Updating BCI paradigms: Why to design in terms of the user?

Towards the adaptation of Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) from the laboratories to real contexts, the challenge of providing an efficient interaction becomes more notorious. Current paradigms are adapted to a technical perspective which suffices only a fraction of requirements to control a computational application with neural activity. For example, human aspects have been usually considered a secondary factor in non-invasive BCI research community, what has resulted in a poor user adaptation process and a system underperformance. This phenomenon has been named as “BCI-Illiteracy”. This concept is questioned since its inclusion in literature may have led to a strong bias in the outcome interpretation, pointing towards the user underperformance rather than the system inefficiency. This paper explores alternative designs proposed in terms of system architecture, experimental procedures and user-centered design as key factors to update current BCI paradigms towards a balance between user needs, and current technology. Several cues, results and findings proposed in recent research are presented as options to be considered for the design of new interactive paradigms, which could lead to an efficient application, and thus matching the expectations currently surrounding BCI systems.