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. 2022 Feb 2:16:779926.
doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2022.779926. eCollection 2022.

Measuring Task-Related Brain Activity With Event-Related Potentials in Dynamic Task Scenario With Immersive Virtual Reality Environment

Masashi Arake  1   2 , Hiroyuki Ohta  3 , Aki Tsuruhara  2 , Yasushi Kobayashi  4 , Nariyoshi Shinomiya  5 , Hiroaki Masaki  6 , Yuji Morimoto  1
Affiliations

Measuring Task-Related Brain Activity With Event-Related Potentials in Dynamic Task Scenario With Immersive Virtual Reality Environment

Masashi Arake et al. Front Behav Neurosci. .

Abstract

Measurement of event-related potentials (ERPs) in simulated and real environments is advantageous for understanding cognition and behavior during practice of goal-directed activities. Recently, instead of using task-irrelevant "probe stimuli" to elicit ERPs, extraction of ERPs directly from events that occur in simulated and real environments has drawn increased attention. Among the previous ERP studies using immersive virtual reality, only a few cases elicited ERPs from task-related events in dynamic task settings. Furthermore, as far as we surveyed, there were no studies that examined the source of ERPs or correlation between ERPs and behavioral performance in 360-degree immersive virtual reality using head-mounted display. In this study, EEG signals were recorded from 16 participants while they were playing the first-person shooter game with immersive virtual reality environment. Error related negativity (ERN) and correct-(response)-related negativity (CRN) elicited by shooting-related events were successfully extracted. We found the ERN amplitudes to be correlated with the individual shooting performance. Interestingly, the main source of the ERN was the rostral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), which is different from previous studies where the signal source was often estimated to be the more caudal part of ACC. The obtained results are expected to contribute to the evaluation of cognitive functions and behavioral performance by ERPs in a simulated environment.

Keywords: behavioral performance; error-related negativity; event-related potential; immersive virtual reality; source localization; task-related event.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Details of the experiment environment. (A) System setup. (B) Schematic representation of VR system with EEG recording system. In the experiment, experimenter selected and initiated the task scenario with task control PC. Participants performed the task using gamepad with the VR PC. When task-related events occur, the VR PC sends event markers to the wireless trigger box via the I/O device. The wireless EEG amp receives the event markers and sends raw EEG data with event markers to the recording PC wirelessly. (C) Flow of events in a scenario. (D) Sample map of a scenario.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
(A) Response-locked ERPs following hit and miss shots at FFCz, FCCz, and CCPz. The gray-shaded square in FFCz represents the time-range used for sLORETA source localization (left). (B) Topographic maps of ERP amplitudes for miss (top: ERN) and hit (bottom: CRN) response-locked negativities, at 96 and 100 ms, respectively. (C) Standardized low-resolution electromagnetic tomography (sLORETA) for response-locked ERPs. The colored voxels represent statically higher values for miss response than for hit response at the peak of ERN (96 ms).
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
(A) The correlation between ERN at FFCz, FCCz, and CCPz from each participant (n = 16) and shots per kill. (B) The correlation between ERN at FFCz, FCCz, and CCPz from each participant (n = 16) and seconds per kill. *p < 0.05.
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