Host: Japan Society of Kansei Engineering
Name : The 7th International Symposium on Affective Science and Engineering
Number : 7
Location : Online Academic Symposium
Date : March 09, 2021
We have been developing an electroencephalography (EEG)-based brain-machine/computer interface (BMI/BCI) that uses event-related potentials (ERPs) as a "mind switch." ERP reflects a temporal change in attention and is also known as a potential biomarker for degrading cognitive functions, which can be applied to older people even with motor decline. In this study, we focused on this characteristic of ERP to develop a novel cognitive assessment system, "Neurodetector." This system was designed to evaluate a subject's cognitive function according to his/her success rate of a cognitive task performed by the mind switch. As the first step to establishing a proof of concept, we recorded EEG data from 40 healthy adult subjects (under 65 years old) during 3 cognitive tasks with varying difficulty levels. As a result, subjects could successfully control the mind switch (elicit detectable ERP) to perform all tasks beyond the chance level, although success rates varied among individuals. Furthermore, the average success rate for the 3 tasks gradually increased as the task became easier. These results suggest that the success rate is an efficient single-index that reflects the degree of cognitive load within a subject. Following this research, we will be studying the cause of differences between subjects to further explore this index's effectiveness as a cognitive biomarker for clinical assessment. As a future prospectus, we vision the Neurodetector to be applied for early detection of dementia.
