Faces, locations, and tools: a proposed two-stimulus P300 brain computer interface

Brain computer interface (BCI) technology can be important for those unable to communicate due to loss of muscle control. Given that the P300 Speller provides a relatively slow rate of communication, highly accurate classification is of great importance. Previous studies have shown that alternative stimuli (e.g. faces) can improve BCI speed and accuracy. The present study uses two new alternative stimuli, locations and graspable tools. Functional MRI studies have shown that images of familiar locations produce brain responses in the parahippocampal place area and graspable tools produce brain responses in premotor cortex.

The current studies show that location and tool stimuli produce unique and discriminable brain responses that can be used to improve offline classification accuracy. Experiment 1 presented face stimuli and location stimuli and Experiment 2 presented location and tool stimuli.

In both experiments, offline results showed that a stimulus specific classifier provided higher accuracy, speed, and bit rate.

This study was used to provide preliminary offline support for using unique stimuli to improve speed and accuracy of the P300 Speller. Additional experiments should be conducted to examine the online efficacy of this novel paradigm.