Evaluating the effectiveness of different external cues on non-invasive brain-computer interfaces

Although BCI technology has vastly improved in the last few years, very little research has been done into how different types of cues may affect the resulting signal. We have conducted preliminary work to examine the effects of using auditory versus visual cues on MRCP signal detection. While our sample size was small (n=5), the data for auditory and visual cues were not statistically different for young, healthy participants, suggesting that they are comparable for the parameters analyzed. Our results indicated that audio and visual cues likely produce similar MRCP signals, which is useful information for designing non-invasive BCIs. Future work includes expanding the sample size and conducting work with special needs populations, such as children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), who are known to have strong preferences for different interfaces.