Towards improved BCI based on human learning principles

Although EEG-based BCI are very promising for numerous applications, they mostly remain prototypes not used outside laboratories, due to their low reliability. Poor BCI performances are partly due to imperfect EEG signal processing algorithms but also to the user, who may not be able to produce reliable EEG patterns. This paper presents some of our current work that aims at addressing the latter, i.e., at guiding users to learn BCI control mastery. First, this paper identifies some theoretical (based on human learning psychology models) and practical limitations of current standard BCI training approaches and thus the need for alternative ones. To try to address these limitations, we conducted a study to explore what kind of users can use a BCI and why, and will present the main results. We also present new feedback types we designed to help users to learn BCI control skills more efficiently.