Soutenance de thèse d’Antoine Gaume, towards cognitive brain-computer interfaces : real-time monitoring of visual processing and control using electroencephalography.

The long-term goal of our research is the development of a brain-computer interface
(BCI) able to monitor the fluctuation of attention in real-time. This "attentionometer"
could for example warn its user immediately and objectively that its attention shifted
towards a distractor. It could also be used to determine its user’s ability to pay attention
at certain moments of the day, for example to know if he is capable of driving.

Such a device could also be used to train sustained attention by providing a continuous feedback to the user. More generally, being able to monitor our attention as directly as for example the position of our arm would probably allow us to learn how to consciously
regulate our attention, and to find ways to concentrate easily and comfortably during
long periods of time.

The challenge is to find a neural correlate of the fluctuation of attention that can
be monitored in real-time and that, ideally, does not require invasive hardware nor the
performance of a specific task.