The common spatial pattern (CSP) algorithm is a well-recognized spatial filtering method for feature extraction in motor imagery (MI)-based brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). However, due to the ...influence of nonstationary in electroencephalography (EEG) and inherent defects of the CSP objective function, the spatial filters, and their corresponding features are not necessarily optimal in the feature space used within CSP. In this work, we design a new feature selection method to address this issue by selecting features based on an improved objective function. Especially, improvements are made in suppressing outliers and discovering features with larger interclass distances. Moreover, a fusion algorithm based on the Dempster-Shafer theory is proposed, which takes into consideration the distribution of features. With two competition data sets, we first evaluate the performance of the improved objective functions in terms of classification accuracy, feature distribution, and embeddability. Then, a comparison with other feature selection methods is carried out in both accuracy and computational time. Experimental results show that the proposed methods consume less additional computational cost and result in a significant increase in the performance of MI-based BCI systems.
Electroencephalogram (EEG) has been widely used in emotion recognition due to its high temporal resolution and reliability. Since the individual differences of EEG are large, the emotion recognition ...models could not be shared across persons, and we need to collect new labeled data to train personal models for new users. In some applications, we hope to acquire models for new persons as fast as possible, and reduce the demand for the labeled data amount. To achieve this goal, we propose a multisource transfer learning method, where existing persons are sources, and the new person is the target. The target data are divided into calibration sessions for training and subsequent sessions for test. The first stage of the method is source selection aimed at locating appropriate sources. The second is style transfer mapping, which reduces the EEG differences between the target and each source. We use few labeled data in the calibration sessions to conduct source selection and style transfer. Finally, we integrate the source models to recognize emotions in the subsequent sessions. The experimental results show that the three-category classification accuracy on benchmark SEED improves by 12.72% comparing with the nontransfer method. Our method facilitates the fast deployment of emotion recognition models by reducing the reliance on the labeled data amount, which has practical significance especially in fast-deployment scenarios.
Brain-computer interface (BCI) is a system empowering humans to communicate with or control the outside world with exclusively brain intentions. Electroencephalography (EEG)-based BCI is one of the ...promising solutions due to its convenient and portable instruments. Despite the extensive research of EEG in recent years, it is still challenging to interpret EEG signals effectively due to its nature of noise and difficulties in capturing the inconspicuous relations between EEG signals and specific brain activities. Most existing works either only consider EEG as chain-like sequences while neglecting complex dependencies between adjacent signals or requiring complex preprocessing. In this paper, we introduce two deep learning-based frameworks with novel spatio-temporal preserving representations of raw EEG streams to precisely identify human intentions. The two frameworks consist of both convolutional and recurrent neural networks effectively exploring the preserved spatial and temporal information in either a cascade or a parallel manner. Extensive experiments on a large scale movement intention EEG dataset (108 subjects, 3 145 160 EEG records) have demonstrated that the proposed frameworks achieve high accuracy of 98.3% and outperform a set of state-of-the-art and baseline models. The developed models are further evaluated with a real-world brain typing BCI and achieve a recognition accuracy of 93% over five instruction intentions suggesting good generalization over different kinds of intentions and BCI systems.
Regularization has been one of the most popular approaches to prevent overfitting in electroencephalogram (EEG) classification of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). The effectiveness of regularization ...is often highly dependent on the selection of regularization parameters that are typically determined by cross-validation (CV). However, the CV imposes two main limitations on BCIs: 1) a large amount of training data is required from the user and 2) it takes a relatively long time to calibrate the classifier. These limitations substantially deteriorate the system's practicability and may cause a user to be reluctant to use BCIs. In this paper, we introduce a sparse Bayesian method by exploiting Laplace priors, namely, SBLaplace, for EEG classification. A sparse discriminant vector is learned with a Laplace prior in a hierarchical fashion under a Bayesian evidence framework. All required model parameters are automatically estimated from training data without the need of CV. Extensive comparisons are carried out between the SBLaplace algorithm and several other competing methods based on two EEG data sets. The experimental results demonstrate that the SBLaplace algorithm achieves better overall performance than the competing algorithms for EEG classification.
Although promising from numerous applications, current brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) still suffer from a number of limitations. In particular, they are sensitive to noise, outliers and the ...non-stationarity of electroencephalographic (EEG) signals, they require long calibration times and are not reliable. Thus, new approaches and tools, notably at the EEG signal processing and classification level, are necessary to address these limitations. Riemannian approaches, spearheaded by the use of covariance matrices, are such a very promising tool slowly adopted by a growing number of researchers. This article, after a quick introduction to Riemannian geometry and a presentation of the BCI-relevant manifolds, reviews how these approaches have been used for EEG-based BCI, in particular for feature representation and learning, classifier design and calibration time reduction. Finally, relevant challenges and promising research directions for EEG signal classification in BCIs are identified, such as feature tracking on manifold or multi-task learning.
Objective: This paper tackles the problem of transfer learning in the context of electroencephalogram (EEG)-based brain-computer interface (BCI) classification. In particular, the problems of ...cross-session and cross-subject classification are considered. These problems concern the ability to use data from previous sessions or from a database of past users to calibrate and initialize the classifier, allowing a calibration-less BCI mode of operation. Methods: Data are represented using spatial covariance matrices of the EEG signals, exploiting the recent successful techniques based on the Riemannian geometry of the manifold of symmetric positive definite (SPD) matrices. Cross-session and cross-subject classification can be difficult, due to the many changes intervening between sessions and between subjects, including physiological, environmental, as well as instrumental changes. Here, we propose to affine transform the covariance matrices of every session/subject in order to center them with respect to a reference covariance matrix, making data from different sessions/subjects comparable. Then, classification is performed both using a standard minimum distance to mean classifier, and through a probabilistic classifier recently developed in the literature, based on a density function (mixture of Riemannian Gaussian distributions) defined on the SPD manifold. Results: The improvements in terms of classification performances achieved by introducing the affine transformation are documented with the analysis of two BCI datasets. Conclusion and significance: Hence, we make, through the affine transformation proposed, data from different sessions and subject comparable, providing a significant improvement in the BCI transfer learning problem.
Goal: Sensorimotor-based brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) have achieved successful control of real and virtual devices in up to three dimensions; however, the traditional sensor-based paradigm limits ...the intuitive use of these systems. Many control signals for state-of-the-art BCIs involve imagining the movement of body parts that have little to do with the output command, revealing a cognitive disconnection between the user's intent and the action of the end effector. Therefore, there is a need to develop techniques that can identify with high spatial resolution the self-modulated neural activity reflective of the actions of a helpful output device. Methods: We extend previous EEG source imaging (ESI) work to decoding natural hand/wrist manipulations by applying a novel technique to classifying four complex motor imaginations of the right hand: flexion, extension, supination, and pronation. Results: We report an increase of up to 18.6% for individual task classification and 12.7% for overall classification using the proposed ESI approach over the traditional sensor-based method. Conclusion: ESI is able to enhance BCI performance of decoding complex right-hand motor imagery tasks. Significance: This study may lead to the development of BCI systems with naturalistic and intuitive motor imaginations, thus facilitating broad use of noninvasive BCIs.
Recent advances in electrodes for noninvasive recording of electroencephalograms expand opportunities collecting such data for diagnosis of neurological disorders and brain–computer interfaces. ...Existing technologies, however, cannot be used effectively in continuous, uninterrupted modes for more than a few days due to irritation and irreversible degradation in the electrical and mechanical properties of the skin interface. Here we introduce a soft, foldable collection of electrodes in open, fractal mesh geometries that can mount directly and chronically on the complex surface topology of the auricle and the mastoid, to provide high-fidelity and long-term capture of electroencephalograms in ways that avoid any significant thermal, electrical, or mechanical loading of the skin. Experimental and computational studies establish the fundamental aspects of the bending and stretching mechanics that enable this type of intimate integration on the highly irregular and textured surfaces of the auricle. Cell level tests and thermal imaging studies establish the biocompatibility and wearability of such systems, with examples of high-quality measurements over periods of 2 wk with devices that remain mounted throughout daily activities including vigorous exercise, swimming, sleeping, and bathing. Demonstrations include a text speller with a steady-state visually evoked potential-based brain–computer interface and elicitation of an event-related potential (P300 wave).
Significance Conventional electroencephalogram (EEG) recording systems, particularly the hardware components that form the physical interfaces to the head, have inherent drawbacks that limit the widespread use of continuous EEG measurements for medical diagnostics, sleep monitoring, and cognitive control. Here we introduce soft electronic constructs designed to intimately conform to the complex surface topology of the auricle and the mastoid, to provide long-term, high-fidelity recording of EEG data. Systematic studies reveal key aspects of the extreme levels of bending and stretching that are involved in mounting on these surfaces. Examples in persistent brain–computer interfaces, including text spellers with steady-state visually evoked potentials and event-related potentials, with viable operation over periods of weeks demonstrate important advances over alternative brain–computer interface technologies.
This paper presents a benchmark steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) dataset acquired with a 40-target brain- computer interface (BCI) speller. The dataset consists of 64-channel ...Electroencephalogram (EEG) data from 35 healthy subjects (8 experienced and 27 naïve) while they performed a cue-guided target selecting task. The virtual keyboard of the speller was composed of 40 visual flickers, which were coded using a joint frequency and phase modulation (JFPM) approach. The stimulation frequencies ranged from 8 Hz to 15.8 Hz with an interval of 0.2 Hz. The phase difference between two adjacent frequencies was 0.5π. For each subject, the data included six blocks of 40 trials corresponding to all 40 flickers indicated by a visual cue in a random order. The stimulation duration in each trial was five seconds. The dataset can be used as a benchmark dataset to compare the methods for stimulus coding and target identification in SSVEP-based BCIs. Through offline simulation, the dataset can be used to design new system diagrams and evaluate their BCI performance without collecting any new data. The dataset also provides high-quality data for computational modeling of SSVEPs. The dataset is freely available from http://bci.med.tsinghua.edu.cn/download.html.
Common spatial pattern (CSP)-based spatial filtering has been most popularly applied to electroencephalogram (EEG) feature extraction for motor imagery (MI) classification in brain-computer interface ...(BCI) application. The effectiveness of CSP is highly affected by the frequency band and time window of EEG segments. Although numerous algorithms have been designed to optimize the spectral bands of CSP, most of them selected the time window in a heuristic way. This is likely to result in a suboptimal feature extraction since the time period when the brain responses to the mental tasks occurs may not be accurately detected. In this paper, we propose a novel algorithm, namely temporally constrained sparse group spatial pattern (TSGSP), for the simultaneous optimization of filter bands and time window within CSP to further boost classification accuracy of MI EEG. Specifically, spectrum-specific signals are first derived by bandpass filtering from raw EEG data at a set of overlapping filter bands. Each of the spectrum-specific signals is further segmented into multiple subseries using sliding window approach. We then devise a joint sparse optimization of filter bands and time windows with temporal smoothness constraint to extract robust CSP features under a multitask learning framework. A linear support vector machine classifier is trained on the optimized EEG features to accurately identify the MI tasks. An experimental study is implemented on three public EEG datasets (BCI Competition III dataset IIIa, BCI Competition IV datasets IIa, and BCI Competition IV dataset IIb) to validate the effectiveness of TSGSP in comparison to several other competing methods. Superior classification performance (averaged accuracies are 88.5%, 83.3%, and 84.3% for the three datasets, respectively) based on the experimental results confirms that the proposed algorithm is a promising candidate for performance improvement of MI-based BCIs.
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