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number of measurement stations at different sites; maintaining an overview of a
cooperation project’s progress; managing aspects of quality control; and managing
and analyzing of large amounts of data at virtually no extra cost when compared to
single-site projects.
4 Research Trajectories
In conclusion, we would like to review how research activities discussed in this
chapter may be combined to form paths of research, or research trajectories. In
Fig. 10, smooth transitions between research activities as supported by BCI2000 are
indicated by arrows. Potential BCI2000 users may become familiar with the system
in the “classroom” scenario. From this, a number of research trajectories are possible
when following the arrows. All of these scenarios may profit from BCI2000’s
existing components, and from its advantages in multiple-site settings as discussed
in the previous section.
All suggested trajectories may begin with the “classroom” scenario, and then
progress into one of three main directions of research. As a first direction, shifting
research focus from BCI research to psychophysiological experiments in general
may profit from available BCI2000 knowledge when BCI2000 is used to
perform such experiments. As a second direction of research, development of
real-world BCI applications may profit from using BCI2000 to first establish a
reliable BCI, and then connect it to external software, or devices. Similarly, the
third area of research, development of signal processing algorithms, may profit
from a development circle in which first data is recorded in BCI experiments using
a standard algorithm; then, an improved algorithm is tested off-line on existing
data; finally the improved algorithm is applied in an on-line setting to prove its
viability.
In summary, BCI2000 is well suited as a platform to enter the area of BCI
research, and to then further specialize on research into a number of research
directions.
Stimulation
Experiments
Classroom
BCI Experiments
Real-World
Applications
Algorithm
Development
Fig. 10 Research scenarios and trajectories. Starting with the classroom scenario, smooth
transitions into a number of BCI research areas are possible