Estimating Cognitive Workload in an Interactive Virtual Reality Environment Using EEG

Christoph Tremmel, Christian Herff, Tetsuya Sato, Krzysztof Rechowicz, Yusuke Yamani, Dean J. Krusienski*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

With the recent surge of affordable, high-performance virtual reality (VR) headsets, there is unlimited potential for applications ranging from education, to training, to entertainment, to fitness and beyond. As these interfaces continue to evolve, passive user-state monitoring can play a key role in expanding the immersive VR experience, and tracking activity for user well-being. By recording physiological signals such as the electroencephalogram (EEG) during use of a VR device, the user's interactions in the virtual environment could be adapted in real-time based on the user's cognitive state. Current VR headsets provide a logical, convenient, and unobtrusive framework for mounting EEG sensors. The present study evaluates the feasibility of passively monitoring cognitive workload via EEG while performing a classical n-back task in an interactive VR environment. Data were collected from 15 participants and the spatio-spectral EEG features were analyzed with respect to task performance. The results indicate that scalp measurements of electrical activity can effectively discriminate three workload levels, even after suppression of a co-varying high-frequency activity.

Original languageEnglish
Article number401
Pages (from-to)1-12
Number of pages12
JournalFrontiers in Human Neuroscience
Volume13
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 14 Nov 2019

Keywords

  • cognitive workload
  • electroencephalogram (EEG)
  • virtual reality
  • HTC VIVE
  • n-back task
  • BRAIN-COMPUTER INTERFACE
  • WORKING-MEMORY
  • N-BACK
  • MENTAL WORKLOAD
  • DUAL-TASK
  • INDIVIDUAL-DIFFERENCES
  • MOTOR IMAGERY
  • VIGILANCE
  • GAMMA
  • THETA

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