Development of a MATLAB-based toolbox for brain computer interface applications in virtual reality

Abstract

Brain computer interface (BCI) is a widely used system to assist the disabled and paralyzed people by creating a new communication channel. Among the various methods used in BCI area, motor imagery (MI) is the most popular and the most common one due to its the most natural way of communication for the subject. Some software applications are used to implement BCI systems, and some toolboxes exist for EEG signal processing. In recent years virtual reality (VR) technology has entered into the BCI research area to simulate the real world situations and enhance the subject performance. In this work, a completely MATLAB-based MI-based BCI system is proposed and implemented in order to navigate into a virtual environment. In addition, a variety of features types were employed to select the best ones in the proposed system with the use of linear discriminant analysis (LDA) classifier through some interactive graphical user interfaces (GUIs). The results show the feasibility of the proposed BCI system in the subject training with or without feedback and even navigation into a virtual home.