Visual field inhomogeneous in brain–computer interfaces based on rapid serial visual presentation

Abstract

Objective. Visual attention is not homogeneous across the visual field, while how to mine the effective electroencephalogram (EEG) characteristics that are sensitive to the inhomogeneous of visual attention and further explore applications such as the performance of brain–computer interface (BCI) are still distressing explorative scientists. Approach. Images were encoded into a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) paradigm, and were presented in three visuospatial patterns (central, left/right, upper/lower) at the stimulation frequencies of 10, 15 and 20 Hz. The comparisons among different visual fields were conducted in the dimensions of subjective behavioral and EEG characteristics. Furthermore, the effective features (e.g. steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP), N2-posterior-contralateral (N2pc) and P300) that sensitive to visual-field asymmetry were also explored. Main results. The visual fields had significant influences on the performance of RSVP target detection, in which the performance of central was better than that of peripheral visual field, the performance of horizontal meridian was better than that of vertical meridian, the performance of left visual field was better than that of right visual field, and the performance of upper visual field was better than that of lower visual field. Furthermore, stimuli of different visual fields had significant effects on the spatial distributions of EEG, in which N2pc and P300 showed left–right asymmetry in occipital and frontal regions, respectively. In addition, the evidences of SSVEP characteristics indicated that there was obvious overlap of visual fields on the horizontal meridian, but not on the vertical meridian. Significance. The conclusions of this study provide insights into the relationship between visual field inhomogeneous and EEG characteristics. In addition, this study has the potential to achieve precise positioning of the target’s spatial orientation in RSVP-BCIs.