The PERSON project: a serious brain-computer interface game for treatment in cognitive impairment

• Published in: Health and technology 2019-03, Vol.9 (2), p.123-133
• Main Authors: Monaco, Alfonso, Sforza, Gianluca, Amoroso, Nicola, Antonacci, Marica, Bellotti, Roberto, de Tommaso, Marina, Di Bitonto, Pierpaolo, Di Sciascio, Eugenio, Diacono, Domenico, Gentile, Eleonora, Montemurno, Anna, Ruta, Michele, Ulloa, Antonio, Tangaro, Sabina
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biological and Medical Physics; Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering; Biomedicine; Biophysics; Brain research; Cloud computing; Cognitive ability; Computational Biology/Bioinformatics; Computer & video games; Costs; Customization; Dementia; Disease; Electroencephalography; Engineering; Games; Genetic algorithms; Haptic interfaces; Haptics; Health services; Human-computer interface; Interfaces; Medicine/Public Health; Older people; Original Paper; Patients; Personal computers; Physiological effects; Physiology; Public health; R & D/Technology Policy; Signs and symptoms; Software services; Software-as-a-service; Virtual reality
• ISSN: 2190-7188; 2190-7196
• DOI: 10.1007/s12553-018-0258-y

The cognitive and computational neurosciences have developed neurorehabilitative tools able to treat suffering subjects from early symptoms, in order to give priority to a home environment. In this way, the curative treatment would not burden the hospital with excessive costs and the patient with psychological disorientation. Recent studies have shown the efficacy of video games on improving cognitive processes impaired by ageing’s physiological effect, neurodegenerative or other diseases, with potential beneficial effects. The PERvasive game for perSOnalized treatment of cognitive and functional deficits associated with chronic and Neurodegenerative diseases (PERSON) project proposed new tools for cognitive rehabilitation, aiming to improve the quality of life for patients with cognitive impairments, especially at early stages, by the use of sophisticated, non-invasive technology. This article is an overview of game solutions for training cognitive abilities and it presents the tools developed within the PERSON project. These tools are serious games based on virtual reality, connected to a brain-computer interface based on electroencephalography (EEG) and to haptic devices. The project was born thanks to a strategic synergy between research and public health, to implement a technology for personalized medicine that relies on the cloud infrastructure of the REte di CAlcolo per SuperB ed altre applicazioni (ReCaS)-Bari data centre. PERSON developed a completely open source and innovative framework to interface the game device with the computational resources in the cloud. We exploited the container technology and the Software as a Service (SaaS) paradigm to implement a genetic algorithm that analyses the neural responses in EEG recordings. The paper focuses on technical aspects of the designed tools. A test was conducted on a few volunteers for the purpose of tuning the overall system. The paper does not contain results of a clinical trial as this is planned in a second testing phase, when the user’s perception of the system will also be tested.