Monitoring Brain Activity During Use of Stereoscopic Virtual Environments

Abstract

Performance in virtual environments (VEs) is strongly modulated by attention-related factors such as the preattentive state of the brain. Because this state changes over time and might also be influenced by the VE, itself, we propose an implementation of an electrophysiological brain monitoring system focussing on event-related potentials (ERPs) and conventional EEG signals. ERPs provide information related to the respective cognitive functional state as a reliable method for assessing the underlying brain activity. Mismatch negativity (MMN) and P300 are cognitive event-related potentials that reflect preattentive (MMN) and attentiondependent (P300) information processing. The conventional EEG is capable of detecting the degree of the subjects drowsiness or alertness, such as the involvement of specific cortical areas during the task at hand. The goal of the present work was to establish a neurophysiological monitoring in VE.