Centroparietal Alpha/Beta Asymmetry in Response to Urgency Elicited by Upper Body Vibration

Haptic feedback seems effective in conveying information at a desirable level of urgency. There is a growing interest in understanding the neural mechanisms associated with haptic feedback using electroencephalography (EEG) measures. In particular, EEG hemispheric asymmetry is known to be correlated with various cognitive functions such as emotions, stress, anxiety, and attention. The current study aimed to investigate EEG hemispheric asymmetry associated with perceived urgency elicited using vibration feedback on the upper body. A total of 31 participants experienced three vibration patterns designed to elicit three levels of urgency, namely the no vibration pattern (NVP), urgent vibration pattern (UVP), and very urgent vibration pattern (VUVP). In the event-related potential (ERP) analysis, N100, P200, and P300 components were observed under the UVP and VUVP conditions. Notably, these components were absent under the NVP condition. The P200 and P300 ERP components as well as the participants' self-reporting confirmed the two distinguishable levels of perceived urgency (urgent and very urgent). Furthermore, the alpha and beta hemispheric asymmetry in the centroparietal area was significantly higher in the UVP and VUVP conditions as compared to the NVP condition between 500 ms and 2000 ms after the stimulation onset (One-way ANOVA test, Bonferroni correction, p $< $ 0.05). This is the first study to investigate the EEG asymmetry in response to perceived urgency elicited by upper body vibrations. These results suggest that the alpha and beta hemispheric asymmetry in the centroparietal area is a valid feature for detecting urgency elicited by vibrations on the upper body.