Frontal alpha asymmetry interaction with an experimental story EEG brain-computer interface

Claudia Krogmeier; Brandon S Coventry; Christos Mousas

doi:10.3389/fnhum.2022.883467

Frontal alpha asymmetry interaction with an experimental story EEG brain-computer interface

Front Hum Neurosci. 2022 Aug 12:16:883467. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.883467. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Claudia Krogmeier¹, Brandon S Coventry^{2

3}, Christos Mousas¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Computer Graphics Technology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, United States.
² Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States.
³ Wisconsin Institute for Translational Neuroengineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States.

Abstract

Although interest in brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) from researchers and consumers continues to increase, many BCIs lack the complexity and imaginative properties thought to guide users toward successful brain activity modulation. We investigate the possibility of using a complex BCI by developing an experimental story environment with which users interact through cognitive thought strategies. In our system, the user's frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) measured with electroencephalography (EEG) is linearly mapped to the color saturation of the main character in the story. We implemented a user-friendly experimental design using a comfortable EEG device and short neurofeedback (NF) training protocol. In our system, seven out of 19 participants successfully increased FAA during the course of the study, for a total of ten successful blocks out of 152. We detail our results concerning left and right prefrontal cortical activity contributions to FAA in both successful and unsuccessful story blocks. Additionally, we examine inter-subject correlations of EEG data, and self-reported questionnaire data to understand the user experience of BCI interaction. Results suggest the potential of imaginative story BCI environments for engaging users and allowing for FAA modulation. Our data suggests new research directions for BCIs investigating emotion and motivation through FAA.

Keywords: affective computing; avant-garde; brain-computer interfaces; electroencephalography; frontal alpha asymmetry; inter-subject correlations; neurofeedback; story.