Proceedings of the 6th International Brain-Computer Interface Conference 2014

DOI:10.3217/978-3-85125-378-8-32

Spatial Tactile Brain-Computer Interface Paradigm
Applying Vibration Stimuli to Large Areas of User’s
BackTakumi Kodama1⇤, Shoji Makino1,⇤ and Tomasz M. Rutkowski1,2,⇤,†
1Life Science Center of TARA, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan
2
RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Wako-shi, Japan
tomek@bci-lab.info
http://bci-lab.info
Abstract

We aim at an augmentation of communication abilities of locked-in syndrome (LIS) patients bycreating a brain-computer interface (BCI) which can control a computer or other device by using only
brain activity. As a method, we use a stimulus–driven BCI based on vibration stimuli delivered via
a gaming pad to the user’s back. We identify P300 responses from brain activity data in response to
the vibration stimuli. The user’s intentions are classified according to the P300 responses recorded inthe EEG. From the results of the psychophysical and online BCI experiments, we are able to classify
successfully the P300 responses, which proves the effectiveness of the proposed method.

1Introduction

Recently, vibrotactile–based somatosensory modality BCIs have gained in popularity [1, 4, 2]. We
propose an alternative tactile BCI which uses P300 brain responses to a somatosensory stimulation delivered to larger areas of the user’s back, defined as a back–tactile BCI (btBCI). We conduct experiments
by applying vibration stimuli to the user’s back, which allows us to stimulate places at larger distanceson the body in order to test our hypothesis of the full body-based tactile BCI paradigm validity. The
stimulated back areas are both shoulders, the waist and the hips. In order to do so, we utilize a haptic
gaming pad “ZEUS VYBE” by Disney & Comfort Research. An audio signal pad’s input allows forthe delivery of a sound pattern activating spatial tactile patterns of vibrotactile transducers embedded
within the device. In the experiments reported in this paper, the users lay down on the gaming pad andinteracted with tactile stimulus patterns delivered in an oddball–style paradigm to their backs, as shownin Figure 1. The reason for using the horizontal position of the gaming pad, developed for a seatedsetting, is that bedridden users, with intact afferent neural fibers [5], could easily utilize it and it could
also serve as a muscle massage preventing the formation of bedsores.

2Methods

In the research project reported in this paper the psychophysical and online EEG experiments werecarried out with able–bodied, BCI–naive users. Seven healthy users participated in the study (threemales and four females) with a mean age of 25 years (standard deviation of 7.8 years). The users
were paid for their participation. All the experiments were performed at the Life Science Center of⇤ The author was supported in part by the Strategic Information and Communications R&D Promotion Program no. 121803027
of The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications in Japan.
† The corresponding author.

1

Published by Graz University of Technology Publishing House

Article ID 032-1

Proceedings of the 6th International Brain-Computer Interface Conference 2014

DOI:10.3217/978-3-85125-378-8-32

Confusion matrix of the psychophysical responses
100
6 0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.7%

0.7%

98.5%

0.0%

5 0.0%

0.0%

1.5%

1.5%

97.1%

0.0%

0.0%

4 0.7%

0.7%

0.0%

97.8%

0.0%

0.7%

0.0%

3 0.0%

0.0%

98.6%

0.0%

0.7%

0.7%

0.0%

2 0.0%

100.0% 0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

1 99.3%

0.7%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

12345subject response

6N

9080

instructed target

7060
5040
3020Figure 1: A btBCI user lying on the gaming pad as in theexperiments reported in this paper. The g.USBamp byg.tec with g.LADYbird electrodes is also depicted. The
photograph is included with the user’s permission.

100Figure 2: Psychophysical experiment grandmean averaged accuracies with scores
above 97% for each of the six commands.
“N” stands for no–response cases.

TARA, University of Tsukuba, Japan. The procedures for the psychophysical experiments and EEG
recordings for the BCI paradigm were approved by the Ethical Committee of the Faculty of Engineering,
Information and Systems at the University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan. Each participant signed to giveinformed consent to taking part in the experiments. The psychophysical experiments were conductedto investigate the recognition accuracy and response times to the stimuli delivered from the gaming

Figure 3: Grand mean averaged ERP for target (purple line) and non–target (blue line) stimuli. Thevery clear P300 responses are easy to notice for each EEG electrode in the latencies of 200 ⇠ 1000 ms.
Eye blink contaminated ERPs were rejected in the process of creation of this figure, with a threshold of80 µV.

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Article ID 032-2

Proceedings of the 6th International Brain-Computer Interface Conference 2014

DOI:10.3217/978-3-85125-378-8-32

pad. The behavioral responses were collected as keyboard button presses after instructed targets. In
the psychophysical experiment, each single trial was comprised of a randomly presented single target
and five non–target vibrotactile stimuli (120–targets and 600–non–targets in a single session). The
stimulus duration was set to 300 ms and the inter–stimulus–interval (ISI) to 700 ms. In the btBCI online
experiments, the EEG signals were captured with a bio–signal amplifier system g.USBamp by g.tec
Medical Instruments, Austria. Active EEG electrodes were attached to the sixteen locations Cz, Pz, P3,P4, C3, C4, CP5, CP6, P1, P2, POz, C1, C2, FC1, FC2 and FCz, as in 10/10 international system.
A reference electrode was attached to the left mastoid, and a ground electrode to the forehead at theFPz position. The EEG signals were captured and classified by BCI2000 software [6] using a stepwise
linear discriminant analysis (SWLDA) classifier [3] applied to sixteen times downsampled 0 ⇠ 800 ms
ERP latencies. The EEG recording sampling rate was set at 512 Hz, and the high and low pass filters
were set at 0.1 Hz and 60 Hz, respectively. The notch filter to remove power line interference was set
for a rejection band of 48 ⇠ 52 Hz. In each trial, the stimulus duration was set to 250 ms and theISI to random values in a range of 350 ⇠ 370 ms in order to break rhythmic patterns of presentation.
Each online experiment comprised of 10 trials used for epochs averaging. Users conducted three runs ofwhich the first one was used for SWLDA classifiers truing and the remaining for testing. The vibrotactile
spatial pattern stimuli (stimulated body locations used as cues) in the two experimental settings above
were generated using the same MAX 6 program, and the trigger onsets were generated by BCI2000 EEG
acquisition and ERP classification software [6]. During the training run the cues were given in form ofvibrations of the target location before each sequence. In testing phase the spelled digits (representingthe body locations) were given visually on a computer display.

3Results

The psychophysical experiment results are summarized in the form of a confusion matrix depicted inFigure 2, where the behavioral response accuracies to instructed targets and marginal errors are depicted
together with no–response errors, which were not observed with the users participating in our experiments. The grand mean behavioral accuracies were above 97%, which proved the easiness of the backvibrotactile stimuli discrimination. The behavioral response times did not differ significantly amongclasses as tested with the Wilcoxon rank sum test for medians, which further supported the choice of theexperiment set-up with vibrotactile stimuli to the back. The EEG experiment results are summarized
in Figures 3 and 4 in the form of grand mean averaged ERPs and classification accuracies. The grandmean averaged ERPs resulted in very clear P300 responses in latency ranges of 200 ⇠ 1000 ms. TheSWLDA classification results in online btBCI experiments of six digit spelling are shown in Figure 4,
depicting each user’s averaged scores in a range of 16.7% ⇠ 62.45% and the best grand mean resultsin the range of 57.26% ⇠ 85.71%, both as a function of various ERP averaging scenarios. The chancelevel was 16.7%. The best mean scores show very promising patterns for possible improvements basedon longer user training. Mean information–transfer–rates ranged from 0.6 bit/min to 3.3 bit/min for
10–trials averaging based SWLDA classification to 0.5 bit/min to 10.9 bit/min for single trial offline
analysis cases.

4Conclusions

This paper reports results obtained with a novel six–command–based btBCI prototype developed andevaluated in experiments with seven BCI–naive users. The experiment results obtained in this study
confirm the general validity of the btBCI for six command–based applications and the possibility tofurther improve the results, as illuminated by the best mean accuracies achieved by the users. The EEG

Published by Graz University of Technology Publishing House

Article ID 032-3

Proceedings of the 6th International Brain-Computer Interface Conference 2014

DOI:10.3217/978-3-85125-378-8-32

Figure 4: The averaged btBCI accuracies as obtained with a SWLDA classifier with different numbers ofaveraged ERPs. The left panel presents mean accuracies for each user separately, together with standard
error bars calculated over different runs. The right panel presents the averaged maximum scores (the bestruns) of all the users together in order to illustrate the potential strength of the paradigm in comparison
to average scores shown in the left graph.

experiment with the prototype confirms that tactile stimuli to large areas of the back can be used tospell six-digit (command) sequences. The results presented offer a step forward in the development ofsomatosensory modality neurotechnology applications. Due to the still not very satisfactory interfacing
rate achieved in the case of the online btBCI, the current prototype obviously requires improvements
and modifications. These requirements will determine the major lines of study for future research.
However, even in its current form, the proposed btBCI can be regarded as a possible alternative solution
for locked–in syndrome patients, who cannot use vision or auditory based interfaces due to sensory orother disabilities.

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