Single-Trial Detection in Rapid Serial Visual Presentation Task using the Lilac Chaser Visual Illusion

Abstract

Single-trial detection of event-related potentials (ERPs) with electroencephalography (EEG) signals during Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP) tasks is a difficult problem. It is also a difficult and tedious task for participants who must keep their attention throughout the total duration of the task. Long EEG experimental sessions can be boring and impact the quality of the recorded signals and the user experience as participant. It is necessary to provide tools that allow participants to better focus on the desired stimuli. Several approaches can be performed to enhance single-trial detection, including the development of machine learning techniques. In this paper, we propose to enhance the experimental conditions by adding the Lilac Chaser visual illusion. We assessed the effect of the Lilac Chaser visual illusion during an RSVP task with targets and non-targets with 10 participants with images of human faces. While the Lilac Chaser brings additional visual stimuli that can be considered as distractors during the task, the performance of single-trial detection using the area under the ROC curve as a measure of performance does not change (about 0.89). The results suggest that the Lilac Chaser can be added as a means for users to be self-aware about their attention to the task, without decreasing the performance of ERP single-trial detection.