Improved signal processing approaches in an offline simulation of a hybrid brain-computer interface

In a conventional brain-computer interface (BCI) system, users perform mental tasks that yield specific patterns of brain activity. A pattern recognition system determines which brain activity pattern a user is producing and thereby infers the user's mental task, allowing users to send messages or commands through brain activity alone. Unfortunately, despite extensive research to improve classification accuracy, BCIs almost always exhibit errors, which are sometimes so severe that effective communication is impossible. We recently introduced a new idea to improve accuracy, especially for users with poor performance. In an offline simulation of a "hybrid" BCI, subjects performed two mental tasks independently and then simultaneously. This hybrid BCI could use two different types of brain signals common in BCIs - event-related desynchronization (ERD) and steady-state evoked potentials (SSEPs). This study suggested that such a hybrid BCI is feasible. Here, we re-analyzed the data from our initial study. We explored eight different signal processing methods that aimed to improve classification and further assess both the causes and the extent of the benefits of the hybrid condition. Most analyses showed that the improved methods described here yielded a statistically significant improvement over our initial study. Some of these improvements could be relevant to conventional BCIs as well. Moreover, the number of illiterates could be reduced with the hybrid condition. Results are also discussed in terms of dual task interference and relevance to protocol design in hybrid BCIs. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.