Relationship between the spatial pattern of P300 and performance of a P300-based brain-computer interface in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

摘要

The P300-based brain-computer interface (P300-BCI) is expected to provide a new communication tool for patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Currently, there is little evidence about the relationship between the neurophysiological profiles of P300 and the performance of the P300-BCI in patients with ALS. In the present study, we investigate this relationship in detail. Patients were asked to input five characters using a traditional row/column speller which consisted of a 7 × 10 matrix. EEGs were recorded using eight electrodes. The on-line P300-BCI performance was then compared with the neurophysiological profiles of P300. We found that patients who had a robust P300 response over the occipital area showed a higher success rate in the P300-BCI compared with patients who had a large P300 response over the fronto-central area. These results suggest that appropriate evaluation of the neurophysiological aspects of P300 may lead to prediction of and improvement in the P300-BC1 performance.