Manipulating Paradigm and Attention via a Mindfulness Meditation Training Program Improves P300-Based BCI.

• Main Author: Berry, Daniel Ryan
• Format: Others
• Published: Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University 2011
• Subjects: Event-Related Potentials; EEG; P300-Based Brain-Computer Interface; Mindfulness; attention; Psychology; Social and Behavioral Sciences
• Online Access: https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/1329; https://dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2520&context=etd

To date, only one study has situationally bolstered attentional resources in an effort to improve P300-BCI performance. The current study implements a 4-week Mindfulness Meditation Training Program (MMTP) as a nonmedicinal means to increase concentrative attention and to reduce lapses of attention; MMTP is expected to improve P300-BCI performance by enhancing attentional resources and reducing distractibility. A second aim is to test the efficacy of the checkerboard paradigm (CBP) against the standard row-column paradigm (RCP). Online results show that MMTP had greater accuracies than CTRL and that CBP outperformed the RCP. MMTP participants provided greater amplitude positive target responses, but these differences were not statistically significant. CBP had greater positive amplitude peaks and negative peaks than RCP. The discussion focuses on potential benefits of MMTP for P300-based BCIs, provides further support for the construct validity of mindfulness, and addresses future directions of the translational applicability of MMTP to in-home settings.