Brains and Blocks

Abstract

Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) hardware is becoming more affordable and accessible. However, there is limited work investigating ways to design software that broadens participation with BCI technology. In this article, we present a block-based programming environment designed to assist novice programmers with creating BCI applications. We also discuss learning barriers encountered by novice programmers developing neurofeedback applications. Our findings suggest that visual programming assists novice programmers with building basic BCI applications; however, students may experience understanding and learning barriers initially. CCS Concepts: • Social and professional topics → Computing education; • Human-centered computing → Interactive systems and tools;

Block-based syntax from context-free grammars

“…Block-based environments have seen many uses in the software engineering field [1,2,11,37,50,51]. They have also been widely investigated as educational tools [9,13,22,25,31,46,49]. However, developing block-based environments currently lacks solid engineering principles, which leads to ad-hoc implementation using various technologies and frameworks.…”