Effectiveness of Flickering Video Clips as Stimuli for SSVEP-based BCIs

Flickering video clips can be used as stimuli in Steady state visual evoked potential (SSVEP)-based brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) with potentially high performance. This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of stimuli using various types of video clips with different emotional valences, scenes and actors' actions. Experimental result showed that flickering videos with affective contents can enhance the SSVEP response compared with neutral stimuli. Furthermore, pleasant stimuli and unpleasant stimuli have similar effects. More interestingly, among affective stimuli, flickering video made by close-up shot and moderate movement can provide the most enhancement on the SSVEP response.