Poor performance in SSVEP BCIs: Are worse subjects just slower?

Brain-computer interface (BCI) systems translate brain activity into messages or commands. BCI studies that record from a dozen or more subjects typically report substantial variations in performance, as measured by accuracy. Usually, some subjects attain excellent (even perfect) accuracy, while at least one subject performs so poorly that effective communication would not be possible with that BCI. This study aims to further explore the differences between the best and worst performers by studying the changes in estimated accuracy within each trial in an offline simulation of an SSVEP BCI. Results showed that the worst performers not only attained lower accuracies, but needed more time after cue onset before their accuracies improved substantially. This outcome suggests that poor performance may be partly (though not completely) explained by the latency between cue onset and improved accuracy.