%0 Journal Article %J Front Neurosci %D 2011 %T Rapid Communication with a "P300" Matrix Speller Using Electrocorticographic Signals (ECoG). %A Peter Brunner %A A L Ritaccio %A Emrich, Joseph F %A H Bischof %A Gerwin Schalk %K brain-computer interface %K Electrocorticography %K event-related potential %K P300 %K speller %X

brain-computer interface (BCI) can provide a non-muscular communication channel to severely disabled people. One particular realization of a BCI is the P300 matrix speller that was originally described by Farwell and Donchin (1988). This speller uses event-related potentials (ERPs) that include the P300 ERP. All previous online studies of the P300 matrix speller used scalp-recorded electroencephalography (EEG) and were limited in their communication performance to only a few characters per minute. In our study, we investigated the feasibility of using electrocorticographic (ECoG) signals for online operation of the matrix speller, and determined associated spelling rates. We used the matrix speller that is implemented in the BCI2000 system. This speller used ECoG signals that were recorded from frontal, parietal, and occipital areas in one subject. This subject spelled a total of 444 characters in online experiments. The results showed that the subject sustained a rate of 17 characters/min (i.e., 69 bits/min), and achieved a peak rate of 22 characters/min (i.e., 113 bits/min). Detailed analysis of the results suggests that ERPs over visual areas (i.e., visual evoked potentials) contribute significantly to the performance of the matrix speller BCI system. Our results also point to potential reasons for the apparent advantages in spelling performance of ECoG compared to EEG. Thus, with additional verification in more subjects, these results may further extend the communication options for people with serious neuromuscular disabilities.

%B Front Neurosci %V 5 %P 5 %8 02/2011 %G eng %U http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21369351 %R 10.3389/fnins.2011.00005 %0 Journal Article %J Clinical neurophysiology : official journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology %D 2009 %T Toward a high-throughput auditory P300-based brain-computer interface. %A Klobassa, D. S. %A Theresa M Vaughan %A Peter Brunner %A Schwartz, N. E. %A Jonathan Wolpaw %A Neuper, C. %A Sellers, E. W. %K brain-computer interface %K brain-machine interface %K EEG %K event-related potential %K P300 %K Rehabilitation %X OBJECTIVE: Brain-computer interface (BCI) technology can provide severely disabled people with non-muscular communication. For those most severely disabled, limitations in eye mobility or visual acuity may necessitate auditory BCI systems. The present study investigates the efficacy of the use of six environmental sounds to operate a 6x6 P300 Speller. METHODS: A two-group design was used to ascertain whether participants benefited from visual cues early in training. Group A (N=5) received only auditory stimuli during all 11 sessions, whereas Group AV (N=5) received simultaneous auditory and visual stimuli in initial sessions after which the visual stimuli were systematically removed. Stepwise linear discriminant analysis determined the matrix item that elicited the largest P300 response and thereby identified the desired choice. RESULTS: Online results and offline analyses showed that the two groups achieved equivalent accuracy. In the last session, eight of 10 participants achieved 50% or more, and four of these achieved 75% or more, online accuracy (2.8% accuracy expected by chance). Mean bit rates averaged about 2 bits/min, and maximum bit rates reached 5.6 bits/min. CONCLUSIONS: This study indicates that an auditory P300 BCI is feasible, that reasonable classification accuracy and rate of communication are achievable, and that the paradigm should be further evaluated with a group of severely disabled participants who have limited visual mobility. SIGNIFICANCE: With further development, this auditory P300 BCI could be of substantial value to severely disabled people who cannot use a visual BCI. %B Clinical neurophysiology : official journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology %V 120 %P 1252–1261 %8 07/2009 %G eng %U http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19574091 %R 10.1016/j.clinph.2009.04.019