Exploring the impact of target eccentricity and task difficulty on covert visual spatial attention and its implications for brain computer interfacing.
OBJECTIVE: Covert visual spatial attention is a relatively new task used in brain computer interfaces (BCIs) and little is known about the characteristics which may affect performance in BCI tasks. We investigated whether eccentricity and task difficulty affect alpha lateralization and BCI performan...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2013-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3849183?pdf=render |
| _version_ | 1819022324229210112 |
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| author | Linsey Roijendijk Jason Farquhar Marcel van Gerven Ole Jensen Stan Gielen |
| author_facet | Linsey Roijendijk Jason Farquhar Marcel van Gerven Ole Jensen Stan Gielen |
| author_sort | Linsey Roijendijk |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | OBJECTIVE: Covert visual spatial attention is a relatively new task used in brain computer interfaces (BCIs) and little is known about the characteristics which may affect performance in BCI tasks. We investigated whether eccentricity and task difficulty affect alpha lateralization and BCI performance. APPROACH: We conducted a magnetoencephalography study with 14 participants who performed a covert orientation discrimination task at an easy or difficult stimulus contrast at either a near (3.5°) or far (7°) eccentricity. Task difficulty was manipulated block wise and subjects were aware of the difficulty level of each block. MAIN RESULTS: Grand average analyses revealed a significantly larger hemispheric lateralization of posterior alpha power in the difficult condition than in the easy condition, while surprisingly no difference was found for eccentricity. The difference between task difficulty levels was significant in the interval between 1.85 s and 2.25 s after cue onset and originated from a stronger decrease in the contralateral hemisphere. No significant effect of eccentricity was found. Additionally, single-trial classification analysis revealed a higher classification rate in the difficult (65.9%) than in the easy task condition (61.1%). No effect of eccentricity was found in classification rate. SIGNIFICANCE: Our results indicate that manipulating the difficulty of a task gives rise to variations in alpha lateralization and that using a more difficult task improves covert visual spatial attention BCI performance. The variations in the alpha lateralization could be caused by different factors such as an increased mental effort or a higher visual attentional demand. Further research is necessary to discriminate between them. We did not discover any effect of eccentricity in contrast to results of previous research. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T04:21:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8473c55952f34eb58ffe65610156e666 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T04:21:11Z |
| publishDate | 2013-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-8473c55952f34eb58ffe65610156e6662022-12-21T19:16:10ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032013-01-01812e8048910.1371/journal.pone.0080489Exploring the impact of target eccentricity and task difficulty on covert visual spatial attention and its implications for brain computer interfacing.Linsey RoijendijkJason FarquharMarcel van GervenOle JensenStan GielenOBJECTIVE: Covert visual spatial attention is a relatively new task used in brain computer interfaces (BCIs) and little is known about the characteristics which may affect performance in BCI tasks. We investigated whether eccentricity and task difficulty affect alpha lateralization and BCI performance. APPROACH: We conducted a magnetoencephalography study with 14 participants who performed a covert orientation discrimination task at an easy or difficult stimulus contrast at either a near (3.5°) or far (7°) eccentricity. Task difficulty was manipulated block wise and subjects were aware of the difficulty level of each block. MAIN RESULTS: Grand average analyses revealed a significantly larger hemispheric lateralization of posterior alpha power in the difficult condition than in the easy condition, while surprisingly no difference was found for eccentricity. The difference between task difficulty levels was significant in the interval between 1.85 s and 2.25 s after cue onset and originated from a stronger decrease in the contralateral hemisphere. No significant effect of eccentricity was found. Additionally, single-trial classification analysis revealed a higher classification rate in the difficult (65.9%) than in the easy task condition (61.1%). No effect of eccentricity was found in classification rate. SIGNIFICANCE: Our results indicate that manipulating the difficulty of a task gives rise to variations in alpha lateralization and that using a more difficult task improves covert visual spatial attention BCI performance. The variations in the alpha lateralization could be caused by different factors such as an increased mental effort or a higher visual attentional demand. Further research is necessary to discriminate between them. We did not discover any effect of eccentricity in contrast to results of previous research.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3849183?pdf=render |
| spellingShingle | Linsey Roijendijk Jason Farquhar Marcel van Gerven Ole Jensen Stan Gielen Exploring the impact of target eccentricity and task difficulty on covert visual spatial attention and its implications for brain computer interfacing. PLoS ONE |
| title | Exploring the impact of target eccentricity and task difficulty on covert visual spatial attention and its implications for brain computer interfacing. |
| title_full | Exploring the impact of target eccentricity and task difficulty on covert visual spatial attention and its implications for brain computer interfacing. |
| title_fullStr | Exploring the impact of target eccentricity and task difficulty on covert visual spatial attention and its implications for brain computer interfacing. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Exploring the impact of target eccentricity and task difficulty on covert visual spatial attention and its implications for brain computer interfacing. |
| title_short | Exploring the impact of target eccentricity and task difficulty on covert visual spatial attention and its implications for brain computer interfacing. |
| title_sort | exploring the impact of target eccentricity and task difficulty on covert visual spatial attention and its implications for brain computer interfacing |
| url | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3849183?pdf=render |
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