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Rassam R, Chen Q, Gai Y. Competing Visual Cues Revealed by Electroencephalography: Sensitivity to Motion Speed and Direction. Brain Sci 2024; 14:160. [PMID: 38391734 PMCID: PMC10886893 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci14020160] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2023] [Revised: 01/25/2024] [Accepted: 02/02/2024] [Indexed: 02/24/2024] Open
Abstract
Motion speed and direction are two fundamental cues for the mammalian visual system. Neurons in various places of the neocortex show tuning properties in term of firing frequency to both speed and direction. The present study applied a 32-channel electroencephalograph (EEG) system to 13 human subjects while they were observing a single object moving with different speeds in various directions from the center of view to the periphery on a computer monitor. Depending on the experimental condition, the subjects were either required to fix their gaze at the center of the monitor while the object was moving or to track the movement with their gaze; eye-tracking glasses were used to ensure that they followed instructions. In each trial, motion speed and direction varied randomly and independently, forming two competing visual features. EEG signal classification was performed for each cue separately (e.g., 11 speed values or 11 directions), regardless of variations in the other cue. Under the eye-fixed condition, multiple subjects showed distinct preferences to motion direction over speed; however, two outliers showed superb sensitivity to speed. Under the eye-tracking condition, in which the EEG signals presumably contained ocular movement signals, all subjects showed predominantly better classification for motion direction. There was a trend that speed and direction were encoded by different electrode sites. Since EEG is a noninvasive and portable approach suitable for brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), this study provides insights on fundamental knowledge of the visual system as well as BCI applications based on visual stimulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rassam Rassam
- Biomedical Engineering, School of Science and Engineering, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO 63103, USA
| | - Qi Chen
- Biomedical Engineering, School of Science and Engineering, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO 63103, USA
| | - Yan Gai
- Biomedical Engineering, School of Science and Engineering, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO 63103, USA
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2
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Loriette C, Amengual JL, Ben Hamed S. Beyond the brain-computer interface: Decoding brain activity as a tool to understand neuronal mechanisms subtending cognition and behavior. Front Neurosci 2022; 16:811736. [PMID: 36161174 PMCID: PMC9492914 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.811736] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2021] [Accepted: 08/23/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
One of the major challenges in system neurosciences consists in developing techniques for estimating the cognitive information content in brain activity. This has an enormous potential in different domains spanning from clinical applications, cognitive enhancement to a better understanding of the neural bases of cognition. In this context, the inclusion of machine learning techniques to decode different aspects of human cognition and behavior and its use to develop brain–computer interfaces for applications in neuroprosthetics has supported a genuine revolution in the field. However, while these approaches have been shown quite successful for the study of the motor and sensory functions, success is still far from being reached when it comes to covert cognitive functions such as attention, motivation and decision making. While improvement in this field of BCIs is growing fast, a new research focus has emerged from the development of strategies for decoding neural activity. In this review, we aim at exploring how the advanced in decoding of brain activity is becoming a major neuroscience tool moving forward our understanding of brain functions, providing a robust theoretical framework to test predictions on the relationship between brain activity and cognition and behavior.
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3
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Zhou Y, Hu L, Yu T, Li Y. A BCI-Based Study on the Relationship Between the SSVEP and Retinal Eccentricity in Overt and Covert Attention. Front Neurosci 2022; 15:746146. [PMID: 34970111 PMCID: PMC8712654 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2021.746146] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2021] [Accepted: 11/23/2021] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Covert attention aids us in monitoring the environment and optimizing performance in visual tasks. Past behavioral studies have shown that covert attention can enhance spatial resolution. However, electroencephalography (EEG) activity related to neural processing between central and peripheral vision has not been systematically investigated. Here, we conducted an EEG study with 25 subjects who performed covert attentional tasks at different retinal eccentricities ranging from 0.75° to 13.90°, as well as tasks involving overt attention and no attention. EEG signals were recorded with a single stimulus frequency to evoke steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) for attention evaluation. We found that the SSVEP response in fixating at the attended location was generally negatively correlated with stimulus eccentricity as characterized by Euclidean distance or horizontal and vertical distance. Moreover, more pronounced characteristics of SSVEP analysis were also acquired in overt attention than in covert attention. Furthermore, offline classification of overt attention, covert attention, and no attention yielded an average accuracy of 91.42%. This work contributes to our understanding of the SSVEP representation of attention in humans and may also lead to brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) that allow people to communicate with choices simply by shifting their attention to them.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yajun Zhou
- Center for Brain Computer Interfaces and Brain Information Processing, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China.,Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Brain Computer Interaction and Application, Guangzhou, China
| | - Li Hu
- Center for Brain Computer Interfaces and Brain Information Processing, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China.,Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Brain Computer Interaction and Application, Guangzhou, China
| | - Tianyou Yu
- Center for Brain Computer Interfaces and Brain Information Processing, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China.,Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Brain Computer Interaction and Application, Guangzhou, China
| | - Yuanqing Li
- Center for Brain Computer Interfaces and Brain Information Processing, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China.,Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Brain Computer Interaction and Application, Guangzhou, China
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4
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Lukashova-Sanz O, Wahl S, Wallis TSA, Rifai K. The Impact of Shape-Based Cue Discriminability on Attentional Performance. Vision (Basel) 2021; 5:vision5020018. [PMID: 33920907 PMCID: PMC8167570 DOI: 10.3390/vision5020018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2021] [Revised: 04/09/2021] [Accepted: 04/13/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
With rapidly developing technology, visual cues became a powerful tool for deliberate guiding of attention and affecting human performance. Using cues to manipulate attention introduces a trade-off between increased performance in cued, and decreased in not cued, locations. For higher efficacy of visual cues designed to purposely direct user’s attention, it is important to know how manipulation of cue properties affects attention. In this verification study, we addressed how varying cue complexity impacts the allocation of spatial endogenous covert attention in space and time. To gradually vary cue complexity, the discriminability of the cue was systematically modulated using a shape-based design. Performance was compared in attended and unattended locations in an orientation-discrimination task. We evaluated additional temporal costs due to processing of a more complex cue by comparing performance at two different inter-stimulus intervals. From preliminary data, attention scaled with cue discriminability, even for supra-threshold cue discriminability. Furthermore, individual cue processing times partly impacted performance for the most complex, but not simpler cues. We conclude that, first, cue complexity expressed by discriminability modulates endogenous covert attention at supra-threshold cue discriminability levels, with increasing benefits and decreasing costs; second, it is important to consider the temporal processing costs of complex visual cues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olga Lukashova-Sanz
- Institute for Ophthalmic Research, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany; (S.W.); (K.R.)
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +49-7071-29-83710
| | - Siegfried Wahl
- Institute for Ophthalmic Research, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany; (S.W.); (K.R.)
- Carl Zeiss Vision International GmbH, 73430 Aalen, Germany
| | | | - Katharina Rifai
- Institute for Ophthalmic Research, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany; (S.W.); (K.R.)
- Carl Zeiss Vision International GmbH, 73430 Aalen, Germany
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Davoudi S, Ahmadi A, Daliri MR. Frequency–amplitude coupling: a new approach for decoding of attended features in covert visual attention task. Neural Comput Appl 2020. [DOI: 10.1007/s00521-020-05222-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
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6
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Changes of Effective Connectivity in the Alpha Band Characterize Differential Processing of Audiovisual Information in Cross-Modal Selective Attention. Neurosci Bull 2020; 36:1009-1022. [PMID: 32715390 DOI: 10.1007/s12264-020-00550-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2019] [Accepted: 01/06/2020] [Indexed: 10/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Cross-modal selective attention enhances the processing of sensory inputs that are most relevant to the task at hand. Such differential processing could be mediated by a swift network reconfiguration on the macroscopic level, but this remains a poorly understood process. To tackle this issue, we used a behavioral paradigm to introduce a shift of selective attention between the visual and auditory domains, and recorded scalp electroencephalographic signals from eight healthy participants. The changes in effective connectivity caused by the cross-modal attentional shift were delineated by analyzing spectral Granger Causality (GC), a metric of frequency-specific effective connectivity. Using data-driven methods of pattern-classification and feature-analysis, we found that a change in the α band (12 Hz-15 Hz) of GC is a stable feature across different individuals that can be used to decode the attentional shift. Specifically, auditory attention induces more pronounced information flow in the α band, especially from the parietal-occipital areas to the temporal-parietal areas, compared to the case of visual attention, reflecting a reconfiguration of interaction in the macroscopic brain network accompanying different processing. Our results support the role of α oscillation in organizing the information flow across spatially-separated brain areas and, thereby, mediating cross-modal selective attention.
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Jeunet C, Tonin L, Albert L, Chavarriaga R, Bideau B, Argelaguet F, Millán JDR, Lécuyer A, Kulpa R. Uncovering EEG Correlates of Covert Attention in Soccer Goalkeepers: Towards Innovative Sport Training Procedures. Sci Rep 2020; 10:1705. [PMID: 32015376 PMCID: PMC6997355 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-58533-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2019] [Accepted: 01/02/2020] [Indexed: 01/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Advances in sports sciences and neurosciences offer new opportunities to design efficient and motivating sport training tools. For instance, using NeuroFeedback (NF), athletes can learn to self-regulate specific brain rhythms and consequently improve their performances. Here, we focused on soccer goalkeepers’ Covert Visual Spatial Attention (CVSA) abilities, which are essential for these athletes to reach high performances. We looked for Electroencephalography (EEG) markers of CVSA usable for virtual reality-based NF training procedures, i.e., markers that comply with the following criteria: (1) specific to CVSA, (2) detectable in real-time and (3) related to goalkeepers’ performance/expertise. Our results revealed that the best-known EEG marker of CVSA—increased α-power ipsilateral to the attended hemi-field— was not usable since it did not comply with criteria 2 and 3. Nonetheless, we highlighted a significant positive correlation between athletes’ improvement in CVSA abilities and the increase of their α-power at rest. While the specificity of this marker remains to be demonstrated, it complied with both criteria 2 and 3. This result suggests that it may be possible to design innovative ecological training procedures for goalkeepers, for instance using a combination of NF and cognitive tasks performed in virtual reality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Camille Jeunet
- CLLE Lab, CNRS, University Toulouse Jean Jaurès, Toulouse, 31000, France. .,Inria, University Rennes, IRISA, CNRS, Rennes, 35000, France. .,Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Geneva, 1202, Switzerland.
| | - Luca Tonin
- Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Geneva, 1202, Switzerland.,Intelligent Autonomous Systems Lab, Department of Information Engineering Universitá degli Studi di Padova, Padova, 35131, Italy
| | | | - Ricardo Chavarriaga
- Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Geneva, 1202, Switzerland.,ZHAW Datalab, Zürich University of Applied Sciences, Winterthur, 8400, Switzerland
| | - Benoît Bideau
- Inria, University Rennes, IRISA, CNRS, Rennes, 35000, France.,University Rennes, Inria, M2S - EA 7470, Rennes, 35000, France
| | | | - José Del R Millán
- Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Geneva, 1202, Switzerland.,Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, 78712, USA.,Dept. of Neurology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, 78712, USA
| | - Anatole Lécuyer
- Inria, University Rennes, IRISA, CNRS, Rennes, 35000, France
| | - Richard Kulpa
- Inria, University Rennes, IRISA, CNRS, Rennes, 35000, France.,University Rennes, Inria, M2S - EA 7470, Rennes, 35000, France
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No effect of cold pressor test-induced arousal on attentional benefits and costs in an endogenous spatial orienting paradigm. Neuropsychologia 2019; 135:107250. [PMID: 31682926 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.107250] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2019] [Revised: 09/28/2019] [Accepted: 10/30/2019] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
Abstract
Previous studies have shown that arousal can influence hemispatial bias, suggesting that changes in arousal affect the neural networks involved in spatial attention control. The goal of the present study was to measure the effects of increased arousal on endogenous attentional orienting. We used a Spatial Orienting Paradigm to quantify attentional benefits and costs as measures of attentional orienting and re-orienting responses and exposed participants (N = 25; Experiment 1) to a bilateral feet Cold Pressor Test (CPT) to manipulate arousal. Increases in subjective distress ratings and blood pressure confirmed the effect of CPT on arousal. Although no overall effects of CPT on reaction times in the Spatial Orienting Paradigm were detected, an exploratory analysis of sex-specific effects revealed a left-lateralised decrease in benefits and increase in costs after CPT exposure in the male subsample (N = 11). To confirm these preliminary results, we repeated the experiment in a larger sample (N = 29, all male), but found no effect of CPT on orienting, with moderate to strong evidence in favour of a model excluding all (interaction) effects of CPT exposure (all BFIncl < 0.3). Instead, our replicated results indicate that voluntary orienting is unaffected by CPT-induced increases of arousal. In the light of previous studies, and keeping in mind the interpretative challenges of null results, we discuss how and why our findings may be specific to endogenous as opposed to exogenous orienting and how arousal could possibly lead to the previously established effects on visuospatial bias without simultaneously affecting orienting and the underlying attention control networks.
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Bengson JJ, Liu Y, Khodayari N, Mangun GR. Gating by inhibition during top-down control of willed attention. Cogn Neurosci 2019; 11:60-70. [DOI: 10.1080/17588928.2019.1648405] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Jesse J. Bengson
- Department of Psychology, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, CA, USA
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Yuelu Liu
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Natalia Khodayari
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - George R. Mangun
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA
- Department of Psychology, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA
- Department of Neurology, University of California Davis, Lawrence J. Ellison Ambulatory Care Center, Sacramento, CA, USA
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Aliakbaryhosseinabadi S, Kamavuako EN, Jiang N, Farina D, Mrachacz-Kersting N. Classification of Movement Preparation Between Attended and Distracted Self-Paced Motor Tasks. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng 2019; 66:3060-3071. [PMID: 30794165 DOI: 10.1109/tbme.2019.2900206] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Brain-computer interface (BCI) systems aim to control external devices by using brain signals. The performance of these systems is influenced by the user's mental state, such as attention. In this study, we classified two attention states to a target task (attended and distracted task level) while attention to the task is altered by one of three types of distractors. METHODS A total of 27 participants were allocated into three experimental groups and exposed to one type of distractor. An attended condition that was the same across the three groups comprised only the main task execution (self-paced dorsiflexion) while the distracted condition was concurrent execution of the main task and an oddball task (dual-task condition). Electroencephalography signals were recorded from 28 electrodes to classify the two attention states of attended or distracted task conditions by extracting temporal and spectral features. RESULTS The results showed that the ensemble classification accuracy using the combination of temporal and spectral features (spectro-temporal features, 82.3 ± 2.7%) was greater than using temporal (69 ± 2.2%) and spectral (80.3 ± 2.6%) features separately. The classification accuracy was computed using a combination of different channel locations, and it was demonstrated that a combination of parietal and centrally located channels was superior for classification of two attention states during movement preparation (parietal channels: 84.6 ± 1.3%, central and parietal channels: 87.2 ± 1.5%). CONCLUSION It is possible to monitor the users' attention to the task for different types of distractors. SIGNIFICANCE It has implications for online BCI systems where the requirement is for high accuracy of intention detection.
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Dong Y, Raif KE, Determan SC, Gai Y. Decoding spatial attention with EEG and virtual acoustic space. Physiol Rep 2018; 5:5/22/e13512. [PMID: 29180483 PMCID: PMC5704085 DOI: 10.14814/phy2.13512] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2017] [Accepted: 10/30/2017] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Decoding spatial attention based on brain signals has wide applications in brain–computer interface (BCI). Previous BCI systems mostly relied on visual patterns or auditory stimulation (e.g., loudspeakers) to evoke synchronous brain signals. There would be difficulties to cover a large range of spatial locations with such a stimulation protocol. The present study explored the possibility of using virtual acoustic space and a visual‐auditory matching paradigm to overcome this issue. The technique has the flexibility of generating sound stimulation from virtually any spatial location. Brain signals of eight human subjects were obtained with a 32‐channel Electroencephalogram (EEG). Two amplitude‐modulated noise or speech sentences carrying distinct spatial information were presented concurrently. Each sound source was tagged with a unique modulation phase so that the phase of the recorded EEG signals indicated the sound being attended to. The phase‐tagged sound was further filtered with head‐related transfer functions to create the sense of virtual space. Subjects were required to pay attention to the sound source that best matched the location of a visual target. For all the subjects, the phase of a single sound could be accurately reflected over the majority of electrodes based on EEG responses of 90 s or less. The electrodes providing significant decoding performance on auditory attention were fewer and may require longer EEG responses. The reliability and efficiency of decoding with a single electrode varied with subjects. Overall, the virtual acoustic space protocol has the potential of being used in practical BCI systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yue Dong
- Biomedical Engineering Department, Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology Saint Louis University, St Louis, Missouri
| | - Kaan E Raif
- Biomedical Engineering Department, Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology Saint Louis University, St Louis, Missouri
| | - Sarah C Determan
- Biomedical Engineering Department, Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology Saint Louis University, St Louis, Missouri
| | - Yan Gai
- Biomedical Engineering Department, Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology Saint Louis University, St Louis, Missouri
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12
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Trachel RE, Brochier TG, Clerc M. Brain-computer interaction for online enhancement of visuospatial attention performance. J Neural Eng 2018; 15:046017. [PMID: 29667934 DOI: 10.1088/1741-2552/aabf16] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE this study on real-time decoding of visuospatial attention has two objectives: first, to reliably decode self-directed shifts of attention from electroencephalography (EEG) data, and second, to analyze whether this information can be used to enhance visuospatial performance. Visuospatial performance was measured in a target orientation discrimination task, in terms of reaction time, and error rate. APPROACH Our experiment extends the Posner paradigm by introducing a new type of ambiguous cues to indicate upcoming target location. The cues are designed so that their ambiguity is imperceptible to the user. This entails endogenous shifts of attention which are truly self-directed. Two protocols were implemented to exploit the decoding of attention shifts. The first 'adaptive' protocol uses the decoded locus to display the target. In the second 'warning' protocol, the target position is defined in advance, but a warning is flashed when the target mismatches the decoded locus. MAIN RESULTS Both protocols were tested in an online experiment involving ten subjects. The reaction time improved in both the adaptive and the warning protocol. The error rate was improved in the adaptive protocol only. SIGNIFICANCE This proof of concept study brings evidence that visuospatial brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) can be used to enhance improving human-machine interaction in situations where humans must react to off-center events in the visual field.
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Affiliation(s)
- R E Trachel
- Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone (INT), CNRS-Aix-Marseille Université, Campus Santé Timone, 27, Boulevard Jean Moulin. 13385 Marseille Cedex 5, France. Inria Sophia Antipolis-Méditerranée, 2004, route des Lucioles-BP 93, 06902 Sophia Antipolis Cedex, France
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