Meng Jianjun, Wu Zehan, Li Songwei, Zhu Xiangyang
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
Department of Neurosurgery, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Front Hum Neurosci. 2022 Jan 24;15:773603. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2021.773603. eCollection 2021.
Motor imagery-based brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) have been studied without controlling subjects' gaze fixation position previously. The effect of gaze fixation and covert attention on the behavioral performance of BCI is still unknown. This study designed a gaze fixation controlled experiment. Subjects were required to conduct a secondary task of gaze fixation when performing the primary task of motor imagination. Subjects' performance was analyzed according to the relationship between motor imagery target and the gaze fixation position, resulting in three BCI control conditions, i.e., congruent, incongruent, and center cross trials. A group of fourteen subjects was recruited. The average group performances of three different conditions did not show statistically significant differences in terms of BCI control accuracy, feedback duration, and trajectory length. Further analysis of gaze shift response time revealed a significantly shorter response time for congruent trials compared to incongruent trials. Meanwhile, the parietal occipital cortex also showed active neural activities for congruent and incongruent trials, and this was revealed by a contrast analysis of R-square values and lateralization index. However, the lateralization index computed from the parietal and occipital areas was not correlated with the BCI behavioral performance. Subjects' BCI behavioral performance was not affected by the position of gaze fixation and covert attention. This indicated that motor imagery-based BCI could be used freely in robotic arm control without sacrificing performance.
基于运动想象的脑机接口(BCI)此前在未控制受试者注视位置的情况下进行了研究。注视和隐蔽注意对BCI行为表现的影响仍然未知。本研究设计了一项注视控制实验。要求受试者在执行运动想象的主要任务时进行注视的次要任务。根据运动想象目标与注视位置之间的关系分析受试者的表现,从而产生三种BCI控制条件,即一致、不一致和中心十字试验。招募了一组14名受试者。在BCI控制准确性、反馈持续时间和轨迹长度方面,三种不同条件下的平均组表现没有显示出统计学上的显著差异。对注视转移反应时间的进一步分析显示,与不一致试验相比,一致试验的反应时间明显更短。同时,顶枕叶皮层在一致和不一致试验中也显示出活跃的神经活动,这通过对R平方值和偏侧化指数的对比分析得以揭示。然而,从顶叶和枕叶区域计算出的偏侧化指数与BCI行为表现无关。受试者的BCI行为表现不受注视位置和隐蔽注意的影响。这表明基于运动想象的BCI可以在不牺牲性能的情况下自由用于机器人手臂控制。