P300 latency Jitter occurrence in patients with disorders of consciousness: Toward a better design for Brain Computer Interface applications

In this study the P300 latency jitter has been explored in an EEG data set collected from a group of patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC; n=13) that was administered with an auditory Oddball paradigm under passive and active conditions. A method based on wavelet transform was applied to estimate single trial P300 waveforms. Preliminary results showed that 5 Vegetative State (VS) and 8 Minimally Conscious Staten (MCS) patients exhibited significantly higher values of P300 latency jitter as compared to those obtained from a control group of 12 healthy subjects. In addition, the magnitude of the P300 latency jitter negatively correlated with patients´ clinical status. The existence of such phenomenon might substantially limit an effective use of Brain Computer Interface systems for communication.