title: 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.
authors.affiliation: 1Neuroelectrical Imaging and BCI Laboratory, Fondazione Santa Lucia Rome, Italy ; 2Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Riccio
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Simione
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Schettini
authors.forename: Alessia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pizzimenti
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Inghilleri
authors.forename: Marta Olivetti
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Belardinelli
authors.forename: Donatella
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mattia
authors.forename: Febo
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cincotti
keywords: P300; amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; attention; brain computer interface; working memory