Today was the film day for my BCI adventure. I thought that media would be here today but it was just the PR person getting footage to make a “don't you want find out more video”. Good thing it was not more.
From the very beginning the OHSU computer was not happy. Everything was set up, I had the cap on, and Betts started putting the conducting gel in each electrode. The computer screen shows a chart with a small box labeled for each electrode. Usually as the gel is put in, the boxes change from blue to green with occasional flashes of red or yellow, as Betts might touch one of the wires. Everything started out okay, and then the boxes started going back to blue. After checking the connections and the ground, they were able to improve the connections which were still not as good as usual.
The next screen is supposed to show brain waves from each electrode. It is not unusual for one or two sites needing some adjusting. This time it was all flat lines. I happened to know I was not brain dead, so something had to be wrong with a connector. Once again several things were tried, including removing my chair mounted computer. I don't know what finally worked, but I now had brain waves. This time there was excess activity.
It is interesting now to be able to recognize what the researchers are looking for. I now know which 4 lines react when I blink. It is a totally different area from the speaking area. So far filming had included putting on the cap, and a picture of the screen with the brain waves while Betts explained what it showed. Finally we went to the calibration section knowing we did not have the best connections. Either I was out of practice or the connections were less than optimal. The best I did was 80.
I must admit my pride was a little wounded. Although the calibration was low, we went ahead to show the part where I spelled a given word in a sentence. By staying at a low difficulty level where the computer also uses letter prediction, I was able to look good.
The PR man was interested in seeing the free spelling part. I said sure. Now I have a confession to make. Sorry Betts, but I think you knew. I faked part of that by changing what I wanted to say according to the letter that appeared. It gave him some good pictures, and he could see the process. Besides he was getting impatient and my head in the plastic cap was getting hot. With the low calibration score I don't think I would be very successful anyway.
After he left we then talked about some of the problems. I do know it was easier to focus with other things going on than in a quiet space. Also I wondered if the hot weather - our second 100 degree day with no air conditioning - made a difference in the gel. Then Dave reminded me that my head would be the same temperature. They had already unplugged the computer so it was running on battery, unplugged and plugged in the charger for my computer and tested all connections. Still we had no improvement in the connection. The only thing left was the computer felt neglected. Betts had been gone a week for a conference and worked on other things. If you sat around for a month with no attention, wouldn't you feel bad? Now it will get some attention.
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