Analyzing the Recognition of Color Exposure and Imagined Color from EEG Signals

Abstract

The most widely used visual brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are based on flickering stimulators. It remains unclear whether a passive visual stimulator could be used. Colors are an integral part of everyday life. We analyzed the potential use of both imagined colors and color exposure to control BCIs. We present here a comprehensive study of the feasibility of using the recognition of both exposed and imagined colors from the EEG signals recorded in a previous study. This constitutes the first step towards the development of a color-based BCI. We processed and analyzed the EEG signals from seven subjects recorded whilst they were exposed to three colors (red, green and blue) and whilst they imagined the same colors. The outcomes obtained suggest that the simultaneous use of these two tasks would facilitate the effective recognition of both imagined and displayed colors for the control of a BCI. An analysis of each task separately revealed that color exposure provided more information than color imagination for discriminating between the three colors.