Meditation: A Performance Booster for BCI Applications

A key factor that a typical Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) demands of operators is concentration of mind. A focused mind is more effective in controlling a BCI. One way to improve mental concentration is meditation. Past studies have demonstrated the positive effect of long-term meditation (month-long to year-long) on BCI performance. In this study, we examined the impact of short-term meditation (10-15 minutes long). We explored two guided meditation techniques of mindfulness: 1) open monitoring, and 2) mindful breathing. A brain-controlled toy helicopter was used as a testbed. Five participants volunteered in the experiment in which they were exposed to an emotional stressor of a violent video gameplay followed by operating the helicopter through mental concentration. A brief meditation intervention was introduced between the video gameplay and the BCI task. The results reveal that, in comparison to the control trial, participants were able to lift the helicopter for longer time durations after meditation. Furthermore, this performance improvement was significantly greater than the participants achieved by sitting idle.