Westinghouse Electric Corporation

Ellen K McKinley

Albert L Schmidt

Lewis F Hanes

Gary W Sherwin

Paul H Haley

Patrick J McKenzie

Michael R Morris

The invention is a method and apparatus in which student EEG measurements are made during the videotaped presentation of training materials. Alpha (8-12 Hz) and beta (16-24 Hz) activity present during segments of the material directed to a learning objective are used to determine attention and cognitive activity during the training material. An increased level of attention relates to increased understanding of the material. An increased level of cognitive activity relate directly to incorrect understanding of the material. Evoked potential responses are also measured in response to multiple choice questions on the learning objections presented subsequent to the training materials. A difference between midterm responses for correct and incorrect answers measures correct understanding of the subject matter of the multiple choice question. Comparing the alpha, beta and evoked potential results for a learning objective validates the indication of effectiveness if the results correlate. To evaluate the EEG spectra for varying length recorded signal segments and between individuals with different magnitude responses, the EEG signals are normalized and interpolated to the same length before a windowed FFT is performed the peaks in the FFT are then found.

Method for training material evaluation with method of EEG spectral

The present invention uses a personal computer 180 with an A/D converter 184 and a hard disk drive 182 to record the electroencephalographic (EEG) activity of a subject 192 during a commercial and to record event related potentials (ERP) during commercial evaluation sequences subsequent to the commercial. The EEG is analyzed by a signal processing computer 205 for alpha and beta frequency amplitude content to determine attention cognition of the commercial. Different commercials for the same product are compared using overall attention and cognition ratings. The ERP is analyzed to determine the amplitude and latency of the ERPs potentials produced by stimulus events in the evaluation sequences. The ERPs are filtered and the peak amplitudes and latency measured. The amplitude and/or latency determines the understanding of the commercial, the value of the product, the intent to buy the product and the memory of the product. By computing overall results for each commercial different commercials can be compared. The effectiveness the commercial can be compared to a reference product and a well known local price providing additional information concerning the product to the advertiser.

Method and apparatus for physiological evaluation of short films and

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Monroeville, PA, United States of America

Ellen K McKinley