Stimulation Effects in SSVEP-Based BCIs
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2010-08-17
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en
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Abstract
Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) enable people to control appliances without involving
the normal output pathways of peripheral nerves and muscles. A particularly
promising type of BCI is based on the Steady-State Visual Evoked Potential
(SSVEP). Users can select commands by focusing their attention on repetitive visual
stimuli (RVSi) that change one of their properties (e.g. color or pattern) with a
certain frequency. These properties as well as the device the RVSi are rendered on,
can greatly affect the performance, applicability, comfort and safety of the BCI.
Despite this fact, stimulation properties have received fairly little attention in the
BCI literature to this date. Furthermore, a heavy emphasis is placed on BCI performance
to the detriment of other important factors such as comfort and safety. The
research reported in this document aims at studying the effects of stimulation properties
on performance as well as comfort of SSVEP-based BCIs. Research was performed
in both offline and online settings, using a custom made high-performance
BCI. Comfort was measured using a custom questionnaire.
A large variability across subjects was found, but the results confirm that stimulation
properties have a considerable impact on performance and comfort of SSVEPbased
BCIs. In general, a large difference between stimulation states is beneficial
for BCI performance, but detrimental to user comfort. A couple of configurations
were found that provide a good compromise between comfort and performance. Keywords: Brain-Computer Interfacing, BCI, Steady-State Visual Evoked Potential, SSVEP, Repetitive Visual Stimulation, Photic Driving
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Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen