare their BCI performance with participants using BCI without free choice; this is unlike most previous work in this area, in which participants are requested to obey cues. In the second experiment we allowed participants to control a virtual body with motor imagery. We provide both quantitative and subjective results, regarding both BCI accuracy and the nature of the subjective experience in this new type of setting.     

Exploring dimensionality reduction of EEG features in motor imagery task classification

A Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) system based on motor imagery (MI) identifies patterns of electrical brain activity to predict the user intention while certain movement imagination tasks are performed. Currently, one of the most important challenges is the adaptive design of a BCI system. For solving it, this work explores dimensionality reduction techniques: once features have been extracted from Electroencephalogram (EEG) signals, the high-dimensional EEG data has to be mapped onto a new reduced feature space to make easier the classification stage. Besides the standard sequential feature selection methods, this paper analyzes two unsupervised transformation-based approaches – Principal Component Analysis and Locality Preserving Projections – and the Local Fisher Discriminant Analysis (LFDA), which works in a supervised manner. The dimensionality in the projected space is chosen following a wrapper-based approach by an efficient leave-one-out estimation. Experiments have been conducted on five novice subjects during their first sessions with MI-based BCI systems in order to show that the appropriate use of dimensionality reduction methods allows increasing the performance. In particular, obtained results show that LFDA gives a significant enhancement in classification terms without increasing the computational complexity and, then, it is a promising technique for designing MI-based BCI system.     

Toward a Hybrid BCI: Self-Paced Operation of a P300-based Speller by Merging a Motor Imagery-Based “Brain Switch” into a P300 Spelling Approach

This study presents the self-paced operation of a brain–computer interface (BCI) speller, which can be voluntarily turned on/off by merging a motor imagery (MI)-based brain switch into a P300-based BCI speller. From an off state (idle state), the users can generate a “control signal” by consciously changing the cognitive state differential from the idle state to turn on a P300-based spelling system when he or she wants to spell words. With the system turned on, the user can spell words, and then, the spelling system can be voluntarily turned off and switched to the initial state using a command. In this paradigm, the participants tried to perform the two different cognitive tasks sequentially, rather than simultaneously, and multiple EEG components were processed sequentially. The practicability and effectiveness of the proposed approach were validated by eleven participants, and all of them achieved a satisfactory performance. For the P300 speller, they achieved an average PITR of 42.61 bits/min. The preliminary results indicated that the proposed hybrid BCI system with different mental strategies operating sequentially is feasible and has potential applications for practical self-paced control.     

Towards EEG-based BCI driven by emotions for addressing BCI-Illiteracy: a meta-analytic review

Many critical aspects affect the correct operation of a Brain Computer Interface. The term ‘BCI-illiteracy’ describes the impossibility of using a BCI paradigm. At present, a universal solution does not exist and seeking innovative protocols to drive a BCI is mandatory. This work presents a meta-analytic review on recent advances in emotions recognition with the perspective of using emotions as voluntary, stimulus-independent, commands for BCIs. 60 papers, based on electroencephalography measurements, were selected to evaluate what emotions have been most recognised and what brain regions were activated by them. It was found that happiness, sadness, anger and calm were the most recognised emotions. Relevant discriminant locations for emotions recognition and for the particular case of discrete emotions recognition were identified in the temporal, frontal and parietal areas. The meta-analysis was mainly performed on stimulus-elicited emotions, due to the limited amount of literature about self-induced emotions. The obtained results represent a good starting point for the development of BCI driven by emotions and allow to: (1) ascertain that emotions are measurable and recognisable one from another (2) select a subset of most recognisable emotions and the corresponding active brain regions.     

Mental tasks-based brain–robot interface

This paper describes a Brain Computer Interface (BCI) based on electroencephalography (EEG) that allows control of a robot arm. This interface will enable people with severe disabilities to control a robot arm to assist them in a variety of tasks in their daily lives. The BCI system developed differentiates three cognitive processes, related to motor imagination, registering the brain rhythmic activity through 16 electrodes placed on the scalp. The features extraction algorithm is based on the Wavelet Transform (WT). A Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) based classifier has been developed in order to differentiate between the three mental tasks. The classifier combines through a score-based system four LDA-based models simultaneously. The experimental results with six volunteers performing several trajectories with a robot arm are shown in this paper.     

Brain–computer interfaces and dualism: a problem of brain,mind, and body

The brain–computer interface (BCI) has made remarkable progress in the bridging the divide between the brain and the external environment to assist persons with severe disabilities caused by brain impairments. There is also continuing philosophical interest in BCIs which emerges from thoughtful reflection on computers, machines, and artificial intelligence. This article seeks to apply BCI perspectives to examine, challenge, and work towards a possible resolution to a persistent problem in the mind–body relationship, namely dualism. The original humanitarian goals of BCIs and the technological inventiveness result in BCIs being surprisingly useful. We begin from the neurologically impaired person, the problems encountered, and some pioneering responses from computers and machines. Secondly, the interface of mind and brain is explored via two points of clarification: direct and indirect BCIs, and the nature of thoughts. Thirdly, dualism is beset by mind–body interaction difficulties and is further questioned by the phenomena of intentions, interactions, and technology. Fourthly, animal minds and robots are explored in BCI settings again with relevance for dualism. After a brief look at other BCIs, we conclude by outlining a future BCI philosophy of brain and mind, which might appear ominous and could be possible.     

Event-related (De)synchronization (ERD/ERS) during motor imagery tasks: Implications for brain-computer interfaces

The primary aims of this research were to examine (1) mu and beta event-related desynchronization/synchronization (ERD/ERS) during motor imagery tasks with varying movement duration and (2) the potential impacts of movement duration on ERD/ERS patterns. Motor imagery tasks included brief and continuous imagined hand movements. During an imagery task, participants imagined an indicated movement for 1 s (i.e., brief movement imagery) or 5 s (i.e., continuous movement imagery). The results of the study support (1) that mu and beta ERD/ERS patterns are elicited during imagined hand movements and (2) that movement duration affects ERS and does not affect ERD patterns, during motor movement imagery. Additionally, brief movement imagery had a greater impact on mu and beta ERD; continuous movement imagery had a greater impact on mu and beta ERS. This research will be useful for designing future brain-computer interfaces as it provides valuable insight into the dynamics of electroencephalographic (EEG) oscillatory changes during motor imagery tasks with varying movement duration.

Relevance to industry

: Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) have gained considerable interests by both research and industry communities who want to improve the quality of life for those who suffer from severe motor disabilities, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), brainstem stroke, and cerebral palsy (CP). The results of this study should be applied to EEG-based BCI system design in order to enhance accuracy and classification performance for BCI system control.     

混合脑机接口及其研究进展

脑机接口（brain-computer interface,BCI）技术作为一项新兴且发展潜力巨大的技术,已成为国际研究热点。但面向实际应用,现有BCI技术仍面临许多有待解决的问题,如基于稳态视觉诱发（SSVEP）的BCI技术控制命令数有限,基于运动想象（motor imagery,MI）的BCI存在诱发生理信号空间分辨率低、训练时间长等问题。研究表明,混合脑机接口（hybrid brain-computer interface,HBCI）相比于传统单模态BCI系统,在系统准确率、稳定性方面均有所提升。文章对HBCI进行了介绍,从基于多脑电模式的混合脑机接口、基于多种刺激诱发的混合脑机接口、基于多模态信号的混合脑机接口这三个类别分别对HBCI的研究进展进行阐述,并对HBCI关键技术、需要解决的问题及应用方向进行了概述。     

非侵入式脑—机接口编解码技术研究进展

脑—机接口（brain-computer interface,BCI）系统通过采集、分析大脑信号,将其转换为输出指令,从而跨越外周神经系统,实现由大脑信号对外部设备的直接控制,进而用于替代、修复、增强、补充或改善中枢神经系统的正常输出。非侵入式脑—机接口由于具有安全性以及便携性等优点,得到了广泛关注和持续研究。研究人员对脑信号编码方法的不断探索扩展了BCI系统的应用场景和适用范围。同时,脑信号解码方法的不断研发极大地克服了脑电信号信噪比低的缺点,提高了系统性能,这都为构建高性能脑—机接口系统奠定了基础。本文综述了非侵入式脑—机接口编解码技术以及系统应用的最新研究进展,展望其未来发展前景,以期促进BCI系统的深入研究与广泛应用。     

Investigation of different approaches for noise reduction in functional near-infrared spectroscopy signals for brain–computer interface applications

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a noninvasive technique to measure the hemodynamic response from the cerebral cortex. The acquired fNIRS signal usually contains influences generated from physiological processes, also called “global” oscillations, in addition to motion artifacts that impede detection of the localized hemodynamic response due to cortical activation. Preprocessing is the fundamental step to enhance the quality of fNIRS signals corresponding to movement tasks for efficient classification of brain–computer interface (BCI) application. Various signal preprocessing approaches such as band-pass filtering, correlation-based signal improvement, median filtering, Savitzky–Golay filtering, wavelet denoising and independent component analysis (ICA) have been investigated on experimental datasets acquired during hand movement tasks and are compared to one another using artifact power attenuation and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) metrics. The results showed that wavelet denoising method attenuated the artifact energy of the datasets belonging to Subjects 1 and 2 as well as enhanced the CNR. In the case of Subject 1, before denoising the values of ΔHbR and ΔHbO were 0.6392 and 0.8710, respectively. Wavelet method improved these values to 0.8085 and 0.9790. In the case of Subject 2, the CNR values of ΔHbR and ΔHbO signals were improved from 0.0221 and 0.0638 to 1.1242 and 0.3460, respectively. In this study, ICA was also demonstrated to suppress noises related to physiological oscillations including Mayer wave influence and other unknown artifacts. It greatly reduced the sharp spikes present in the Subject 2 dataset. On the basis of the results obtained, it can be shown that application of such filtering algorithms for fNIRS signal could effectively classify motor tasks to develop BCI applications.

     

Developing a limb repositioning robotic interface for persons with severe physical disabilities

Limb repositioning is necessary for individuals with severe physical disabilities to sustain muscle strength and prevent pressure sores. As robotic technologies become ubiquitous, these tools offer promise to support the repositioning process. However, research has yet to focus on ways in which individuals with severe physical disabilities can control robots for these tasks. This paper presents a study that examines the needs and attitudes of potential users with physical disabilities to control a robotic aid for limb repositioning. Subjects expressed interest in using brain–computer interface (BCI) and speech recognition technologies for purposes of executing robotic tasks. The performance of four subjects controlling arm movements on an avatar through the keyboard, mouse, BCI, and Dragon NaturallySpeaking speech recognition was evaluated. Although BCI and speech technologies may limit physical fatigue, more challenges were faced using BCI and speech conditions compared to the keyboard and mouse. This research promotes accessibility into mainstream robotic technologies and represents the first step in the development of a robotic prototype using a BCI and speech recognition technologies for limb repositioning.     

Adaptive learning with covariate shift-detection for motor imagery-based brain–computer interface

A common assumption in traditional supervised learning is the similar probability distribution of data between the training phase and the testing/operating phase. When transitioning from the training to testing phase, a shift in the probability distribution of input data is known as a covariate shift. Covariate shifts commonly arise in a wide range of real-world systems such as electroencephalogram-based brain–computer interfaces (BCIs). In such systems, there is a necessity for continuous monitoring of the process behavior, and tracking the state of the covariate shifts to decide about initiating adaptation in a timely manner. This paper presents a covariate shift-detection and -adaptation methodology, and its application to motor imagery-based BCIs. A covariate shift-detection test based on an exponential weighted moving average model is used to detect the covariate shift in the features extracted from motor imagery-based brain responses. Following the covariate shift-detection test, the methodology initiates an adaptation by updating the classifier during the testing/operating phase. The usefulness of the proposed method is evaluated using real-world BCI datasets (i.e. BCI competition IV dataset 2A and 2B). The results show a statistically significant improvement in the classification accuracy of the BCI system over traditional learning and semi-supervised learning methods.     

基于EEG微状态方法的视觉想象识别研究

运动想象MI是基于想象的脑机交互BCI中常用的任务,但MI不易习得和控制,且存在“BCI盲”现象,使得该类BCI的实用化受限。 针对较易习得和控制的视觉想象VI任务进行识别,旨在构建基于VI的BCI(VI-BCI)。招募了15名被试者参加2种动态图像的视觉想象任务并采集脑电EEG数据;然后采用EEG微状态方法研究了这2种VI任务诱发的EEG在微状态时间参数上的差异,并选用差异显著的微状态时间参数构建特征向量;最后采用SVM对2类VI任务进行识别。结果显示提取微状态特征所取得的最高、最低和平均分类精度分别为90%,56%和80.6±2.58%。表明微状态方法可以有效提取VI相关EEG特征并得到具有可比性的分类精度,可望为构建相对较新的在线VI-BCI提供思路。     

基于运动想象辅助的下肢康复控制系统

现今社会中由于种种因素，如自身机能下降、意外车祸、外伤等造成的肢体运动性障碍的病人在显著增加。临床上广泛使用下肢康复训练机器来辅助患者康复训练，而近年来脑机接口技术的飞速发展，使其在该康复领域得到极大的重视。脑机接口通过对肢体运动障碍患者运动想象或诱发产生的脑波信号进行识别，从而控制下肢康复设备实现辅助运动。     

混合脑机接口的研究进展

传统的脑机接口（Brain Computer Interface,BCI）有许多不足,如基于运动想象的BCI需要受试者进行大量练习;基于P300位的BCI需要多次重复闪烁;基于SSVEP的BCI上的控制命令数量受刺激频率及其他因素影响.为此,研究人员提出了混合脑机接口（hybrid Brian Computer Interface,hBCI）.本文主要讨论了hBCI的研究进展,综述了常见的三种hBCI类型,分别是基于多种大脑模式的hBCI、基于多种感官刺激的hBCI、基于多种信号的hBCI,通过分析最新的hBCI系统的一般原理、刺激范式、实验结果、优点和应用,发现利用hBCI技术可以提高BCI的分类准确率,增加控制命令的数量,明显优于单一模态的BCI.     

EEG-Based Brain-Computer Interfaces: A Thorough Literature Survey

Brain–computer interface (BCI) technology has been studied with the fundamental goal of helping disabled people communicate with the outside world using brain signals. In particular, a large body of research has been reported in the electroencephalography (EEG)-based BCI research field during recent years. To provide a thorough summary of recent research trends in EEG-based BCIs, the present study reviewed BCI research articles published from 2007 to 2011 and investigated (a) the number of published BCI articles, (b) BCI paradigms, (c) aims of the articles, (d) target applications, (e) feature types, (f) classification algorithms, (g) BCI system types, and (h) nationalities of the author. The detailed survey results are presented and discussed one by one.

[Supplemental materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction to view the free supplemental file: Supplementary Tables.pdf.]     

Evaluating the ergonomics of BCI devices for research and experimentation

The use of brain computer interface (BCI) devices in research and applications has exploded in recent years. Applications such as lie detectors that use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to video games controlled using electroencephalography (EEG) are currently in use. These developments, coupled with the emergence of inexpensive commercial BCI headsets, such as the Emotiv EPOC ( http://emotiv.com/index.php ) and the Neurosky MindWave, have also highlighted the need of performing basic ergonomics research since such devices have usability issues, such as comfort during prolonged use, and reduced performance for individuals with common physical attributes, such as long or coarse hair. This paper examines the feasibility of using consumer BCIs in scientific research. In particular, we compare user comfort, experiment preparation time, signal reliability and ease of use in light of individual differences among subjects for two commercially available hardware devices, the Emotiv EPOC and the Neurosky MindWave. Based on these results, we suggest some basic considerations for selecting a commercial BCI for research and experimentation. STATEMENT OF RELEVANCE: Despite increased usage, few studies have examined the usability of commercial BCI hardware. This study assesses usability and experimentation factors of two commercial BCI models, for the purpose of creating basic guidelines for increased usability. Finding that more sensors can be less comfortable and accurate than devices with fewer sensors.     

Comparison of EEG signal decomposition methods in classification of motor-imagery BCI

A brain–computer interface (BCI) provides a link between the human brain and a computer. The task of discriminating four classes (left and right hands and feet) of motor imagery movements of a simple limb-based BCI is still challenging because most imaginary movements in the motor cortex have close spatial representations. We aimed to classify binary limb movements, rather than the direction of movement within one limb. We also investigated joint time-frequency methods to improve classification accuracies. Neither of these, to our knowledge, has been investigated previously in BCI. We recorded EEG data from eleven participants, and demonstrated the classification of four classes of simple-limb motor imagery with an accuracy of 91.46% using intrinsic time-scale decomposition and 88.99% using empirical mode decomposition. In binary classifications, we achieved average accuracies of 89.90% when classifying imaginary movements of left hand versus right hand, 93.1% for left hand versus right foot, 94.00% for left hand versus left foot, 83.82% for left foot versus right foot, 97.62% for right hand versus left foot, and 95.11% for right hand versus right foot. The results show that the binary classification performance is slightly better than that of four-class classification. Our results also show that there is no significant difference in terms of spatial distribution between left and right foot motor imagery movements. There is also no difference in classification performances involving left or right foot movement. This work demonstrates that binary and four-class movements of the left and right feet and hands can be classified using recorded EEG signals of the motor cortex, and an intrinsic time-scale decomposition (ITD) feature extraction method can be used for real time brain computer interface.