This paper explores the potential for using Brain Computer Interfaces (BCI)
as a relevance feedback mechanism in content-based image retrieval. We
investigate if it is possible to capture useful EEG signals to detect if
relevant objects are present in a dataset of realistic and complex images. We
perform several experiments using a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) of
images at different rates (5Hz and 10Hz) on 8 users with different degrees of
familiarization with BCI and the dataset. We then use the feedback from the BCI
and mouse-based interfaces to retrieve localized objects in a subset of TRECVid
images. We show that it is indeed possible to detect such objects in complex
images and, also, that users with previous knowledge on the dataset or
experience with the RSVP outperform others. When the users have limited time to
annotate the images (100 seconds in our experiments) both interfaces are
comparable in performance. Comparing our best users in a retrieval task, we
found that EEG-based relevance feedback outperforms mouse-based feedback. The
realistic and complex image dataset differentiates our work from previous
studies on EEG for image retrieval.Comment: This preprint is the full version of a short paper accepted in the
ACM International Conference on Multimedia Retrieval (ICMR) 2015 (Shanghai,
China