BrainGames: Using Your Head For A Better Experience?

Abstract

This paper presents a study into the possibilities of expanding BCI use beyond clinical settings. In order to do so, effects of BCI use on immersion are investigated. The accompanying research question is ‘Does the use of a noisetag-based BCI controlled with selective attention positively influence the experienced level of immersion of the player compared to controls with a mouse?’. Seventeen participants played two different games with either a sabotaged mouse or a BCI. Both games and both controllers were used once per subject. The two independent variables were SelG1, and SelG2, indicating the controller used for the first and second game, respectively. Comparisons were made between the two methods of selection to see whether there was a difference between them. This was done with two different dependent variables. The first was an indirect objective measure of immersion, task-completion time (TCT), measured through a puzzle task. The second was subjective immersion (ImSc), measured through questionnaires filled in by the participants. A one-way ANOVA showed that using the BCI did not differ significantly from using the mouse, both in terms of TCT and ImSc. This was the case in both games.