Classification effects on Motion-Onset Visual Evoked Potentials using commercially available video games

Abstract

Motion Onset Visually Evoked Potentials (mVEPs) are elicited by visual stimuli that offer a more elegant, less fatiguing visual presentation than other stimuli used in visual evoked potentials (VEPs) studies. mVEP for use in brain computer interface (BCI) video gaming offer users a pleasant presentation environment to play video games. Modern, commercially available video games are a popular form of entertainment offering visually compelling, dynamic and graphically complex environments. However, most popular games exhibit visually fatiguing properties such as moving, flashing imagery and complex 3D shapes which may hinder accuracies of certain BCI paradigms. Because mVEP relies on motion visual stimulus rather than flashing imagery, it may be more apposite for use within complex game environments than other VEPs such as P300 and SSVEP. In this study we investigate the potential impact of varying levels of graphical fidelity from commercially available video games within an mVEP BCI control scheme. Building on a previous study, which investigated simplistic 3D based game levels, the current study investigates increased visual complexity in commercially available games from five different generations of gaming console and from different genres. We compared the visual effects of each of the five games on mVEP detection accuracy and found some of the more primitive properties of video games such as the use of primary colours, dynamic character movement, flashing imagery and the pace of the games have an influence on detection accuracies. These findings provide information relevant to design of a mVEP BCI game which is visually appealing to a wide range of users whilst maintaining mVEP accuracies.