title: Prediction of P300 BCI aptitude in severe motor impairment.
abstract: Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) provide a non-muscular communication channel for persons with severe motor impairments. Previous studies have shown that the aptitude with which a BCI can be controlled varies from person to person. A reliable predictor of performance could facilitate selection of a suitable BCI paradigm. Eleven severely motor impaired participants performed three sessions of a P300 BCI web browsing task. Before each session auditory oddball data were collected to predict the BCI aptitude of the participants exhibited in the current session. We found a strong relationship of early positive and negative potentials around 200 ms (elicited with the auditory oddball task) with performance. The amplitude of the P2 (r  =  -0.77) and of the N2 (r  =  -0.86) had the strongest correlations. Aptitude prediction using an auditory oddball was successful. The finding that the N2 amplitude is a stronger predictor of performance than P3 amplitude was reproduced after initially showing this effect with a healthy sample of BCI users. This will reduce strain on the end-users by minimizing the time needed to find suitable paradigms and inspire new approaches to improve performance.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany ; Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany ; Department of Computer Engineering, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Halder
authors.forename: Carolin Anne
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Ruf
authors.forename: Adrian
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Furdea
authors.forename: Emanuele
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pasqualotto
authors.forename: Daniele
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: De Massari
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: van der Heiden
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bogdan
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Rosenstiel
authors.forename: Niels
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Birbaumer
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kübler
authors.forename: Tamara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matuz
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D001921:Brain; D062207:Brain-Computer Interfaces; D004569:Electroencephalography; D018913:Event-Related Potentials, P300; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009043:Motor Activity; D020388:Muscular Dystrophy, Duchenne / Q000503:physiopathology; D010775:Photic Stimulation