A Brain–Computer Interface for Potential Nonverbal Facial Communication Based on EEG Signals Related to Specific Emotions

• Main Author: Koji eKashihara
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2014-08-01
• Series: Frontiers in Neuroscience
• Subjects: source localization; face recognition; Brain computer interfaces (BCI); Aversive Conditioning; neutral faces
• Online Access: http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnins.2014.00244/full

Unlike assistive technology for verbal communication, the brain–machine or brain–computer interface (BMI/BCI) has not been established as a nonverbal communication tool for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients. Face-to-face communication enables access to rich emotional information, but individuals suffering from neurological disorders, such as ALS and autism, may not express their emotions or communicate their negative feelings. Although emotions may be inferred by looking at facial expressions, emotional prediction for neutral faces necessitates advanced judgment. The process that underlies brain neuronal responses to neutral faces and causes emotional changes remains unknown. To address this problem, therefore, this study attempted to decode conditioned emotional reactions to neutral face stimuli. This direction was motivated by the assumption that if electroencephalogram (EEG) signals can be used to detect patients’ emotional responses to specific inexpressive faces, the results could be incorporated into the design and development of BMI/BCI-based nonverbal communication tools. To these ends, this study investigated how a neutral face associated with a negative emotion modulates rapid central responses in face processing and then identified cortical activities. The conditioned neutral face-triggered event-related potentials that originated from the posterior temporal lobe statistically significantly changed during late face processing (600–700 ms) after stimulus, rather than in early face processing activities, such as P1 and N170 responses. Source localization revealed that the conditioned neutral faces increased activity in the right fusiform gyrus. This study also developed an efficient method for detecting implicit negative emotional responses to specific faces by using EEG signals.