Assessing the properties of single-trial fixation-related potentials in a complex choice task

Abstract

Event-related potentials (ERP) are usually studied by means of their grand averages, or, like in brain-machine interfaces (BMI), classified on a single-trial level. Both approaches do not offer a detailed insight into the individual, qualitative variations of the ERP occurring between single trials. These variations, however, convey valuable information on subtle but relevant differences in the neural processes that generate these potentials. Understanding these differences is even more important when ERP are studied in more complex, natural and real-life scenarios, which is essential to improve and extend current BMI. We propose an approach for assessing these variations, namely amplitude, latency and morphology, in a recently introduced ERP, fixation-related potentials (FRP). To this end, we conducted a study with a complex, real-world like choice task to acquire FRP data. Then, we present our method based on multiple-linear regression and outline, how this method may be used for a detailed, qualitative analysis of single-trial FRP data.