US-12622629-B1 - Discovery of knowledge, interest and experience by psychophysiological response

US12622629B1US 12622629 B1US12622629 B1US 12622629B1US-12622629-B1

Abstract

Methods are disclosed for discovery of knowledge, interest and experience of individuals indicated by measured psychophysiological response (e.g., electroencephalograph) to stimuli (e.g., images). Stimuli are selected to explore targeted topics described in various levels of detail and sub-categories organized as hierarchal trees. The degree of psychophysiological response to stimuli associated with sub-categories of topics in the hierarchal tree guides selection of additional stimuli to systematically explore hierarchal tree nodes, levels and branches to discover the extent of knowledge, interest or experience related to the targeted topic. A system enabling these methods provides archival and search of hierarchal trees associated with topics of interest, target and non-target stimuli; stimulus dataset generation, editing and presentation/application; psychophysiological data collection and processing via local and remote resources; evoked response detection, characterization and scoring; and association of indications of knowledge, interest or experience with regards to facets of the targeted topic.

Inventors

Robert William Kocher
Loran Dean Ambs
Marita Mariela Rance
Andrew Zachary Wisti

Assignees

P4 X GROUP, INC.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20220915

Claims (4)

1 . A method for obtaining information of at least one of knowledge, interest and experience of a subject for a specific category related to one of a topic of knowledge, familiarity or interest, the method comprising: generating a first stimulus at a first location and communicating the first stimulus through a data transfer subsystem to a stimulus playback device at a second remote location; receiving, by a first processor, a first psychophysiological signal, wherein the first psychophysiological signal represents a first psychophysiological response of the subject to the first stimulus presented at the stimulus playback device; communicating the first psychophysiological response through the data transfer subsystem and detecting, at a second processor, a first evoked response potential (ERP) characterization of the first psychophysiological response; determining, by the second processor, a first correlation between the first ERP characterization and a category related to one of a topic of knowledge, familiarity or interest; based on determining the first correlation between the first ERP characterization and the category related to one of the topic of knowledge, familiarity or interest, selecting, at the first location, a second stimulus related to a sub-category of the category related to one of the topic of knowledge, familiarity or interest; communicating the second stimulus through the data transfer subsystem to the stimulus playback device at the second remote location; receiving, by the first processor, a second psychophysiological signal, wherein the second psychophysiological signal represents a second psychophysiological response of the subject to the second stimulus presented at the stimulus playback device; communicating the second psychophysiological response through the data transfer subsystem and detecting, at the second processor, a second evoked response potential (ERP) characterization of the second psychophysiological response; determining, by the second processor, a second correlation between the second ERP characterization and the sub-category of the category related to one of the topic of knowledge, familiarity or interest; and obtaining information of at least one of knowledge, interest and experience of the subject based on the determined second correlation between the second ERP characterization and the sub-category of the category related to one of the topic of knowledge, familiarity or interest.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said first and second stimulus are comprised of at least one of an external stimuli, an internal stimuli, and task stimuli.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said first and second psychophysiological signals includes at least one of a neurophysiological response, a psychophysiological response, a psychological response, a psychophysical response, and a physiological change.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a location of determining the first correlation and selecting the second stimulus is located remotely from the remote location where the first and second psychophysiological signals are collected from the subject.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/245,037, filed on Sep. 16, 2021, the disclosures of each are incorporated by reference in their entirety. FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to psychophysiological measurement and, more specifically, to techniques for detecting knowledge, interest or experience of a subject based on brain activation to external stimulation. BACKGROUND For decades Electroencephalography (EEG) and related tools that measure psychophysiological responses (e.g., polygraphs) have been used to discern whether someone is familiar with certain information. Examples of EEG tools include the systems and methods disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,684,926 B2 and U.S. Patent Application publication 20140163409 A1 (each of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety). Systems such as these, are generally used in conjunction with the Guilty Knowledge Test (GKT). The purpose of the GKT is to associate the test subject to a particular event (e.g., a crime) by observation and interpretation of the test subject's psychophysiological response when confronted with information that may only be known by someone familiar with the event. Success of the GKT requires that the investigator know about the people, places or things associated with an event in order to pose verbal or non-verbal questions to the test subject. The investigator compares the test subject's psychophysiological response to questions known to be related to the event with questions known to be unrelated to the event. The reliability of GKT test results depends upon the test administrator's knowledge of what the test subject knows or is believed to know and subjective interpretation of observed psychophysiological response of the test subject. There is a need for a non-verbal means of discovering what a person knows, is familiar with or experienced by objective interpretation of psychophysiological responses that do not rely upon a priori knowledge of what the test subject knows. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In a first example, a method is disclosed for exposing a subject to a first sequence of stimuli. At least one stimulus of the first sequence of stimuli correlated with a category of potential knowledge, familiarity or interest. Measurable brain activity of the subject to the first sequence of stimuli is detected. The detected brain activation is correlated to at least one target category, and a second sequence of stimuli is selected, based upon the observed brain activation of the subject to the first sequence of stimuli. A system enabling the disclosed method includes one or more sensors, one or more presentation devices, and a processor. The processor is in communication with the presentation device and the at least one sensor and adapted and configured to send at least one stimulus in a first sequence of stimuli to a presentation or application device, detect brain activation from at least one sensor based upon the brain activation of a subject, correlate the detected brain activation to at least one target category, and select a second sequence of stimuli, based upon the brain activation of the subject to the at least one stimulus of the first sequence of stimuli. For the purposes of this disclosure, a sequence of stimuli may be made up of a single stimulus or a set of stimuli. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 illustrates the time series data from five EEG sensors illustrating the character and latency of P-300 signals indicative of knowledge, familiarity or interest. FIG. 2 illustrates a flow diagram for a first method for knowledge, familiarity or interest detection. FIG. 3 illustrates a flow diagram for a second method for discovery of knowledge, familiarity or interest. FIG. 4 illustrates a system diagram for a method for discovery of knowledge, familiarity or interest. FIG. 5A illustrates a system diagram of an example of this disclosure related to automated generation of stimulus sequences. FIG. 5B illustrates an alternative system diagram of FIG. 5A of an example of this disclosure related to automated generation of stimulus sequences having a number of devices at one or more remote locations. FIG. 6A illustrates a system diagram of an example of this disclosure related to discovery of vocational knowledge, familiarity or interest. FIG. 6B illustrates an alternative system diagram of FIG. 6A of an example of this disclosure related to discovery of vocational knowledge, familiarity or interest having a number of system components at a remote location. FIG. 7 illustrates a system diagram of an example of this disclosure for discovery of vocational knowledge, familiarity or interest. FIGS. 8A and 8B illustrate a logical flowchart diagram of a method of this disclosure in which topical interest of a subject is explored. FIG. 9 illustrates one example of a hierarchal tree of a topic-of-interest several branches and sub-branches of