An online brain-computer interface using non-flashing visual evoked potentials

Not until recently have motion-onset visual evoked potentials (mVEPs) been explored as a modality for brain-computer interface (BCI) applications. In this study, the first online BCI system based on mVEPs is presented, in which selection is discerned by subjects' focused attention to the moving cursor at a target virtual button. An adaptive approach was used to adjust the number of trial presentations according to the participants' online performance. With the EEG signal acquired from only a single channel, an acceptable information transfer rate of 42.1 bits min(-1) was achieved, averaged by 12 subjects. Furthermore, an online application for the Google search system was developed based on this paradigm. The promising results, that all of 12 participants were able to operate the system freely, validate the feasibility of a practical motion-onset VEP-based BCI which could be embedded into computer screen elements, such as menu, button and icon, for various applications.