Patent No. 5762611 Evaluation of a subject's interest in education, training and other materials using brain activity patterns

 

Patent No. 5762611

Evaluation of a subject's interest in education, training and other materials using brain activity patterns (Lewis, et al., Jun 9, 1998)

Abstract

The objective evaluation of a subject's interest in specific information, such as education and training materials, for example, is made possible by using patterns of physiological activity generated in the brain. Samples of individual brain activity are obtained to assess whether an individual is paying attention and showing interest in certain materials. Effectiveness in presenting such materials would be improved when direct brain recording activity shows increased interest in the presented material.

Notes:

STATEMENT OF GOVERNMENT INTEREST

The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States of America for governmental purposes without the payment of any royalties thereon or therefor.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,862 issued on Jul. 5, 1994 to inventors Gregory W. Lewis and David Ryan-Jones titled "METHOD AND/OR SYSTEM FOR PERSONAL IDENTIFICATION AND IMPAIRMENT ASSESSMENT FROM BRAIN ACTIVITY PATTERNS" is hereby incorporated by reference into this specification.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Traditionally, the evaluation of the effectiveness of education and training materials has depended upon voluntary verbal and written feedback from individuals, usually in the form of questionnaires or tests.

There is a need for improvements to these techniques for assessing the effectiveness of education, training as well as other materials.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention permits the objective evaluation of a subject's interest in specific information, such as education and training materials, for example, using patterns of physiological activity generated in the brain. The brain patterns may be obtained by directly or indirectly recording the electrical or magnetic activity associated with sensory, cognitive, and motor processing in the brain. Such activity may be recorded using sensors placed in, on, or near the scalp or brain.

According to this invention, samples of individual brain activity are obtained to assess whether an individual is paying attention and showing interest in certain materials, such as education and training materials. Effectiveness in presenting such materials would be improved when direct brain recording activity shows increased interest in the presented material.

According to this invention, frequent and rare irrelevant stimuli are presented aperiodically to a subject during what is called a "baseline period". Presentation of this stimuli during this period establishes baseline brain wave signals. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the irrelevant stimuli take the form of auditory tones of frequent and rare occurrence. Stimuli of a non-auditory nature could also be used, such as, for example, flashes of light. The term brain signals, in the context of this invention, infer or imply evoked or event-related potentials and/or evoked or event-related magnetic fields.

A sensing element made up of one or more electrodes or magnetic sensors are placed appropriately over or on the scalp or skin of a subject to obtain brain signals occurring proximate in time with the rare irrelevant stimuli. Use of the term "proximate in time" in this context is meant to include sensing brain signals immediately after the onset of the rare stimuli or, alternatively, sensing brain signals both immediately after the onset of the rare stimuli as well as immediately before the onset of the rare stimuli. These baseline brain signals are suitably amplified and filtered and are sent to a data acquisition/transformation stage of the invention.

The data acquisition/transformation stage receives the baseline brain signals and is used to sample, convert to digital format, average and store the signals.

The stimulator is also used to present task stimuli to a subject simultaneously with the aperiodically presented frequent and rare irrelevant stimuli. In a preferred embodiment, the task stimuli take the form of video material though other forms of task stimuli may be used. The subject is asked to merely pay attention to the task stimuli but is not required to perform cognitive processing such as answering questions or making decisions regarding what is being observed.

Task stimuli are presented to the subject for a period of time that is described herein as the "task period". The sensing element of the invention is then used to obtain the brain signals of the subject during the task period that occur proximate in time with the rare irrelevant stimuli. The task-related brain signals are suitably amplified and filtered and are sent to the data acquisition/transformation stage of the invention in which these signals are sampled, converted to digital format, averaged and stored.

The data acquisition/transformation stage is used to compare the stored baseline acquired brain signals with those acquired during the presentation of the task stimuli. An assessment of the subject's interest in the task stimuli is then made based upon the difference in magnitude (average value) between the brain signals obtained during the baseline period and those obtained during the task period. The greater this difference, the greater the interest, it is concluded, that the subject has in the task stimuli material.

An object of this invention is to provide a way to of objectively assess the interest a subject expresses in observed materials.

Another object of this invention is to provide a way of utilizing event related potential (ERP), and/or event related field (ERF), waveforms to assess a subject's interest in observed materials.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide a way of utilizing event related potential (ERP), and/or event: related field (ERF), waveforms to assess a subject's interest in observed materials without requiring the subject to perform any cognitive processing while observing the materials.

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The invention uses an irrelevant probe to generate a task-irrelevant neural response while a subject observes training, educational or other materials. The probe may be in a different modality than the task (e.g., auditory probe with visual or visual/auditory tasks).

The invention provides a new mechanism to estimate a subject's interest. There is currently no other known way to measure interest other than by asking the subject to indicate interest via verbal, questionnaire, or other test means.

Obviously, many modifications and variations of the invention are possible in light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims the invention may be practiced otherwise than as has been specifically claimed.