Effects of immersive virtual environments on the performance of motor imagery brain-computer interfaces: A study on virtual environment, gamification and age relations.

Objective : This study aims to investigate the influence of immersive virtual reality environments and gamification on the classification of motor imaginary (MI) signals and the associated increase in energy in the motor cortex region considering differences across age groups. Approach: Two immersive virtual environments, categorized as indoor and outdoor, were chosen, each encompassing gamified and non-gamified scenarios. Investigations into Event-Related Desynchronization (ERD) data were performed to determine the presence of significant discrepancies in ERD levels among varying age groups and to assess if Fully Immersive Virtual Reality (FIVR) environments prompted marked enhancements in energy levels. Main results : The preliminary analysis revealed a significant difference in cortical energy increase between gamified and non-gamified environments in the 32-43 age group (Group II). The study also explored the impact of environmental factors on MI signal classification using four deep learning algorithms. The Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) classifier exhibited the highest performance, with an average accuracy of 86.83%. Signals recorded indoors showed higher average classification performance, with a significant difference observed among age groups. The 21-24 age group (Group I) performed better in non-gamified environments (88.8%), whereas Group II performed well indoors, particularly in the gamified scenario (93.6%). Significance : The study is significant because it demonstrates how different immersive virtual environments and gamification affect performance in imaginary motor signal classification and cortical energy changes across age groups. This research holds importance as it showcases the impact of design variations within immersive virtual environments on enhancing the efficacy of brain-computer interface-driven systems. It underscores the necessity for further comprehensive investigations in this field.