Abstract
An optical brain-machine interface (O-BMI) system using calcium imaging has various advantages such as high resolution, a comprehensive view of large neural populations, abilities such as long-term stable recording, and applicability to freely behaving animals in neuroscience research. The present study developed an ergonomic user interface (UI) design, based on a use scenario for an O-BMI system that can be used for the acquisition and processing of calcium imaging in freely behaving rodents. The UI design was developed in three steps: (1) identification of design and function requirements of users, (2) establishment of a use scenario, and (3) development of a UI prototype. The UI design requirements were identified by a literature review, a benchmark of existing systems, and a focus group interview with five neuroscience researchers. Then, the use scenario was developed for tasks of data acquisition, feature extraction, and neural decoding for offline and online processing by considering the sequences of operations and needs of users. Lastly, a digital prototype incorporating an information architecture, graphic user interfaces, and simulated functions was fabricated. A usability test was conducted with five neuroscientists (work experience = 3.4 ± 1.1 years) and five ergonomic experts (work experience = 3.6 ± 2.7 years) to compare the digital prototypes with four existing systems (Miniscope, nVista, Mosaic, and Suite2p). The usability testing results showed that the ergonomic UI design was significantly preferred to the UI designs of the existing systems by reducing the task completion time by 10.1% to 70.2% on average, the scan path length by 14.4% to 88.7%, and perceived workload by 12.2% to 37.9%, increasing satisfaction by 11.3% to 74.3% in data acquisition and signal-extraction tasks. The present study demonstrates the significance of the user-centered design approach in the development of a system for neuroscience research. Further research is needed to validate the usability test results of the UI prototype as a corresponding real system is implemented.
Highlights
An optical brain–machine interface (O-BMI) system can control external devices using optical imaging of brain activities captured from microscopy, having advantages over traditional electrophysiology-based BMI systems using electrical signals of brain activities.BMI systems have been developed to restore communication for patients with neurologic diseases such as stroke and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis by extracting useful information of perception, cognition, and action from one or many individual neurons using technologies such as electrophysiological and optical recordings [1,2]
Various O-BMI systems based on calcium images have been developed and commercialized, it has been reported that the user interface (UI) designs of the existing O-BMI systems require improvement in terms of convenience and usability
The present study developed an ergonomic UI design for a new O-BMI system that users can use efficiently and conveniently, based on the needs identified through user research
Summary
An optical brain–machine interface (O-BMI) system can control external devices using optical imaging of brain activities captured from microscopy, having advantages over traditional electrophysiology-based BMI systems using electrical signals of brain activities. BMI systems have been developed to restore communication for patients with neurologic diseases such as stroke and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis by extracting useful information of perception, cognition, and action from one or many individual neurons using technologies such as electrophysiological and optical recordings [1,2]. On the other hand, compared to the traditional electrical method, the calcium-imaging method that visualizes the local concentration of calcium in cells or tissues has various advantages such as high resolution, a comprehensive view of large neural populations, stable recording for a long time, and applicability to freely-behaving animals [9]. Cui et al (2019) identified user needs such as information visualization, intuitive control, and layout optimization by conducting a focus group interview with five experts who had prior experience with
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