Using event-related brain potentials to evaluate motor-auditory latencies in virtual reality

Frontiers in Neuroergonomics

Neuroergonomics

Sascha Feder¹  Alexandra Bendixen¹  Sabine Grimm²  Jochen Miksch²  Josef F. Krems³ 

[1] Cognitive Systems Lab, Institute of Physics, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Chemnitz University of Technology, Chemnitz, Germany;Cognitive Systems Lab, Institute of Physics, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Chemnitz University of Technology, Chemnitz, Germany;Physics of Cognition Group, Institute of Physics, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Chemnitz University of Technology, Chemnitz, Germany;Research Group Cognitive and Engineering Psychology, Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences, Chemnitz University of Technology, Chemnitz, Germany;

关键词: virtual reality (VR);    electroencephalography (EEG);    N1;    P2;    prediction;    delay;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fnrgo.2023.1196507

 received in 2023-03-29, accepted in 2023-06-14,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Actions in the real world have immediate sensory consequences. Mimicking these in digital environments is within reach, but technical constraints usually impose a certain latency (delay) between user actions and system responses. It is important to assess the impact of this latency on the users, ideally with measurement techniques that do not interfere with their digital experience. One such unobtrusive technique is electroencephalography (EEG), which can capture the users' brain activity associated with motor responses and sensory events by extracting event-related potentials (ERPs) from the continuous EEG recording. Here we exploit the fact that the amplitude of sensory ERP components (specifically, N1 and P2) reflects the degree to which the sensory event was perceived as an expected consequence of an own action (self-generation effect). Participants (N = 24) elicit auditory events in a virtual-reality (VR) setting by entering codes on virtual keypads to open doors. In a within-participant design, the delay between user input and sound presentation is manipulated across blocks. Occasionally, the virtual keypad is operated by a simulated robot instead, yielding a control condition with externally generated sounds. Results show that N1 (but not P2) amplitude is reduced for self-generated relative to externally generated sounds, and P2 (but not N1) amplitude is modulated by delay of sound presentation in a graded manner. This dissociation between N1 and P2 effects maps back to basic research on self-generation of sounds. We suggest P2 amplitude as a candidate read-out to assess the quality and immersiveness of digital environments with respect to system latency.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
Copyright © 2023 Feder, Miksch, Grimm, Krems and Bendixen.