PFI:BIC - Unobtrusive Neurotechnology and Immersive Human-Computer Interface for Enhanced Learning

在各行各业，特别是在学龄儿童中，学习障碍、注意力缺陷和阅读兴趣低迷的现象日益普遍，给人类带来了严重问题，从长远来看，给社会和经济发展带来了负担。这一创新能力建设伙伴关系(PFI：BIC)合作项目通过创建一个新的智能服务人机界面(HCI)神经技术平台来正面解决文盲和教育停滞不前对人类的迫在眉睫的威胁，作为一个高效、用户友好和有趣的工具，帮助学习并刺激家庭和课堂上的认知发展。身临其境的人机界面神经技术将允许直接测量认知水平的进展，并提供实时反馈，以指导用户学习更有效地阅读。该项目在其活动和所开发技术的目标效益方面都高度集中于科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)，这直接延伸到通过探索儿童在解决难题时的认知表现来学习科学和数学。非侵入性神经技术的发展进一步满足了人机界面对实用、集成和模块化的脑机接口(BCI)解决方案的迫切需求，促进了消费者和临床在市场上的广泛使用。这一合作关系为学生提供了在市场上通过与行业合作伙伴实习获得创新实践经验的机会。中心目标是开发和利用新的人机界面技术，作为学习教练和个人认知发展助理，促进学习阅读和获得认知发展中的其他关键技能。身临其境但不引人注目的人机界面技术试验台将包括一个干电极脑电(EEG)BCI，一个带有触摸屏和集成摄像头的平板电脑，以及一套在云中运行的信号处理算法，用于监控学习阅读的儿童的大脑和凝视活动，并提供关于认知表现进展的实时神经反馈，以促进学习。这一合作伙伴关系将把先前由美国国家科学基金会赞助的加州大学圣迭戈分校项目(NSF EFRI-M3C，ENG-1137279)在研究人类运动控制的分布式动力学方面的科学进展转化为开发用于增强学习的神经反馈训练范例，并将其转化为使用Cognionics干电极脑电无线脑机接口神经技术和Syntrogi实时基于云的信号处理软件管道实施的非侵入性沉浸式试验台上的实际部署。该技术将通过评估在模拟课堂环境和其他目标学习环境中增强学习能力和认知表现的有效性来展示人类赋权的潜力。该项目的牵头机构是加州大学圣地亚哥分校(UCSD)，研究人员来自神经计算研究所和生物工程系。参与这一努力的工业合作伙伴是Syntrogi Inc.(DBA Qusp，Small Business，加利福尼亚州圣地亚哥)和Cognionics，Inc.(Small Business，加利福尼亚州圣地亚哥)。该项目还邀请了加州大学圣地亚哥分校时间动力学学习中心的Andrea Chiba博士和Leanne Chukoskie博士、圣地亚哥州立大学心理系的Barbara Moss博士和弗吉尼亚联邦大学心理系的Zewelanji N.Serpell博士参与人体案例研究和在不同学习环境中评估开发的人机交互技术。

The increasing prevalence of learning disorders, attention deficits, and lackluster appetite for reading across all walks of life, and particularly among school-age children, poses severe problems to humanity and, in the long run, burdens social and economic development. This Partnership for Innovation Building Innovation Capacity (PFI:BIC) collaborative project tackles the impending threats to humanity of illiteracy and faltering education heads-on by creating a new smart-service human-computer interface (HCI) neurotechnology platform as a highly effective, user-friendly, and fun-to-use tool aiding learning and stimulating cognitive development at home and in the classroom. The immersive HCI neurotechnology will allow directly measuring progress at the cognitive level and providing real-time feedback to guide the user in learning to read more effectively. The project is highly Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) intensive both in its activities and in the targeted benefits of the developed technology, which extends directly to learning science and mathematics by probing cognitive performance of children while they solve puzzles. The development of unobtrusive neurotechnology further addresses a critical need for practical integrated and modular brain-computer interface (BCI) solutions in HCI promoting widespread consumer and clinical use in the marketplace. The partnership provides opportunities for students to gain practical experience in innovation in the marketplace through internships with the industrial partners.The central aim is to develop and leverage new HCI technology as a learning coach and personal cognitive development assistant that facilitates learning to read and acquiring other critical skills in cognitive development. The immersive yet unobtrusive HCI technology testbed will comprise a dry-electrode electroencephalography (EEG) BCI, a tablet with touchscreen and integrated camera, and a suite of signal processing algorithms running in the cloud, for monitoring brain and gaze activity in children learning to read, and providing real-time neurofeedback on progress in cognitive performance to promote enhanced learning. The partnership will transition scientific advances of a previous NSF-sponsored UCSD project (NSF EFRI-M3C, ENG-1137279) in studying the distributed dynamics of human motor control, to development of neurofeedback training paradigms for learning enhancement, and to practical deployment on the unobtrusive immersive testbed implemented using Cognionics dry-electrode EEG wireless BCI neurotechnology and Syntrogi real-time cloud-based signal processing software pipelines. The potential for human empowerment by the technology will be demonstrated by evaluating effectiveness in enhancing learning capabilities and cognitive performance in simulated classroom settings and other targeted learning environments.The lead institution for the project is University of California San Diego (UCSD), with investigators from the Institute for Neural Computation and Department of Bioengineering. The industrial partners in the effort are Syntrogi Inc. (dba Qusp, small business, San Diego CA) and Cognionics, Inc. (small business, San Diego, CA). The project also engages broader context partners Drs. Andrea Chiba and Leanne Chukoskie from the UCSD Temporal Dynamics of Learning Center, Dr. Barbara Moss from San Diego State University Department of Psychology, and Dr. Zewelanji N. Serpell from Virginia Commonwealth University Department of Psychology, in the human case studies and the assessment of the developed HCI technology in diverse learning environments.