PsychNology Journal, Volume 6, Number 1, 99 - 108

Task and Stimulation Paradigm Effects in a P300 Brain Computer Interface Exploitable in a Virtual Environment: A Pilot Study

Francesco Piccione, Paolo Tonin, Marianna Cavinato, Antonio Merico, Lamberto Piron    
IRCCS San Camillo Hospital, Lido di Venezia, Italy

Konstantinos Priftis
Dept. of General Psychology, University of Padova, Italy

Denis Vidale, Roberto Furlan
Khymeia S.R.L., Padova, Italy

Abstract 
The aim of the present study is to compare different visual elicitation paradigms exploitable in a Virtual Environment in order to establish whether the BCI is affected by the structure of the elicitation paradigm, the modalities of stimulus presentation, and the complexity of stimulus recognition and semantic processing.
We have developed a device which can control the motion of a cursor on a computer graphical interface, using ERPs (Piccione et al., 2006). Subsequently, we tested different visual elicitation paradigms which evoked P300 waves to control the movement of an object in a virtual environment. Visual stimuli, consisting of four arrows (forward, right, back, left), were randomly presented in peripheral positions of a virtual environment. Users were instructed to recognize only the stimulus related to the preferred object movement direction (target). The sum of the absolute differences between target and non-target traces (ra index) was compared in the different elicitation paradigms. Results showed a significant reduction of ra index with the use of more semantically complex paradigms. Therefore, the P300 BCI system seems to be affected by the structure of the elicitation paradigm, the modalities of stimulus presentation, and the complexity of stimulus recognition and semantic processing. 

Keywords: BCI, ERP, P300, Visual Paradigms, Virtual Environment.

Cite as: 
Piccione F., Priftis K., Tonin P., Vidale D., Furlan R., Cavinato M., Merico A. and Piron L. (2008). Task and Stimulation Paradigm Effects in a P300 Brain Computer Interface Exploitable in a Virtual Environment: A Pilot Study. PsychNology Journal, 6(1), 99 - 108. Retrieved [month] [day], [year], from www.psychnology.org.

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