Evaluation of EEG-based Complementary Features for Assessment of Visual Discomfort based on Stable Depth Perception Time

Abstract

The investigation aimed at the evaluation of EEG activity during stereoscopic perception of images with different levels of visual comfort. Different levels of disparity and the number of details in stereoscopic views in some cases make it difficult to find the focus point for comfortable depth perception quickly. During our investigation, we found a tendency for differences in single sensor-based EEG signal activity at specific frequencies. A dataset of EEG signal records from 19 control subjects was collected and used for further evaluation. To support the reproducible research this dataset of EEG activity with associated subjective scores was made publicly available. During the experimental investigation, we found differences in EEG signal activity at different levels of visual comfort. In addition, the dynamics of EEG signal activity correlated to the moment of depth perception indication registered by the control subjects. The results of our investigation show that the ratio of alpha estimated from a single EEG sensor placed over the frontal lobe can serve as a complementary feature for the automatic detection of visually uncomfortable stereoscopic views.