CIMeC seminar - Konstantinos Priftis

21^st February 2013
3pm

• Konstantinos Priftis, Università di Padova

Title: Covert visuospatial attention orienting in a brain-computer interface for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis patients

Abstract: Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) allow participants to control devices (e.g., computers, wheelchairs, domotic houses, etc.), by translating participants’ brain signals into commands. Thus, BCIs represent a concrete solution for communication and motor control disabilities of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Most of the BCIs rely on visual interfaces, in which patients must move their eyes to reach efficient BCI control. This fact represents a limit of BCI use in ALS patients who are in the latest stages of the disease. We aimed to improve visual interfaces for ALS patients, by requiring them to orient their covert visuospatial attention (i.e., orienting without eye movements) to control the movement of a cursor on a monitor. Ten ALS patients with different levels of impairment used two new visual interfaces in an ERP-based BCI. In the first interface, ALS patients were required to use exogenous visuospatial attention orienting, whereas in the second interface they were required to use endogenous visuospatial attention orienting. ALS patients were able to use the two interfaces for controlling the ERP(event–related potentials) -based BCI system in real time. Nevertheless, better target classification and information transfer rate were associated with the interface that was based on endogenous visuospatial attention orienting. Thus, ALS patients can exploit their covert visuospatial attention orienting to control a BCI that does not require eye movements. We suggest that the implementation of endogenous visuospatial attention orienting is suitable for designing more ergonomic and efficient BCIs for ALS patients with impaired eye movements.