Brain-Computer Interface & Virtual Reality

Project description

Increasing digitalization is also being applied in the field of human-computer interaction, in particular through the combination of brain-computer interface (BCI) and virtual reality (VR). While imaging techniques such as fMRI, MEG and PET provide detailed insights into brain activity, they are often limited to laboratory environments due to their complexity and cost. Electroencephalography (EEG), on the other hand, offers a cost-effective, portable and non-invasive method for measuring brain activity and thus represents a promising basis for the development of BCI systems. In particular, the SSVEP, P300, Non-Motor and Motor Imagery (MI) are considered particularly suitable for the design of field studies.

The motivation for researching BCI-VR systems lies in their potential to improve the interaction between humans and machines and to open up new areas of application. Previous research results indicate that this technology can be used in areas such as medical rehabilitation, psychology and gaming, for example to support the rehabilitation of stroke patients, to train cognitive skills or to create immersive and interactive gaming experiences.

The present work has primarily developed a well-founded conceptualization of a field study aimed at investigating the combination of BCI and VR in education in order to evaluate the technical feasibility and user-friendliness of BCI-VR systems and to identify possible applications in educational environments. One focus was on optimizing the attention level of learners through targeted neurofeedback in a VR environment.

No significant correlation was found for the effectiveness of BCI-VR systems in education, but a solid framework for future research in this area was established.