Department of Experimental Psychology, The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, 20-950 Lublin, Poland.
Cortivision sp. z o.o., 20-803 Lublin, Poland.
Sensors (Basel). 2022 Apr 20;22(9):3133. doi: 10.3390/s22093133.
An improvement in ecological validity is one of the significant challenges for 21st-century neuroscience. At the same time, the study of neurocognitive processes in real-life situations requires good control of all variables relevant to the results. One possible solution that combines the capability of creating realistic experimental scenarios with adequate control of the test environment is virtual reality. Our goal was to develop an integrative research workspace involving a CW-fNIRS and head-mounted-display (HMD) technology dedicated to offline and online cognitive experiments. We designed an experimental study in a repeated-measures model on a group of BCI-naïve participants to verify our assumptions. The procedure included a 3D environment-adapted variant of the classic n-back task (2-back version). Tasks were divided into offline (calibration) and online (feedback) sessions. In both sessions, the signal was recorded during the cognitive task for within-group comparisons of changes in oxy-Hb concentration in the regions of interest (the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex-DLPFC and middle frontal gyrus-MFG). In the online session, the recorded signal changes were translated into real-time feedback. We hypothesized that it would be possible to obtain significantly higher than the level-of-chance threshold classification accuracy for the enhanced attention engagement (2-back task) vs. relaxed state in both conditions. Additionally, we measured participants' subjective experiences of the BCI control in terms of satisfaction. Our results confirmed hypotheses regarding the offline condition. In accordance with the hypotheses, combining fNIRS and HMD technologies enables the effective transfer of experimental cognitive procedures to a controlled VR environment. This opens the new possibility of creating more ecologically valid studies and training procedures.
提高生态效度是 21 世纪神经科学面临的重大挑战之一。与此同时，在现实生活情境中研究神经认知过程需要对所有与结果相关的变量进行良好的控制。虚拟现实是一种将创建逼真实验场景的能力与对测试环境的充分控制相结合的可能解决方案。我们的目标是开发一个综合研究工作区，涉及 CW-fNIRS 和头戴式显示器 (HMD) 技术，专门用于离线和在线认知实验。我们设计了一项在一组 BCI 新手参与者中进行的重复测量模型的实验研究，以验证我们的假设。该过程包括经典 n-back 任务（2-back 版本）的 3D 环境自适应变体。任务分为离线（校准）和在线（反馈）两个阶段。在两个阶段中，在认知任务期间记录信号，以比较感兴趣区域（背外侧前额叶皮层-DLPFC 和额中回-MFG）中氧合 Hb 浓度的变化。在在线阶段，记录的信号变化被转换为实时反馈。我们假设，在两种情况下，与放松状态相比，增强注意力参与（2-back 任务）的分类准确性都有可能显著高于机会水平阈值。此外，我们还根据满意度衡量了参与者对 BCI 控制的主观体验。我们的结果证实了关于离线条件的假设。与假设一致，将 fNIRS 和 HMD 技术相结合，能够有效地将实验认知程序转移到受控的 VR 环境中。这为创建更具生态效度的研究和培训程序开辟了新的可能性。
