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Steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEP) based paradigm is a conventional BCI method with the advantages of high information transfer rate, high tolerance to artifacts and the robust performance across users. But the occurrence of mental load and fatigue when users stare at flickering stimuli is a critical problem in implementation of SSVEP-based BCIs. Based on electroencephalography (EEG) power indices α, θ, θ + α, ratio index θ/α and response properties of amplitude and SNR, this study quantitatively evaluated the mental load and fatigue in both of conventional flickering and the novel motion-reversal visual attention tasks. Results over nine subjects revealed significant mental load alleviation in motion-reversal task rather than flickering task. The interaction between factors of “stimulation type” and “fatigue level” also illustrated the motion-reversal stimulation as a superior anti-fatigue solution for long-term BCI operation. Taken together, our work provided an objective method favorable for the design of more practically applicable steady-state evoked potential based BCIs.

In this study, we utilize a special visual stimulation protocol, called motion reversal, to present a novel steady-state motion visual evoked potential (SSMVEP)-based BCI paradigm that relied on human perception of motions oscillated in two opposite directions. Four Newton's rings with the oscillating expansion and contraction motions served as visual stimulators to elicit subjects' SSMVEPs. And four motion reversal frequencies of 8.1, 9.8, 12.25 and 14 Hz were tested. According to Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA), the offline accuracy and ITR (mean ± standard deviation) over six healthy subjects were 86.56±9.63% and 15.93±3.83 bits/min, respectively. All subjects except one exceeded the level of 80% mean accuracy. Circular Hotelling's T-Squared test () also demonstrated that most subjects exhibited significantly strong stimulus-locked SSMVEP responses. The results of declining exponential fittings exhibited low-adaptation characteristics over the 100-s stimulation sequences in most experimental conditions. Taken together, these results suggest that the proposed paradigm can provide comparable performance with low-adaptation characteristic and less visual discomfort for BCI applications.

Analytical and numerical studies of approximate phase velocity matching based nonlinear S0 mode Lamb waves for the detection of evenly distributed microstructural changes View the table of contents for this issue, or go to the journal homepage for more 2016 Smart Mater. Struct. 25 045023