Abstract
Tracking eye movements to control technical systems is becoming increasingly popular; the use of eye movements to direct a cursor in human-computer interaction (HCI) is particularly convenient and caters for both healthy and disabled users alike. However, it is often difficult to find an appropriate substitute for the click operation, especially within the context of hands-free interaction. The most common approach is the use of dwell-times, but this can lead to the so-called “Midas-Touch” problem. This problem is defined by the fact that the system incorrectly interprets fixations due to long processing times or spontaneous dwellings as a user command. The current study explores the event-related potentials (ERPs) that might indicate a user’s intention to select. Therefore, Electroencephalography (EEG) data was recorded from 10 participants during an interaction with a dwell-time system within a selection process. The aim was to identify EEG potentials related to the intention to interact (i.e. the selection of targets on a screen) and to classify these against EEG potentials unrelated to interaction during random fixations on the screen. As a result, we found a clear negativity over parietal electrodes for the intention of item selection. This negativity did not occur when participant fixated an object without intention to select (no specific intention). We robustly could classify the underlying brain activity in most of our participants with an average accuracy of 81%. The presented study provides evidence that the intention to interact evokes EEG activity that can clearly be detected by passive BCI technology. This leads to a new type of implicit interaction that holds the potential to improve human-machine interaction by increasing efficiency and making it more intuitive.
Chapter PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Jacob, R.J.K.: The use of eye movements in human-computer interaction techniques: what you look at is what you get. ACM Transactions on Information Systems 9(2), 152–169 (1991)
Jacob, R.J.K.: Hot topics-eye-gaze computer interfaces: what you look at is what you get. Computer 26(7), 65–66 (1993)
Velichkovsky, B.M., Hansen, J.P.: New technological windows into mind: there is more in eyes and brains for human-computer interaction. In: Proceedings of the {SIGCHI} Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems: Common Ground, pp. 496–503 (1996)
Yarbus, A.L.: Eye movements during perception of complex objects. Eye Movements and Vision 7, 171–196 (1967)
Farwell, L.A., Donchin, E.: Talking off the top of your head: toward a mental prosthesis utilizing event-related brain potentials. Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology 70(6), 510–523 (1988)
Wolpaw, J.R., Birbaumer, N., McFarland, D.J., Pfurtscheller, G., Vaughan, T.M.: Brain–computer interfaces for communication and control. Clinical Neurophysiology 113(6), 767–791 (2002)
Zander, T.O., Kothe, C., Welke, S., Rötting, M.: Enhancing human-machine systems with secondary input from passive brain-computer interfaces. In: Proceedings of the 4th International BCI Workshop & Training Course, Graz University of Technology Publishing House, Graz (2008)
Zander, T.O., Kothe, C.: Towards passive brain-computer interfaces: applying brain-computer interface technology to human-machine systems in general. Journal of Neural Engineering 8(2), 025005 (2011)
Zander, T.O., Lehne, M., Ihme, K., Jatzev, S., Correia, J., Kothe, C., Picht, B., Nijboer, F.: A dry EEG-system for scientific research and brain-computer interfaces. Frontiers in Neuroscience 5, 53 (2011)
Popescu, F., Fazli, S., Badower, Y., Blankertz, B., Müller, K.R.: Single trial classification of motor imagination using 6 dry EEG electrodes. PLoS ONE 2(7) (2007)
Wang, Y.-T., Wang, Y., Jung, T.-P.: A cell-phone-based brain-computer interface for communication in daily life. Journal of Neural Engineering 8(2), 025018 (2011)
Zander, T.O., Gaertner, M., Kothe, C., Vilimek, R.: Combining Eye Gaze Input with a Brain-Computer Interface for Touchless Human-Computer Interaction. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction (2010) (in press)
Vilimek, R., Zander, T.O.: BC (eye): Combining Eye-Gaze Input with Brain-Computer Interaction. In: Proceedings of the 5th International on ConferenceUniversal Access in Human-Computer Interaction. Part II: Intelligent and Ubiquitous Interaction Environments, p. 602 (2009)
Ihme, K., Zander, T.O.: What You Expect Is What You Get? Potential Use of Contingent Negative Variation for Passive BCI Systems in Gaze-Based HCI. In: D’Mello, S., Graesser, A., Schuller, B., Martin, J.-C. (eds.) ACII 2011, Part II. LNCS, vol. 6975, pp. 447–456. Springer, Heidelberg (2011)
Delorme, A., Kothe, C., Vankov, A., Bigdely-Shamlo, N., Oostenveld, R., Zander, T.O., Makeig, S.: MATLAB-based tools for BCI research. Brain-Computer Interfaces, 241–259 (2010)
Blankertz, B., Lemm, S., Treder, M.S., Haufe, S., Mueller, K.-R.: Single-trial analysis and classification of ERP components – a tutorial. Neuroimage (2010)
Duda, R.O., Hart, P.E., Stork, D.G.: Pattern Classification and Scene Analysis, 2nd edn. (2010)
Vapnik, V., Chervonenkis, A.: On the uniform convergence of relative frequencies of events to their probabilities. Theory of Probability and its Applications 16(2), 264–280 (1971)
Makeig, S.: Beyond blind averaging. Human Brain Mapping Meeting (2005)
Makeig, S., Bell, A.J., Jung, T.P., Sejnowski, T.J.: Independent component analysis of electroencephalographic data. Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 8, 145–151 (1996)
Zander, T.O., Ihme, K., Gaertner, M., Rötting, M.: A public data hub for benchmarking common BCI algorithms. Journal of Neural Engineering 8(2), 25021 (2011)
Müller-Putz, G.R., Scherer, R., Brunner, C., Leeb, R., Pfurtscheller, G.: Better than random? A closer look on {BCI} results. International Journal of Bioelectromagnetism 10(1), 52–55 (2008)
Roetting, M., Zander, T.O., Trosterer, S., Dzaack, J.: Implicit Interaction in Multimodal Human-Machine Systems
Industrial Engineering and Ergonomics Visions, Concepts, Methods and Tools. Springer, Heidelberg (2009)
Zander, T.O.: Utilizing Brain-Computer Interfaces for Human-Machine Systems. Diss. Universitätsbibliothek (2012)
Zander, T.O., Jatzev, S.: Context-aware Brain–Computer Interfaces: exploring the information space of user, technical system and environment. Journal of Neural Engineering 9.1, 016003 (2011)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Protzak, J., Ihme, K., Zander, T.O. (2013). A Passive Brain-Computer Interface for Supporting Gaze-Based Human-Machine Interaction. In: Stephanidis, C., Antona, M. (eds) Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction. Design Methods, Tools, and Interaction Techniques for eInclusion. UAHCI 2013. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 8009. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39188-0_71
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39188-0_71
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-39187-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-39188-0
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)