Quantifying Brain Activity State: EEG analysis of Background Music in A Serious Game on Attention of Children

摘要

Music and Serious Games are separately useful alternative therapy methods for helping people with a cognitive disorder such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). In this study, we aim to explore the effect of background music in game playing on children with and without ADHD. In addition, we propose an algorithm and a measure to quantify the activity of the brain. We designed Tetris, a well-known serious game, which plays Beethoven, Mozart, or no-music in the background. The brain activity of the subjects is recorded by means of electroencephalography (EEG) signals via a brain computer interface (BCI) device. We analyzed the effect of music utilizing time-domain features extracted from Alpha and Beta band of the EEG signals. The results showed that different music types have varying impact on the attention of children. In general, Mozart increases Beta-level brain activity while decreasing the Alpha-level one. On the other hand, Beethoven music increased concurrently both Alpha- and Beta-level activity for children with ADHD.