Controlling an Avatar via an SSVEP Brain-Computer Interface

Steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEPs) based Brain-Computer Interfaces offer relatively high information transfer bandwidth without requiring extensive subject training. Having reliable SSVEP stimuli available in a virtual reality environment, allows for much easier implementation of motivating research paradigms and more realistic simulations of real-world applications. The aims of this work were to integrate a highly configurable and flexible virtual reality application, that can generate SSVEP stimuli and display feedback in form of the movements of an avatar. All software was implemented based on the Studierstube mixed reality framework and different scenarios were implemented for evaluating the software in a study with 5 healthy volunteers. The experiments successfully showed, that SSVEP stimuli, presented in the Virtual Reality Feedback environment can be used to establish control through a Brain-Computer Interface. This research direction could lead to vastly improved immersive virtual environments, that allow both disabled and healthy users to seamlessly navigate, communicate or interact through an intuitive, natural and friendly interface