A Radial Zoom Motion-Based Paradigm for Steady State Motion Visual Evoked Potentials

Background: In steady state visual evoked potential (SSVEP)-based brain-computer interfaces, prolonged repeated flicker stimulation would reduce the system performance. To reduce the visual discomfort and fatigue, while ensuring recognition accuracy, and information transmission rate (ITR), a novel motion paradigm based on the steady-state motion visual evoked potentials (SSMVEPs) is proposed. Methods: The novel SSMVEP paradigm of the radial zoom motion was realized using the sinusoidal form to modulate the size of the stimuli. The radial zoom motion-based SSMVEP paradigm was compared with the flicker-based SSVEP paradigm and the SSMVEP paradigm based on Newton's ring motion. The canonical correlation analysis was used to identify the frequency of the eight targets, the recognition accuracy of different paradigms with different stimulation frequencies, and the ITR under different stimulation durations were calculated. The subjective comfort scores and fatigue scores, and decrease in the accuracy due to fatigue was evaluated. Results: The average recognition accuracy of the novel radial zoom motion-based SSMVEP paradigm was 93.4%, and its ITR reached 42.5 bit/min, which was greater than the average recognition accuracy of the SSMVEP paradigm based on Newton's ring motion. The comfort score of the novel paradigm was greater than both the flicker-based SSVEP paradigm and SSMVEP paradigm based on Newton's ring motion. The decrease in the recognition accuracy due to fatigue was less than that of the SSSMVEP paradigm based on Newton's ring motion. Conclusion: The SSMVEP paradigm based on radial zoom motion has high recognition accuracy and ITR with low visual discomfort and fatigue scores. The method has potential advantages in overcoming the performance decline caused by fatigue.