Virtual Reality Brain–Computer Interfacing and the Role of Cognitive Skills

Brain-computer interface (BCI) systems combined with virtual reality (VR) gaming have the potential to revolutionize human-computer interaction by providing immersive and intuitive control mechanisms. This study aimed to evaluate the performance of BCI-VR in a goalkeeper gaming task and explore the influence of cognitive abilities on BCI performance. Forty-four healthy volunteers participated in the study. All participants carried out a BCI-VR Goalkeeper task and underwent a left-hand versus right-hand movement imagery task while wearing a VR headset. Twenty-two participants carried out the Flanker task and the Spatial Cueing task and another twenty-two participants carried out the Mental Body Rotation (MBRT) and Spatial Orientation (SOT) tasks. Six classification algorithms were employed for offline and real-time analysis. The Random Forest algorithm exhibited the highest accuracy rates both offline and in real-time. Results from the Flanker task revealed a positive correlation between the mean accuracy for the congruent trials of the Flanker task and the mean offline classification accuracy in the BCI-VR Goalkeeper task. Additionally, High Achievers in the BCI-VR Goalkeeper task had larger benefits from attentional cues in service of perception than from attentional cues in service of visual working memory (VWM). These findings suggest the impact of cognitive abilities on BCI-VR performance and emphasize the need to consider cognitive mechanisms and develop cognitive training interventions to enhance humans to produce appropriate EEG patterns while improving BCI accuracy. Further research should explore other cognitive factors and strive to improve the usability and effectiveness of BCI-VR systems for real-world applications. Overall, the current findings contribute to advancing BCI technology and its potential for neurorehabilitation, assistive technologies, and gaming entertainment.