Brain–Computer Interfaces and User Experience Evaluation

Abstract

The research on brain--computer interfaces (BCIs) is pushing hard to bring technologies out of the lab, into society and onto the market. The newly developing merge of the field of BCI with human--computer interaction (HCI) is paving the way for new applications such as BCI-controlled games. The evaluation or success of BCI technologies is often based on how accurate the control of a user is over the technology. However, while this is still key to its usability, other factors that influence the user experience (UX) can make or break a technology. In this paper we first review studies that investigated user experience with BCIs. Second, we will discuss how methods from the field of HCI can contribute to the evaluation of BCIs. From experience drawn from two case studies we provide recommendations for evaluating BCIs.