{"id":{"repo_id":"toronto-retro","oai_identifier":"oai:utoronto.scholaris.ca:1807/71408"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/toronto-retro/oai:utoronto.scholaris.ca:1807/71408","repository":{"repo_id":"toronto-retro","name":"University of Toronto","base_url":"https://utoronto.scholaris.ca/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"A Neurofeedback-based Near-infrared Spectroscopy Brain-computer Interface","abstract":"Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) enable individuals to interact with their environment using only cognitive activities. This thesis investigates the development of a more user-friendly, intuitive, and easy to use NIRS-BCI through six research objectives: exploring prescribed and personalized mental task frameworks offline, using researcher-selected tasks to move beyond the binary paradigm, exploring correlations of user characteristics with accuracy, comparing user-selected personalized tasks to prescribed tasks online, weaning off mental tasks to achieve voluntary self-regulation, and applying personalized frameworks to a client case study. Firstly, personalized tasks outperformed prescribed tasks in a five-session offline study conducted on ten able-bodied participants. Specifically, user-selected tasks resulted in significantly higher ease-of-use, while researcher-selected tasks resulted in significantly higher accuracies. The same data were used to show that researcher-selected personalized mental tasks enabled classification in some users beyond a binary BCI paradigm. Accuracy was strongly positively correlated with perceived ease of session, ease of concentration, and enjoyment, but strongly negatively correlated with verbal IQ. In a second study, when comparing two able-bodied groups online (N = 9 and N = 10), the usability of user-selected personalized mental tasks exceeded prescribed mental tasks without a decrease in accuracy. Expanding on this study, the nine able-bodied subjects who used user-selected tasks took part in an additional ten sessions and were weaned off mental tasks to achieve online voluntary self-regulatory control of a BCI using a neurofeedback-based paradigm. Participants indicated that they found self-regulation to be more intuitive and easier to use than mental tasks. Finally, user- and researcher-selected frameworks were applied to a client with undiagnosed motor impairments, unveiling a host of neuropsychological challenges to BCI control. Overall, this thesis advances the field of knowledge of NIRS-BCIs, specifically with respect to usability.","abstract_html":"Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) enable individuals to interact with their environment using only cognitive activities. This thesis investigates the development of a more user-friendly, intuitive, and easy to use NIRS-BCI through six research objectives: exploring prescribed and personalized mental task frameworks offline, using researcher-selected tasks to move beyond the binary paradigm, exploring correlations of user characteristics with accuracy, comparing user-selected personalized tasks to prescribed tasks online, weaning off mental tasks to achieve voluntary self-regulation, and applying personalized frameworks to a client case study. Firstly, personalized tasks outperformed prescribed tasks in a five-session offline study conducted on ten able-bodied participants. Specifically, user-selected tasks resulted in significantly higher ease-of-use, while researcher-selected tasks resulted in significantly higher accuracies. The same data were used to show that researcher-selected personalized mental tasks enabled classification in some users beyond a binary BCI paradigm. Accuracy was strongly positively correlated with perceived ease of session, ease of concentration, and enjoyment, but strongly negatively correlated with verbal IQ. In a second study, when comparing two able-bodied groups online (N = 9 and N = 10), the usability of user-selected personalized mental tasks exceeded prescribed mental tasks without a decrease in accuracy. Expanding on this study, the nine able-bodied subjects who used user-selected tasks took part in an additional ten sessions and were weaned off mental tasks to achieve online voluntary self-regulatory control of a BCI using a neurofeedback-based paradigm. Participants indicated that they found self-regulation to be more intuitive and easier to use than mental tasks. Finally, user- and researcher-selected frameworks were applied to a client with undiagnosed motor impairments, unveiling a host of neuropsychological challenges to BCI control. Overall, this thesis advances the field of knowledge of NIRS-BCIs, specifically with respect to usability.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Weyand, Sabine Angelika"],"institution":null,"degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":"Biomedical Engineering","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Chau, Tom","Takehara-Nishiuchi, Kaori"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2015,"date_issued":"2015-11","date_published":"2015-11","updated_at":"2026-07-27T21:28:02Z","subjects":["Brain-computer Interface","Near-infrared Spectroscopy","Personalized Mental Tasks","Self-regulation","User-centered"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/1807/71408","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Chau, Tom","Takehara-Nishiuchi, Kaori"]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Biomedical Engineering"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Weyand, Sabine Angelika"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2015-11"]},{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2016-02-25T05:09:20Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2016-02-25T05:09:20Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2015-11"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Brain-computer Interface","Near-infrared Spectroscopy","Personalized Mental Tasks","Self-regulation","User-centered"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/1807/71408"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) enable individuals to interact with their environment using only cognitive activities. This thesis investigates the development of a more user-friendly, intuitive, and easy to use NIRS-BCI through six research objectives: exploring prescribed and personalized mental task frameworks offline, using researcher-selected tasks to move beyond the binary paradigm, exploring correlations of user characteristics with accuracy, comparing user-selected personalized tasks to prescribed tasks online, weaning off mental tasks to achieve voluntary self-regulation, and applying personalized frameworks to a client case study. Firstly, personalized tasks outperformed prescribed tasks in a five-session offline study conducted on ten able-bodied participants. Specifically, user-selected tasks resulted in significantly higher ease-of-use, while researcher-selected tasks resulted in significantly higher accuracies. The same data were used to show that researcher-selected personalized mental tasks enabled classification in some users beyond a binary BCI paradigm. Accuracy was strongly positively correlated with perceived ease of session, ease of concentration, and enjoyment, but strongly negatively correlated with verbal IQ. In a second study, when comparing two able-bodied groups online (N = 9 and N = 10), the usability of user-selected personalized mental tasks exceeded prescribed mental tasks without a decrease in accuracy. Expanding on this study, the nine able-bodied subjects who used user-selected tasks took part in an additional ten sessions and were weaned off mental tasks to achieve online voluntary self-regulatory control of a BCI using a neurofeedback-based paradigm. Participants indicated that they found self-regulation to be more intuitive and easier to use than mental tasks. Finally, user- and researcher-selected frameworks were applied to a client with undiagnosed motor impairments, unveiling a host of neuropsychological challenges to BCI control. Overall, this thesis advances the field of knowledge of NIRS-BCIs, specifically with respect to usability."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["Ph.D."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["A Neurofeedback-based Near-infrared Spectroscopy Brain-computer Interface"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Chau, Tom","Takehara-Nishiuchi, Kaori"],"dc:contributor.department":["Biomedical Engineering"],"dc:creator":["Weyand, Sabine Angelika"],"dc:date":["2015-11"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2016-02-25T05:09:20Z"],"dc:date.available":["2016-02-25T05:09:20Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2015-11"],"dc:description.abstract":["Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) enable individuals to interact with their environment using only cognitive activities. 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