Attention and P300-based BCI performance in people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the support of attentional and memory processes in controlling a P300-based brain-computer interface (BCI) in people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Eight people with ALS performed two behavioral tasks: (i) a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) task, screening the temporal filtering capacity and the speed of the update of the attentive filter, and (ii) a change detection task, screening the memory capacity and the spatial filtering capacity. The participants were also asked to perform a P300-based BCI spelling task. By using correlation and regression analyses, we found that only the temporal filtering capacity in the RSVP task was a predictor of both the P300-based BCI accuracy and of the amplitude of the P300 elicited performing the BCI task. We concluded that the ability to keep the attentional filter active during the selection of a target influences performance in BCI control.

Heading for new shores! Overcoming pitfalls in BCI design

“…Finally, the user’s spatial abilities, as measured using mental rotation tests, were also found to correlate to mental-imagery BCI performance, both for motor and non-motor imageries [37]. In P300 BCI use, one specific component of attention, the ability for temporal filtering was found to predict P300 BCI performance in people diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) [38]. Motivation as measured with a visual analogue scale was reported to explain up to 19% of variance in P300 based BCI applications [39, 40].…”

Interfacing brain with computer to improve communication and rehabilitation after brain damage

“…The extent of end-users' residual neuromuscular control, in addition to the etiology of their pathology, has been considered to be the main factor in categorizing them for BCI applications. However, in the past several years, the importance of end-users' cognitive abilities in their interaction with BCI paradigms has been noted (Nijboer, 2015;Riccio et al, 2012Riccio et al, , 2013Schreuder et al, 2013).…”

P300 Brain Computer Interface Control after an Acquired Brain Injury

“…There are a range of cognitive skills required to operate the BCI include maintaining attention, concentration, and memory processing whilst ignoring any additional stimuli and environmental noises [26] [27] [28]. The workload required to operate the P300-based BCI was indicated as significant on the usability questionnaires.…”

“…It is recently been identified that some people with ALS can also experience cognitive impairments [25]. Although there is no evidence to indicate that there are specific cognitive abilities required to operate a BCI, Riccio et al [26] suggest attention and working memory play a fundamental role in operation BCI. Polich [27] states that memory processing and selective attention have a direct bearing on controlling a P300 matrix.…”