Assessment of Steady-State Visual Evoked Potential for Brain Computer Communication

R. S. Leow1, F. Ibrahim1 and M. Moghavvemi2

1 2

Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Malaya, Malaysia Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Malaya, Malaysia

AbstractThis paper describes the investigation of the steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) response elicited by a flickering visual stimulus. Preliminary results from five subjects have shown that SSVEP have certain characteristics including good signal to noise ratio (SNR), minimal user training and number of electrodes, despite constraints such as the need for a visual stimulating apparatus and possible induced of visual fatigue. Based on these promising results, SSVEP can be used as a tool for controlling signal for future brain computer interface (BCI) application. Keywordsbrain computer interface (BCI), electroencephalography (EEG), steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP)

I. INTRODUCTION A brain-computer interface (BCI) is a device that allows human to communicate with a computer by using brain signals. For individuals who have severe neuromuscular disorders, BCI can serve as an alternative method of communication or control so that the communication process does not have to depend on the brains normal output pathways of peripheral nerves and muscles [1]. The input to the BCI system can be obtained via invasive or non-invasive methods. The non-invasive electroencephalographic (EEG) signals acquired from human scalp are the more favorable method nowadays due to its simple and safer approach, although its signal to noise ratio (SNR) is less prominent [2]. By measuring and analyzing the EEG signals, specific features of brain activity can be translated into desired control commands. There are several types of EEG activities that can be utilized as input features for BCI systems, e.g. slow cortical potentials [3], oscillatory EEG activity [4], P300 potential [5] and visual evoked potential [6]. The input feature is usually selected based on their effect on information transfer rate and reliability of the BCI system, besides considering other factors such as its applicability for majority individuals and training period required. Steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) is a periodic response elicited in the brain by visual spatial attention on flickering stimulus at frequency of 6Hz and above [7]. SSVEPs have the same fundamental frequency as the stimu-

lating frequency, but they also include higher and / or subharmonic frequencies under some situation [8]. SSVEPs are usually recorded from the occipital region of the scalp. Compared to other types of EEG features, SSVEP has better SNR. It is phase-locked to the triggering source. Therefore, simple frequency domain algorithms can be used to extract SSVEP signals [9]. For SSVEP-based BCI system, a flickering apparatus is needed to provide visual stimulus to the subject. Therefore, many of the applications are for subjects who have the ability to control their eye movement but not by those with severe ocular motor impairment [7]. In this study, SSVEP is being investigated as an approach for future BCI applications. The results are very promising. II. SUBJECTS AND METHODS A. Subjects A total of five voluntary healthy subjects consisted of three females and two males, aged between 22 and 24 were recruited in the study. All of them have normal or correctedto-normal vision. Subjects were briefed about the overall procedure of the experiment, and required to sign a consent form. B. Experimental Procedure Subject was seated comfortably on a chair. The visual stimulus was placed 1.5 m in front of the subject, at about the same height as the subjects eyes. The visual stimulus was composed of a 2cm diameter red color light emitting diode (LED), with the flickering frequency controlled by a programmable microcontroller. Frequencies ranging from 7Hz to 35Hz were tested. Before the experiment, few minutes of spontaneous EEG data with subjects closing their eyes were recorded to collect some brain alpha activity. After that, subject was given a few minutes time to adapt to the flickering stimulus before the experiment started. During the experiment, subjects were required to maintain their gaze on the stimulus device. In each session of the experiment, the subject concentrated

F. Ibrahim, N.A. Abu Osman, J. Usman and N.A. Kadri (Eds.): Biomed 06, IFMBE Proceedings 15, pp. 352-354, 2007 www.springerlink.com Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007 ---------------------------------------------------------------- IFMBE Proceedings Vol. 15 ---------------------------------------------------------------

Assessment of Steady-State Visual Evoked Potential for Brain Computer Communication

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on the testing of a particular frequency which consisted of at least 10 trials. For each trial, the LED stimulus is programmed to blink for 6 seconds at the preset frequency and OFF for 10 seconds. This short intermittent resting time allows the subject to rest their eyes and helps to reduce visual fatigue. EEG signals were recorded from positions O1and O2 according to the international 10-20 system and referred to the left and right mastoid respectively. All the electrodes were referenced to an electrode placed on the forehead of the subject. The ground electrode was placed on the location Cz. Electrooculographic (EOG) signals were recorded by placing two electrodes beside and below either eye to allow offline artifact study to be done. Gold-plated electrodes were used. The signals were acquired using a commercial EEG machine at a sampling rate of 256 Hz. C. Signal Processing The recorded data was converted into ASCII form and processed offline using Matlab. Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) was used to process the data in frequency domain. The EEG data of one second was zero padded to 2560 points to produce a frequency resolution of 0.1 Hz. The amplitude of the SSVEP power spectrum was plotted to examine the response of the SSVEP signals triggered by the stimulating frequency. Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) was used to classify the computed features. III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The results of the stimulation frequency which gave the best performance and the number of correct trials were presented in Table 1. Three of the subjects have very good SSVEP response to 7 Hz stimulation frequency, while the other two subjects vary at 14 Hz and 22 Hz.
Table 1 Offline analysis results for all five subjects.
Subject S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 Frequency (Hz) 7 7 22 14 7 Correct/Total Trials 15/15 15/15 10/12 11/12 10/14

of the 7 Hz frequency component of the same subject throughout an experimental session which consisted of 15 trials.
1 0.9

0.8

Amplitude ( uV )

0.7

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10

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Frequency ( Hz )

Fig. 1 Single trial SSVEP spectrum of subject S1 induced by 7 Hz stimulation frequency.

2

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Amplitude ( uV )

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16 22

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64 70

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Time (s)

Ti

( )

Fig. 2 Amplitude of the 7Hz frequency spectrum of subject S1 participating in a 15 trials experiment induced by 7 Hz stimulation frequency.

Figure 1 shows a single-trial SSVEP power spectrum of subject S1. The amplitude of the SSVEP induced by the 7 Hz driving stimulus was obviously larger compared to other frequencies. Besides, a smaller second harmonic response was also obvious. Figure 2 shows the amplitude spectrum

The preliminary research finding indicates that SSVEP response can be obtained when the subject is in full concentration attending to the visual stimulus during the experiment. Some of the subjects have shown enormous adaptability to the SSVEP experiments by producing very promising results during their first time participation in the experiment with less training involved [10]. The result shows that each individual subject has different SSVEP responses to various stimulation frequencies. Therefore, the stimulation frequencies need to be optimized for each individual subject [11].

F. Ibrahim, N.A. Abu Osman, J. Usman and N.A. Kadri (Eds.): Biomed 06, IFMBE Proceedings 15, pp. 352-354, 2007 www.springerlink.com Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007 ----------------------------------------------------------------- IFMBE Proceedings Vol. 15 ----------------------------------------------------------------

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R. S. Leow, F. Ibrahim and M. Moghavvemi

IV. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK SSVEP is suitable to be used as input feature for BCI system, having good characteristics such as noninvasiveness, minimum number of electrodes, less or no training required, wide applicability, etc. Future studies will emphasize on developing of online SSVEP-based BCI application system, besides optimizing other parameters such as electrode positions and stimulation frequencies for each subject individually.

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E. Donchin et al. (2000) The mental prosthesis: Assessing the speed of a P300-based braincomputer interface. IEEE Trans. Rehab. Eng. 8:174179 6. E. E. Sutter (1992) The brain response interface: Communication through visually-induced electrical brain responses. J. Microcomput. Appl. 15:3145 7. M. Cheng et al. (2002) Design and implementation of a brain computer interface with high transfer rates. IEEE Trans. Biomed. Eng. 49:11811186 8. C. S. Herrmann (2001) Human EEG responses to 1100 Hz flicker: resonance phenomena in visual cortex and their potential correlation to cognitive phenomena. Exp. Brain Res. 137:346353 9. S. T. Morgan et al. (1996) Selective attention to stimulus location modulates the steady state visual evoked potential. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 93:47704774 10. R. Wahnoun et al. (2002) A real-time brain-computer interface based on steady-state visual evoked potentials. IFESS 11. S. P. Kelly et al. (2005) Visual Spatial Attention Tracking Using High-Density SSVEP Data for independent brain-computer communication. IEEE Trans. Neural Syst. Rehabil. Eng. 13(2):172-178 Author: Leow Ruen Shan Institute: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya. Country: Malaysia Email: ruen_shan@yahoo.com

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F. Ibrahim, N.A. Abu Osman, J. Usman and N.A. Kadri (Eds.): Biomed 06, IFMBE Proceedings 15, pp. 352-354, 2007 www.springerlink.com Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007 ---------------------------------------------------------------- IFMBE Proceedings Vol. 15 ---------------------------------------------------------------