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Low-Cost EEG Head-Sets Promise Virtual Reality Feedback Loops (thestack.com)

Posted by timothy on from the what's-on-your-mind dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Researchers from the University of Memphis have found that it's possible to use a low-cost EEG device such as the $300 Emotiv Epoc to understand how a user is feeling — opening up the path to genuine psycho-biological feedback in virtual/augmented reality scenarios. The Epoc has been used, in combination with the Razer Hydra, to give users control over VR/AR environments, but integrating emotional feedback into VR environments heralds many new possibilities in the fields of medical research, gaming — and, of course, marketing research.

35 comments

  1. Not Going To Lie by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I didn't bother reading the article. But that summary sounds like a massive load of buzzword bullshit.

  2. From the people who brought you by ArhcAngel · · Score: 1

    This screams

    What could possibly go wrong?

    and I'm sure there will plenty of

    Hey Earl...Watch this!

    --
    "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
    1. Re:From the people who brought you by gstoddart · · Score: 1

      LOL .. psychotic break induced by VR feedback loop via EEG ... wait, isn't that basically Total Recall?

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    2. Re:From the people who brought you by bobbied · · Score: 1

      You took the blue pill... So sorry dude..

      --
      "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
    3. Re:From the people who brought you by dj245 · · Score: 1

      This screams What could possibly go wrong? and I'm sure there will plenty of Hey Earl...Watch this!

      Actually it is a very good idea. The best games know when to dial up the action or horror, and when you've had enough action and are getting fatigued, give you a little break. Timing is everything. F.E.A.R. (the original one) had especially good timing with scary moments, as did Halflife 2 with action sequences. Valve put out a paper (PDF) which includes some information on how they were analyzing "emotional intensity" (page 77 of PDF) in Left 4 Dead and having the AI Director adjust the amount of action based on the player's situation and how stressed they may be. The game can't measure player stress directly, so it used information in the game such as player health and whether they were under attack. Usually this results in good decisions and an enjoyable player experience, but the measurement of player stress are indirect so sometimes the AI Director makes the wrong choice.

      Having an AI Director such as the one in L4D hooked up to an EEG could allow for a game that adjusts difficulty / action / horror based on the player's actual emotional state. All other things being equal, it should result in more enjoyable games.

      --
      Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
    4. Re:From the people who brought you by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And the most condescending meaningless comment of the day award goes to...

    5. Re:From the people who brought you by wierd_w · · Score: 1

      I have considered combining AR with the Emotiv EEG controller for some years now.

      The EEG input device allows full hands-free operation of the embedded platform (but has several outstanding bugs related to signal noise, and user training). This means google-glass can now be used without having to, for example, touch the eyepiece to take a picture, or start recording video-- Or regions of the AR image can be enhanced/manipulated based on user attention focus.

      A low-cost (300$ is not low cost, unless you live in some hyper inflated local economy. Yes Silicon valley, you are a hyper inflated economy.) synthesis of these could enable all kinds of useful applications, from AR assisted night driving with bright IR LED based headlights and computer processing (does not blind other drivers, gives lots of illumination for the computer to do image capture with, and the resulting presentation requires no physical input method. Not even "pinch to zoom".)

      To take off though, the fully integrated product needs to approach the 100$ price point. That includes hardware and software.

      We aren't there yet.

      (Other, highly lucrative applications: Soldiers with AR targeting. Limited upper body exo-harnesses intended to collect EEG motor-area data and correct body posture accordingly for precision sniping, etc. Hollywood already thought of this shit years ago. Tech is just catching up.)

  3. and of course by mark_reh · · Score: 1

    "integrating emotional feedback into VR environments heralds many new possibilities in the fields of medical research, gaming — and, of course, marketing research"

    and of course, porn.

    1. Re:and of course by gstoddart · · Score: 1

      Of course porn, people have been saying since at least the 90s that VR will never exist as a commercially viable thing without porn.

      Apparently everything after the wheel and fire wasn't going to succeed without porn.

      I'm surprised hybrid cars even managed a foothold without porn .. actually, wait, I'm sure rule #34 will come into effect, never mind.

      So, maybe what we need to do is get the porn industry involved in all of those "Solve This Major Problem" things ... solve world peace and we'll show you our tits kinda deal. (And, so we don't have it too sexist, for the ladies we'll show you that Channing Tatum guy's backside or something, you can save the world in exchange for tawdry things too, we don't mind.)

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    2. Re:and of course by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      $300 is cheap? Why not use openBCI?

    3. Re:and of course by rrohbeck · · Score: 1

      Porn always makes you feel better so there should be porn in everything. Problem solved.

      --
      thegodmovie.com - watch it
    4. Re:and of course by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or as the saying goes, "What happens on the holodeck stays on the holodeck".

    5. Re:and of course by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 1

      ST:TNG "Hollow Pursuits" wasn't a bad episode, once you get over all the technobabble.

      http://www.tor.com/2012/01/24/...

    6. Re:and of course by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't forget the earliest use of human controlled fire allowed porn to be stored and presumably used in dark caves (paleolithic cave paintings). I see no problem believing that porn was at least a motivating factor in its discovery and development.

    7. Re:and of course by BoberFett · · Score: 1

      Funny, this story made me think of the TNG episode, The Game...

    8. Re:and of course by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 1

      Ah, yup, that was a great episode!

  4. I don't want a headband or visor pickup. by jeffb+(2.718) · · Score: 1

    I've been bald since I was 30. I've got all this bare scalp just begging for transducers. Give me a full skullcap array.

    1. Re:I don't want a headband or visor pickup. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Boy, if you think malware is a headache today...

    2. Re:I don't want a headband or visor pickup. by gstoddart · · Score: 1

      You mean like this? ;-)

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    3. Re:I don't want a headband or visor pickup. by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 1

      I've been bald since I was 30. I've got all this bare scalp just begging for transducers. Give me a full skullcap array.

      i've had a full head of hair for the past 30 years... and yet NOBODY FUCKING CARES.

      --
      Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
  5. fantastic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sounds like a great way to identify and punish those who are insufficiently happy!

  6. PKD was quite the visionary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Come on...no one else sees this as the first step towards the Mood Organ? Mercermism?

    Really makes you think.

  7. Looking on the bright side, by jenningsthecat · · Score: 1

    ...integrating emotional feedback into VR environments heralds many new possibilities in the fields of medical research...

    Not to mention potential use in medical treatment, possibly including help for depression and PTSD.

    --
    'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
    1. Re:Looking on the bright side, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not really. This type of bio feedback tech has been available for decades and it has never taken off. People want magical pills to take. They don't want to sit around contemplating their mistakes.

      The companies that try to commercialize these things for self-improvement keep going bankrupt. And it's really sad because study after study shows they work. This is one area that the porn industry needs to push to drive the prices down (which up to recently was prevented by a patent whose owning company is also going bankrupt due to their over protective stranglehold on their tech). The future can be bright, but right now the bio-feedback advances are being made by unorganized DIYers and people experimenting with electronic replacements for illegal drugs.

    2. Re:Looking on the bright side, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      simple, step 1) legalize said drugs. step 2) integrate biofeedback with the educational curriculum

  8. Southpark Reference! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A grounded vindaloop?

  9. I don't want worms in my head by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Can anyone seriously guarantee against a computer virus that scrambles brains rather than harddrives?

    1. Re:I don't want worms in my head by Immerman · · Score: 1

      Well, it seems unlikely that it's going to get in through a bunch of EEG *sensors*. And if it can in through the eyes and ears then the EEG probably isn't necessary. In fact, I think quite a few memes might qualify already.

      --
      --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
  10. This smells fishy... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Like S.Q.U.I.D. to be more specific: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_Days_%28film%29

  11. Strange Days by msc.buff · · Score: 1

    Let me know when I can buy a squib...:)

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114558/

  12. Hold on a minute... by matbury · · Score: 1

    Yeah, it sounds like the stuff of SciFi movies but if you check the research to date on detecting and identifying emotions via EEG, you'll see that even with big expensive medical grade EEG machines and headsets, they're having trouble identifying something as rudimentary as happy vs. sad. The paper the article is referencing is about detecting whether there is an emotional response or not, not what kind of emotional response. In short, it's some tech company trying to sell useless junk to new-agey types without a sufficiently well-developed bullshit detector. Do they think that gamers fall under that category?

    1. Re:Hold on a minute... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you are designing a game or experience of some kind you probably have a target emotional response, so it's not a question of what the player is thinking or feeling but rather does the player respond when you hit them with a jumpscare or a kitten. A VR designer could really do quite a lot with just rudimentary measurements, and those kinds of sensors are cheap and headset mountable.

  13. and of course by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It won't be used for any of those applications except 'marketing research'. Because that's the fucked up world we live in now.

  14. Kickstarter for something similar now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There's a kickstarter now for something like this: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/myndgazer/myndgazer-worlds-first-neurofeedback-in-virtual-re