Toward a Hybrid BCI: Self-Paced Operation of a P300-based Speller by Merging a Motor Imagery-Based “Brain Switch” into a P300 Spelling Approach

Abstract

This study presents the self-paced operation of a brain–computer interface (BCI) speller, which can be voluntarily turned on/off by merging a motor imagery (MI)-based brain switch into a P300-based BCI speller. From an off state (idle state), the users can generate a “control signal” by consciously changing the cognitive state differential from the idle state to turn on a P300-based spelling system when he or she wants to spell words. With the system turned on, the user can spell words, and then, the spelling system can be voluntarily turned off and switched to the initial state using a command. In this paradigm, the participants tried to perform the two different cognitive tasks sequentially, rather than simultaneously, and multiple EEG components were processed sequentially. The practicability and effectiveness of the proposed approach were validated by eleven participants, and all of them achieved a satisfactory performance. For the P300 speller, they achieved an average PITR of 42.61 bits/min. The preliminary results indicated that the proposed hybrid BCI system with different mental strategies operating sequentially is feasible and has potential applications for practical self-paced control.