Workshop "Towards Theories of Brain-Computer Interaction" (W11)
11th International BCI Meeting - Banff, Canada, June 2-5, 2025
Organisers
Fabien Lotte
Jonathan Wolpaw
Amy Orsborn
Sonja Kleih-Dahms
Introduction
Despite sustained progress and intensive research efforts, BCI are still scarcely used outside laboratories, notably due to their relatively low reliability & usability and large inter-user and intra-user variabilities. To address these issues, most BCI research is based on trial-and-error, e.g., exploring classification or training approaches in the quest for the most effective ones, without underlying theory that could explain or predict why some methods work and some others do not. This is bound to lead to suboptimal BCI design and/or slow scientific progress. Most studies are addressing problems without the guidance that coherent theories of BCI structure and function could provide. There is thus a strong need for theories in BCI research. We focus here on theories as defined, e.g., by the American Psychology Association: “a principle or body of interrelated principles that purports to explain or predict a number of interrelated phenomena.” This workshop aims to: (1) present several theories that are emerging regarding BCI user training, neurophysiological changes associated with BCI control, and mental state decoding; and (2) create a roadmap for further theoretical developments, for their experimental assessments, and ultimately for their translation into reliable effective BCIs suitable for widespread dissemination and use outside the laboratory.
Outline (with slides and notes from the workkshop)
9:30-9:45: "Introduction: Towards Theories of Brain-Computer Interaction", Fabien Lotte (slides pdf)
Part I: Emerging Theories
9:45-10:05: "BCIs Create Synthetic Heksors: Implications and Applications", Jonathan Wolpaw (slides pdf, slides power point with animations)
10:05-10:25: "A Psychological Perspective on Brain-Computer Interaction", Sonja Kleih-Dahms
10:25-10:45: "Towards a theory of user-training in active EEG-based BCI", Fabien Lotte (slides pdf)
10:45-11:05: "Predicting and shaping user-device interactions in co-adaptive neural interfaces", Amy Orsborn (slides pdf)
Part II: Future Theories (break-out group discussions)
Developing a BCI-Based Skill and Integrating It with Muscle-Based Skills - led by Jonathan Wolpaw (restitution notes/slides by Gaël Van Der Lee)
Human factors and Human-Computer Interaction in BCIs - led by Sonja Kleih-Dahms (restitution notes by Sonja Kleih)
Machine learning in BCIs - led by Fabien Lotte (restitution notes by Victoria Peterson)
Co-adaptive learning in BCIs - led by Amy Orsborn (resitution notes by Amy Orsborn)