Usability and Cost-effectiveness in Brain-Computer Interaction: Is it User Throughput or Technology Related?

In recent years, Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) have been steadily gaining ground in the market, used either as an implicit or explicit input method in computers for accessibility, entertainment or rehabilitation. Past research in BCI has heavily neglected the human aspect in the loop, focusing mostly in the machine layer. Further, due to the high cost of current BCI systems, many studies rely on low-cost and low-quality equipment with difficulties to provide significant advancements in physiological computing. Open-Source projects are offered as alternatives to expensive medical equipment. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of such systems over their cost is still unclear, and whether they can deliver the same level of experience as their more expensive counterparts. In this paper, we demonstrate that effective BCI interaction in a Motor-Imagery BCI paradigm can be accomplished without requiring high-end/high-cost devices, by analyzing and comparing EEG systems ranging from open source devices to medically certified systems.