Brain-Computer Interfaces: A Neuroscience Paradigm of Social Interaction? A Matter of Perspective

Jérémie Mattout

doi:10.3389/fnhum.2012.00114

Abstract

A number of recent studies have put human subjects in true social interactions, with the aim of better identifying the psychophysiological processes underlying social cognition. Interestingly, this emerging Neuroscience of Social Interactions (NSI) field brings up challenges which resemble important ones in the field of Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI). Importantly, these challenges go beyond common objectives such as the eventual use of BCI and NSI protocols in the clinical domain or common interests pertaining to the use of online neurophysiological techniques and algorithms. Common fundamental challenges are now apparent and one can argue that a crucial one is to develop computational models of brain processes relevant to human interactions with an adaptive agent, whether human or artificial. Coupled with neuroimaging data, such models have proved promising in revealing the neural basis and mental processes behind social interactions. Similar models could help BCI to move from well-performing but offline static machines to reliable online adaptive agents. This emphasizes a social perspective to BCI, which is not limited to a computational challenge but extends to all questions that arise when studying the brain in interaction with its environment.

Highlights

At first sight, the recent field of Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI) and the even more recent field of Neuroscience of Social Interactions (NSI) do not have much in common and at first glance appear totally unrelated
Beyond studies that aim at identifying the neural correlates of human mental processes, NSI protocols, and BCI should take into consideration studies that incorporate and validate computational models of how the brain implements relevant cognitive and motor tasks (Wolpert et al, 2003)
In a recent study for instance, we demonstrated that the user’s electrophysiological responses to the machine’s decisions reflected human learning and could be used by the BCI system to distinguish between error and correct decisions (Perrin et al, 2011)

Summary

Introduction

The recent field of Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI) and the even more recent field of Neuroscience of Social Interactions (NSI) do not have much in common and at first glance appear totally unrelated. The future of BCI depends heavily on our ability to reveal and to interpret the neuronal mechanisms and mental processes underlying human perception, action, learning, and decision making and imagination, prediction, and attention.

Results

Conclusion