Assessing Internal and External Attention in AR using Brain Computer Interfaces: A Pilot Study

Most research works featuring AR and Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) systems are not taking advantage of the opportunities to integrate the two planes of data. Additionally, AR devices that use a Head-Mounted Display (HMD) face one major problem: constant closeness to a screen makes it hard to avoid distractions within the virtual environment. In this project, we reduced this distraction by including information about the current attentional state. We first introduce a clip-on solution for AR-BCI integration. A simple game was designed for the Microsoft HoloLens 2, which changed in real time according to the user's state of attention measured via electroencephalography (EEG). The system only responded if the attentional orientation was classified as “external.” Fourteen users tested the attention-aware system; we show that the augmentation of the interface improved the usability of the system. We conclude that more systems would benefit from clearly visualizing the user's ongoing attentional state as well as further efficient integration of AR and BCI headsets.