scholarly journals Controlling a Mouse Pointer with a Single-Channel EEG Sensor

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (16) ◽  
pp. 5481
Author(s):  
Alberto J. Molina-Cantero ◽  
Juan A. Castro-García ◽  
Fernando Gómez-Bravo ◽  
Rafael López-Ahumada ◽  
Raúl Jiménez-Naharro ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Information Transfer ◽  
Single Channel ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Initial Position ◽  
Linear Displacement ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
Information Transfer Rate ◽  
Mouse Pointer ◽  
Attention Level

(1) Goals: The purpose of this study was to analyze the feasibility of using the information obtained from a one-channel electro-encephalography (EEG) signal to control a mouse pointer. We used a low-cost headset, with one dry sensor placed at the FP1 position, to steer a mouse pointer and make selections through a combination of the user’s attention level with the detection of voluntary blinks. There are two types of cursor movements: spinning and linear displacement. A sequence of blinks allows for switching between these movement types, while the attention level modulates the cursor’s speed. The influence of the attention level on performance was studied. Additionally, Fitts’ model and the evolution of the emotional states of participants, among other trajectory indicators, were analyzed. (2) Methods: Twenty participants distributed into two groups (Attention and No-Attention) performed three runs, on different days, in which 40 targets had to be reached and selected. Target positions and distances from the cursor’s initial position were chosen, providing eight different indices of difficulty (IDs). A self-assessment manikin (SAM) test and a final survey provided information about the system’s usability and the emotions of participants during the experiment. (3) Results: The performance was similar to some brain–computer interface (BCI) solutions found in the literature, with an averaged information transfer rate (ITR) of 7 bits/min. Concerning the cursor navigation, some trajectory indicators showed our proposed approach to be as good as common pointing devices, such as joysticks, trackballs, and so on. Only one of the 20 participants reported difficulty in managing the cursor and, according to the tests, most of them assessed the experience positively. Movement times and hit rates were significantly better for participants belonging to the attention group. (4) Conclusions: The proposed approach is a feasible low-cost solution to manage a mouse pointer.

scholarly journals A low-cost auditory multi-class brain-computer interface based on pitch, spatial and timbre cues

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zacharias Vamvakousis ◽  
Rafael Ramirez
Keyword(s):  
Healthy Subjects ◽  
Transfer Rate ◽  
Information Transfer ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Auditory Stimuli ◽  
Stimulus Interval ◽  
Inter Stimulus Interval ◽  
Auditory P300 ◽  
Information Transfer Rate ◽  
Cord Injury

P300-based brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are especially useful for people with illnesses, which prevent them from communicating in a normal way (e.g. brain or spinal cord injury). However, most of the existing P300-based BCI systems use visual stimulation which may not be suitable for patients with sight deterioration (e.g. patients suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). Moreover, P300-based BCI systems rely on expensive equipment, which greatly limits their use outside the clinical environment. Therefore, we propose a multi-class BCI system based solely on auditory stimuli, which makes use of low-cost EEG technology. We explored different combinations of timbre, pitch and spatial auditory stimuli (TimPiSp: timbre-pitch-spatial, TimSp: timbre-spatial, and Timb: timbre-only) and three inter-stimulus intervals (150ms, 175ms and 300ms), and evaluated our system by conducting an oddball task on 7 healthy subjects. This is the first study in which these 3 auditory cues are compared. After averaging several repetitions in the 175ms inter-stimulus interval, we obtained average selection accuracies of 97.14%, 91.43%, and 88.57% for modalities TimPiSp, TimSp, and Timb, respectively. Best subject’s accuracy was 100% in all modalities and inter-stimulus intervals. Average information transfer rate for the 150ms inter-stimulus interval in the TimPiSp modality was 14.85 bits/min. Best subject’s information transfer rate was 39.96 bits/min for 175ms Timbre condition. Based on the TimPiSp modality, an auditory P300 speller was implemented and evaluated by asking users to type a 12-characters-long phrase. Six out of 7 users completed the task. The average spelling speed was 0.56 chars/min and best subject’s performance was 0.84 chars/min. The obtained results show that the proposed auditory BCI is successful with healthy subjects and may constitute the basis for future implementations of more practical and affordable auditory P300-based BCI systems.

scholarly journals A low-cost auditory multi-class brain-computer interface based on pitch, spatial and timbre cues

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zacharias Vamvakousis ◽  
Rafael Ramirez
Keyword(s):  
Healthy Subjects ◽  
Transfer Rate ◽  
Information Transfer ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Auditory Stimuli ◽  
Stimulus Interval ◽  
Inter Stimulus Interval ◽  
Auditory P300 ◽  
Information Transfer Rate ◽  
Cord Injury

P300-based brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are especially useful for people with illnesses, which prevent them from communicating in a normal way (e.g. brain or spinal cord injury). However, most of the existing P300-based BCI systems use visual stimulation which may not be suitable for patients with sight deterioration (e.g. patients suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). Moreover, P300-based BCI systems rely on expensive equipment, which greatly limits their use outside the clinical environment. Therefore, we propose a multi-class BCI system based solely on auditory stimuli, which makes use of low-cost EEG technology. We explored different combinations of timbre, pitch and spatial auditory stimuli (TimPiSp: timbre-pitch-spatial, TimSp: timbre-spatial, and Timb: timbre-only) and three inter-stimulus intervals (150ms, 175ms and 300ms), and evaluated our system by conducting an oddball task on 7 healthy subjects. This is the first study in which these 3 auditory cues are compared. After averaging several repetitions in the 175ms inter-stimulus interval, we obtained average selection accuracies of 97.14%, 91.43%, and 88.57% for modalities TimPiSp, TimSp, and Timb, respectively. Best subject’s accuracy was 100% in all modalities and inter-stimulus intervals. Average information transfer rate for the 150ms inter-stimulus interval in the TimPiSp modality was 14.85 bits/min. Best subject’s information transfer rate was 39.96 bits/min for 175ms Timbre condition. Based on the TimPiSp modality, an auditory P300 speller was implemented and evaluated by asking users to type a 12-characters-long phrase. Six out of 7 users completed the task. The average spelling speed was 0.56 chars/min and best subject’s performance was 0.84 chars/min. The obtained results show that the proposed auditory BCI is successful with healthy subjects and may constitute the basis for future implementations of more practical and affordable auditory P300-based BCI systems.

scholarly journals Low-Cost Brain-Computer Interface Using the Emotiv Epoc Headset Based on Rotating Vanes

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (5) ◽  
pp. 831-837
Author(s):  
Mesut Melek ◽  
Negin Manshouri ◽  
Temel Kayikcioglu
Keyword(s):  
Information Transfer ◽  
Brain Computer Interface ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Computer Interface ◽  
Digital Signals ◽  
Eeg Signals ◽  
The Gaze ◽  
Information Transfer Rate ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Bci System

Detailed In the brain-computer interface system (BCI), electroencephalography (EEG) signals are converted into digital signals and analyzed, allowing direct communication between humans and the electronic devices around them. The convenience of the user and the speed of communication with the surrounding devices are the most important challenges of BCI systems. The Emotiv Epoc headset minimizes the discomfort of the user thanks to its wet electrodes and easy handling. In the continuation of our previous works, in this paper, we developed our BCI system based on the gaze at the rotating vanes using the inexpensive Emotiv Epoc headset. In addition to user comfort, our design has an acceptable mean accuracy rate (ACC) and mean information transfer rate (ITR) compared to similar systems.

Temperament Predictors of Motor Imagery Control in BCI

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 246-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dariusz Zapała ◽  
Monika Małkiewicz ◽  
Piotr Francuz ◽  
Marcin Kołodziej ◽  
Andrzej Majkowski
Keyword(s):  
Motor Imagery ◽  
Information Transfer ◽  
Emotional Reactivity ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Imagery Task ◽  
Sensory Sensitivity ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
Left Hand ◽  
Information Transfer Rate ◽  
Temperament Traits

Abstract. The aim of this study was to verify if selected temperament traits may be useful as predictors of motor imagery brain-computer interface (BCI) performance. In our experiment, 40 BCI-naive subjects were instructed to imagine the movement of clenching his/her right or left hand, in accordance with the visual cue. The activity of sensorimotor rhythms (SMR) (8–30 Hz) was measured by electroencephalography (EEG) and transformed into the information transfer rate (ITR) after feature selection and classification. All subjects also completed a self-assessment questionnaire for the determination of their temperament profile, comprising the following traits: Briskness, Perseveration, Sensory Sensitivity, Emotional Reactivity, Endurance, and Activity. We found significant correlations between ITR performance and Endurance (EN) and Perseveration (PE) scores. This effect was also visible in a topography of SMR desynchronization patterns, in groups with different results in EN and PE scales. Finally, a predictive model of motor imagery BCI control based on temperament traits was proposed. We interpret this finding as empirical support for an influence of basic, relatively stable personality traits on BCI control via the performance of the motor imagery task. Moreover, the implication of these results on the design of future brain-computer interfaces was discussed.

A Dual Stimuli Approach Combined with Convolutional Neural Network to Improve Information Transfer Rate of Event-Related Potential-Based Brain-Computer Interface

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (10) ◽  
pp. 1850034 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Li ◽  
Mengfan Li ◽  
Huihui Zhou ◽  
Genshe Chen ◽  
Jing Jin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neural Network ◽  
Convolutional Neural Network ◽  
Transfer Rate ◽  
Information Transfer ◽  
Brain Computer Interface ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Computer Interface ◽  
Generation Rate ◽  
Information Transfer Rate ◽  
Command Generation

Increasing command generation rate of an event-related potential-based brain-robot system is challenging, because of limited information transfer rate of a brain-computer interface system. To improve the rate, we propose a dual stimuli approach that is flashing a robot image and is scanning another robot image simultaneously. Two kinds of event-related potentials, N200 and P300 potentials, evoked in this dual stimuli condition are decoded by a convolutional neural network. Compared with the traditional approaches, this proposed approach significantly improves the online information transfer rate from 23.0 or 17.8 to 39.1 bits/min at an accuracy of 91.7%. These results suggest that combining multiple types of stimuli to evoke distinguishable ERPs might be a promising direction to improve the command generation rate in the brain-computer interface.

scholarly journals Creation of a Hardware-Software Dynamic Signal Simulator of the Upgraded Inter-Satellite Radio Link of the GLONASS System

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 63-71
Author(s):  
A. A. Cherkasova ◽  
◽  
R. F. Salakhov ◽  
D. A. Astaсhov ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Information Transfer ◽  
Doppler Frequency ◽  
Radio Link ◽  
Satellite Measurements ◽  
Process Measurement ◽  
Signal Simulator ◽  
Information Transfer Rate ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Measuring Signal ◽  
Orthogonal Phase

This work is aimed at creating a hardware-software signal simulator of the upgraded inter-satellite radio link (ISRL) of the GLONASS system. The simulator shapes ISRL signals with dynamically changing parameters of the Doppler frequency shift and delay, which correspond to the mutual dynamics of spacecraft (SC) motion of the GLONASS system. The upgraded inter-satellite radio link will provide (as compared to the current ISRL) an increase in the information transfer rate of up to four times, as well as boost the accuracy of measuring the distance between satellites by two times. Modernization consists in complementing the radio signal of the second orthogonal (phase-shifted carrier frequency by 90 degrees relative to the existing one) component. To modernize the ISRL, it is necessary to create and verify new equipment for receiving and transmitting signals of the upgraded ISRL of the GLONASS system. The simulator is designed to process measurement algorithms embedded in the on-board equipment for inter-satellite measurements and assess their consistency. Consistency evaluation consists in measuring and analyzing the difference between the Doppler parameters and delay introduced into the signal and the estimation of these parameters in the receiving equipment of the ISRL. This difference will be the measurement error. Dynamic simulation is performed for 24 system points, corresponding to GLONASS satellites, on the half-period of satellite revolution (20 280 seconds). The signal is generated at the input of the antenna-feeder device of one of the satellites in accordance with the information for generating the measuring signal, parameters of the transmitters of the signals of the upgraded ISRL and the almanac of the satellite constellation (because the signal at the input of the antenna-feeder device of the navigation receiver incomes from several SC) specified by the user.

scholarly journals Flying in the Face of Adversity: A Drosophila-based Virtual CURE Provides Semester-long Authentic Research Opportunity to the Flipped Classroom.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward A Waddell ◽  
Dara Ruiz-Whalen ◽  
Alana M O'Reilly ◽  
Nathan T. Fried
Keyword(s):  
Flipped Classroom ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
Complex Design ◽  
Research Opportunity ◽  
The Face ◽  
Upper Level

A call for the integration of research experiences into all biology curricula has been a major goal for educational reform efforts nationally. Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) have been the predominant method of accomplishing this, but their associated costs and complex design can limit their wide adoption. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced programs to identify unique ways to still provide authentic research experiences while students were virtual. We report here a full guide for the successful implementation of a semester-long virtual CURE that uses Drosophila behavioral assays to explore the connection between pain and addiction with the use of a "lab-in-a-box" sent home to students. Individual components were piloted across three semesters and launched as a 100-level introductory course with 19 students. We found that this course increased science identity and successfully improved key research competencies as per the Undergraduate Research Student Self-Assessment (URSSA) survey. This course is ideal for flipped classrooms ranging from introductory biology to upper-level neuroscience courses and can be integrated directly into the lecture period without the need for building a new course. Given the low cost, recent comfort with virtual learning environments, and the current proliferation of flipped biology classrooms following the 2020 pandemic, this curriculum could serve as an ideal project-based active-learning tool for equitably increasing access to authentic research experiences.

scholarly journals Towards the non-zero field cesium magnetic sensor array for magnetoencephalography

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikhail Petrenko ◽  
Sergei Dmitriev ◽  
Anatoly Pazgalev ◽  
Alex Ossadtchi ◽  
Anton Vershovskii
Keyword(s):  
Information Transfer ◽  
Sensor Array ◽  
Response Speed ◽  
Magnetic Sensors ◽  
Zero Field ◽  
Optically Pumped ◽  
Noise Spectral Density ◽  
Information Transfer Rate ◽  
Field Sensor ◽  
Better Than

Magnetic sensors developed for application in magnetoencephalography must meet a number of requirements; the main ones are compactness, sensitivity and response speed. We present a quantum optically pumped atomic sensor with cell volume of 0.5cm<sup>3</sup> that meets these requirements and is operable in nonzero magnetic fields. The ultimate sensitivity of the sensor was estimated as (using the criteria of the ratio of the slope of the magnetic resonance signal to the shot noise spectral density) to be better than 5 fT/Hz<sup>1/2</sup>. The actual sensitivity, measured in a gradiometric scheme, reaches 13 fT/Hz<sup>1/2 </sup>per sensor. We also present a novel and fast algorithm for optimization of the geometric properties of non-zero field sensor array with respect to maximization of the information transfer rate for cortical sources.<br>

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document