Quantifying canine interactions with smart toys assesses suitability for service dog work.

There are approximately a half million active service dogs in the United States, providing life-changing assistance and independence to people with a wide range of disabilities. The tremendous value of service dogs creates significant demand, which service dog providers struggle to meet. Breeding, raising, and training service dogs is an expensive, time-consuming endeavor which is exacerbated by expending resources on dogs who ultimately will prove to be unsuitable for service dog work because of temperament issues. Quantifying behavior and temperament through sensor-instrumented dog toys can provide a way to predict which dogs will be suitable for service dog work, allowing resources to be focused on the dogs likely to succeed. In a 2-year study, we tested dogs in advanced training at Canine Companions for Independence with instrumented toys, and we discovered that a measure of average bite duration is significantly correlated with a dog's placement success as a service dog [Adjusted OR = 0.12, Pr(>|z|) = 0.00666]. Applying instrumented toy interactions to current behavioral assessments could yield more accurate measures for predicting successful placement of service dogs while reducing the workload of the trainers.

Towards an independent brain-computer interface using steady state visual evoked potentials.

OBJECTIVE: Brain-computer interface (BCI) systems using steady state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) have allowed healthy subjects to communicate. However, these systems may not work in severely disabled users because they may depend on gaze shifting. This study evaluates the hypothesis that overlapping stimuli can evoke changes in SSVEP activity sufficient to control a BCI. This would provide evidence that SSVEP BCIs could be used without shifting gaze. METHODS: Subjects viewed a display containing two images that each oscillated at a different frequency. Different conditions used overlapping or non-overlapping images to explore dependence on gaze function. Subjects were asked to direct attention to one or the other of these images during each of 12 one-minute runs. RESULTS: Half of the subjects produced differences in SSVEP activity elicited by overlapping stimuli that could support BCI control. In all remaining users, differences did exist at corresponding frequencies but were not strong enough to allow effective control. CONCLUSIONS: The data demonstrate that SSVEP differences sufficient for BCI control may be elicited by selective attention to one of two overlapping stimuli. Thus, some SSVEP-based BCI approaches may not depend on gaze control. The nature and extent of any BCI's dependence on muscle activity is a function of many factors, including the display, task, environment, and user. SIGNIFICANCE: SSVEP BCIs might function in severely disabled users unable to reliably control gaze. Further research with these users is necessary to explore the optimal parameters of such a system and validate online performance in a home environment.