Standardization of protocol design for user training in EEG-based brain-computer interface

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) facilitate machine interaction via neural activity.
• Current BCI user training protocols lack standardization, impacting performance and reproducibility.
• User training is essential for enhancing BCI understanding, motivation, and system efficacy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To address critical issues in BCI user training protocol design.
• To propose a standardized protocol for BCI user training.
• To enhance BCI system performance and experimental reproducibility.

Main Methods:

• Divided BCI user training into introductory and interaction periods.
• Conducted an extensive literature review on introductory training methodologies.
• Adapted human-computer interaction user training models for BCI context.
• Analyzed the impact of interface design and perceptual affordance on neural activity.

Main Results:

• BCI performance is significantly influenced by introductory training methodologies.
• Lack of standardized interface design and introductory protocols hinders reproducibility.
• Perceptual affordance effects on neural activity, relevant to BCI, remain under-investigated.

Conclusions:

• Standardizing BCI user training protocols is essential for consistent results.
• Both introductory training and interface design require standardized guidelines.
• Proposed standardization aims to improve BCI research reproducibility and user experience.