Freeze the BCI until the user is ready: a pilot study of a BCI inhibitor

In this paper we introduce the concept of Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) inhibitor, which is meant to standby the BCI until the user is ready, in order to improve the overall performance and usability of the system. BCI inhibitor can be defined as a system that monitors user’s state and inhibits BCI interaction until specific requirements (e.g. brain activity pattern, user attention level) are met. In this pilot study, a hybrid BCI is designed and composed of a classic synchronous BCI system based on motor imagery and a BCI inhibitor. The BCI inhibitor initiates the control period of the BCI when requirements in terms of brain activity are reached (i.e. stability in the beta band). Preliminary results with four participants suggest that BCI inhibitor system can improve BCI performance.