Viewing moving objects in virtual reality can change the dynamics of sensorimotor EEG rhythms

  • Authors:

  • Gert Pfurtscheller;Reinhold Scherer;Robert Leeb;Claudia Keinrath;Christa Neuper;Felix Lee;Horst Bischof

  • Affiliations:

  • Laboratory of Brain-Computer Interfaces Institute for Knowledge Discovery, Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria;Laboratory of Brain-Computer Interfaces Institute for Knowledge Discovery, Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria;Laboratory of Brain-Computer Interfaces Institute for Knowledge Discovery, Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria;Laboratory of Brain-Computer Interfaces Institute for Knowledge Discovery, Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria;Institute for Psychology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria;Institute of Computer Graphics and Vision, Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria;Institute of Computer Graphics and Vision, Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria

  • Venue:
  • Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments
  • Year:
  • 2007

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Abstract

We studied the impact of different visual objects such as a moving hand and a moving cube on the bioelectrical brain activity (i.e., electroencephalogram; EEG). The moving objects were presented in a virtual reality (VR) system via a head mounted display (HMD). Nine healthy volunteers were confronted with 3D visual stimulus presentations in four experimental conditions: (i) static hand, (ii) dynamic hand, (iii) static cube, and (iv) dynamic cube. The results reveal that the processing of moving visual stimuli depends on the type of object: viewing a moving hand results in a stronger desynchronization of the central beta rhythm than viewing a moving cube. This provides further evidence for some extent of motor processing related to visual presentation of objects and implies a greater involvement of motor areas in the brain with the observation of action of different body parts than with the observation of non-body part movements.