A four-choice hybrid P300/SSVEP BCI for improved accuracy

Application of hybrid SSVEP + P300 brain computer interface to control avatar movement in mobile virtual reality gaming environment

INTRODUCTION

This research evaluated the feasibility of a hybrid SSVEP + P300 brain computer interface (BCI) for controlling the movement of an avatar in a virtual reality (VR) gaming environment (VR + BCI). Existing VR + BCI gaming environments have limitations, such as visual fatigue, a lower communication rate, minimum accuracy, and poor system comfort. Hence, there is a need for an optimized hybrid BCI system that can simultaneously evoke the strongest P300 and SSVEP potentials in the cortex.

METHODS

A BCI headset was coupled with a VR headset to generate a VR + BCI environment. The author developed a VR game in which the avatar's movement is controlled using the user's cortical responses with the help of a BCI headset. Specifically designed visual stimuli were used in the proposed system to elicit the strongest possible responses from the user's brain. The proposed system also includes an auditory feedback mechanism to facilitate precise avatar movement.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

Conventional P300 BCI and SSVEP BCI were also used to control the movements of the avatar, and their performance metrics were compared to those of the proposed system. The results demonstrated that the hybrid SSVEP + P300 BCI system was superior to the other systems for controlling avatar movement.

The use of happy faces as visual stimuli improves the performance of the hybrid SSVEP+P300 brain computer interface

BACKGROUND

This study illustrates a hybrid brain-computer interface (BCI) in which steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEP) and event-related potentials (P300) are evoked simultaneously. The goal of this study was to improve the performance of the current hybrid SSVEP+P300 BCI systems by incorporating a happy face into visual stimuli.

NEW METHOD

In this study, happy and sad faces were added to a visual stimulus to induce stronger cortical signals in a hybrid SSVEP+P300 BCI. Additionally, we developed a paradigm in which SSVEP responses were triggered by non-face stimuli, whereas P300 responses were triggered by face stimuli. We tested four paradigms: happy face paradigm (HF), sad face paradigm (SF), happy face and flicker paradigm (HFF), and sad face and flicker paradigm (SFF).

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

The results demonstrated that the HFF paradigm elicited more robust cortical responses, which resulted in enhanced system accuracy and information transfer rate (ITR). The HFF paradigm has a system communication rate of 25.9 bits per second and an average accuracy of 96.1%. Compared with other paradigms, the HFF paradigm is the best choice for BCI applications because it has the highest ITR and maximum level of comfort.

Effect of inverted faces as visual stimuli on the performance of the hybrid SSVEP + P300 brain computer interface

INTRODUCTION

This study proposes a hybrid brain-computer interface (BCI) system that simultaneously evokes steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEP) and event-related potentials (P300). The goal of this study was to improve the performance of the current hybrid SSVEP + P300 BCI systems by incorporating inverted faces into visual stimuli.

METHODS

In this study, upright and inverted faces were added to visual stimulus to elicit stronger cortical responses in a hybrid SSVEP + P300 BCI. We also considered triggering the P300 signals with facial stimuli and the SSVEP signals with non-facial stimuli. We have tested four paradigms: the upright face paradigm (UF), the inverted face paradigm (IF), the upright face and flicker paradigm (UFF), and the inverted face and flicker paradigm (IFF).

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

The results showed that the IFF paradigm evoked more robust cortical responses, which led to enhanced system accuracy and ITR. The IFF paradigm had an average accuracy of 96.6% and a system communication rate of 26.45 bits per second. The UFF paradigm is the best candidate for BCI applications among other paradigms because it provides maximum comfort while maintaining a reasonable ITR.

A hybrid P300-SSVEP brain-computer interface speller with a frequency enhanced row and column paradigm

Objective

This study proposes a new hybrid brain-computer interface (BCI) system to improve spelling accuracy and speed by stimulating P300 and steady-state visually evoked potential (SSVEP) in electroencephalography (EEG) signals.

Methods

A frequency enhanced row and column (FERC) paradigm is proposed to incorporate the frequency coding into the row and column (RC) paradigm so that the P300 and SSVEP signals can be evoked simultaneously. A flicker (white-black) with a specific frequency from 6.0 to 11.5 Hz with an interval of 0.5 Hz is assigned to one row or column of a 6 × 6 layout, and the row/column flashes are carried out in a pseudorandom sequence. A wavelet and support vector machine (SVM) combination is adopted for P300 detection, an ensemble task-related component analysis (TRCA) method is used for SSVEP detection, and the two detection possibilities are fused using a weight control approach.

Results

The implemented BCI speller achieved an accuracy of 94.29% and an information transfer rate (ITR) of 28.64 bit/min averaged across 10 subjects during the online tests. An accuracy of 96.86% is obtained during the offline calibration tests, higher than that of only using P300 (75.29%) or SSVEP (89.13%). The SVM in P300 outperformed the previous linear discrimination classifier and its variants (61.90–72.22%), and the ensemble TRCA in SSVEP outperformed the canonical correlation analysis method (73.33%).

Conclusion

The proposed hybrid FERC stimulus paradigm can improve the performance of the speller compared with the classical single stimulus paradigm. The implemented speller can achieve comparable accuracy and ITR to its state-of-the-art counterparts with advanced detection algorithms.

A novel brain-computer interface based on audio-assisted visual evoked EEG and spatial-temporal attention CNN

Objective

Brain-computer interface (BCI) can translate intentions directly into instructions and greatly improve the interaction experience for disabled people or some specific interactive applications. To improve the efficiency of BCI, the objective of this study is to explore the feasibility of an audio-assisted visual BCI speller and a deep learning-based single-trial event related potentials (ERP) decoding strategy.

Approach

In this study, a two-stage BCI speller combining the motion-onset visual evoked potential (mVEP) and semantically congruent audio evoked ERP was designed to output the target characters. In the first stage, the different group of characters were presented in the different locations of visual field simultaneously and the stimuli were coded to the mVEP based on a new space division multiple access scheme. And then, the target character can be output based on the audio-assisted mVEP in the second stage. Meanwhile, a spatial-temporal attention-based convolutional neural network (STA-CNN) was proposed to recognize the single-trial ERP components. The CNN can learn 2-dimentional features including the spatial information of different activated channels and time dependence among ERP components. In addition, the STA mechanism can enhance the discriminative event-related features by adaptively learning probability weights.

Main results

The performance of the proposed two-stage audio-assisted visual BCI paradigm and STA-CNN model was evaluated using the Electroencephalogram (EEG) recorded from 10 subjects. The average classification accuracy of proposed STA-CNN can reach 59.6 and 77.7% for the first and second stages, which were always significantly higher than those of the comparison methods (p < 0.05).

Significance

The proposed two-stage audio-assisted visual paradigm showed a great potential to be used to BCI speller. Moreover, through the analysis of the attention weights from time sequence and spatial topographies, it was proved that STA-CNN could effectively extract interpretable spatiotemporal EEG features.

A novel multiple time-frequency sequential coding strategy for hybrid brain-computer interface

Background

For brain-computer interface (BCI) communication, electroencephalography provides a preferable choice due to its high temporal resolution and portability over other neural recording techniques. However, current BCIs are unable to sufficiently use the information from time and frequency domains simultaneously. Thus, we proposed a novel hybrid time-frequency paradigm to investigate better ways of using the time and frequency information.

Method

We adopt multiple omitted stimulus potential (OSP) and steady-state motion visual evoked potential (SSMVEP) to design the hybrid paradigm. A series of pre-experiments were undertaken to study factors that would influence the feasibility of the hybrid paradigm and the interaction between multiple features. After that, a novel Multiple Time-Frequencies Sequential Coding (MTFSC) strategy was introduced and explored in experiments.

Results

Omissions with multiple short and long durations could effectively elicit time and frequency features, including the multi-OSP, ERP, and SSVEP in this hybrid paradigm. The MTFSC was feasible and efficient. The preliminary online analysis showed that the accuracy and the ITR of the nine-target stimulator over thirteen subjects were 89.04% and 36.37 bits/min.

Significance

This study first combined the SSMVEP and multi-OSP in a hybrid paradigm to produce robust and abundant time features for coding BCI. Meanwhile, the MTFSC proved feasible and showed great potential in improving performance, such as expanding the number of BCI targets by better using time information in specific stimulated frequencies. This study holds promise for designing better BCI systems with a novel coding method.

A novel motion coupling coding method for brain-computer interfaces

Objectives

The best frequency response band for the steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) stimulus for humans is limited. This results in a reduced number of encoded targets.

Methods

To circumvent these limitations, we propose a motion-coupled, steady-state motion visual evoked potential (SSMVEP) method. We designed a stimulus paradigm that couples both sinusoidal and square wave motions. The paradigm performs a spiral motion with a higher frequency in the form of sinusoidal wave, and alters the size of the lower frequency via the square wave form.

Results

The motion-coupled SSMVEP method could simultaneously induce stable motion frequency and coupling frequency, and there was no loss of frequency component.

Conclusions

The proposed method has been evaluated to have substantial potential for increasing the number of coding targets, which is an effective supplement to the existing studies.

Improve the Classification Efficiency of High-Frequency Phase-Tagged SSVEP by a Recursive Bayesian-Based Approach

Among the Steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP)-based brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), the phase-tagged SSVEP (p-SSVEP) has been proved a reliable paradigm to extend the number of available targets, especially for high-frequency SSVEP-based BCIs. However, the recognition efficiency of the high-frequency p-SSVEP still remains relatively low. A longer data segment may achieve a higher classification accuracy, but the time consumption of computation leads to the decrease of information transfer rate. This paper presents a recursive Bayesian-based approach to improve the high-frequency p-SSVEP classification efficiency. In each signal processing period, the classification result is generated by the current scores, the condition probability and a recursive prior probability (dynamic prior probability). The experiment displays the SSVEP stimuli with 20 Hz and 30 Hz respectively, and each frequency contains six phases. This paper compared three classification approaches and the recursive Bayesian-based approach could obtain the highest classification accuracy and practical bit rate under the same data length. The mean accuracy and practical bit rate were 89.7% and 37.8 bits/min with 20Hz, and 89.0% and 36.5 bits/min with 30Hz, respectively Furthermore, the recursive Bayesian-based approach could reduce the individual differences among different subjects. Therefore, the recursive Bayesian-based approach can lead to high classification efficiency in high-frequency p-SSVEP.

Decoding covert speech for intuitive control of brain-computer interfaces based on single-trial EEG: a feasibility study

For individuals with severe motor deficiencies, controlling external devices such as robotic arms or wheelchairs can be challenging, as many devices require some degree of motor control to be operated, e.g. when controlled using a joystick. A brain-computer interface (BCI) relies only on signals from the brain and may be used as a controller instead of muscles. Motor imagery (MI) has been used in many studies as a control signal for BCIs. However, MI may not be suitable for all control purposes, and several people cannot obtain BCI control with MI. In this study, the aim was to investigate the feasibility of decoding covert speech from single-trial EEG and compare and combine it with MI. In seven healthy subjects, EEG was recorded with twenty-five channels during six different actions: Speaking three words (both covert and overt speech), two arm movements (both motor imagery and execution), and one idle class. Temporal and spectral features were derived from the epochs and classified with a random forest classifier. The average classification accuracy was $67 \pm 9$ % and $75\pm 7$ % for covert and overt speech, respectively; this was 5-10 % lower than the movement classification. The performance of the combined movement-speech decoder was $61 \pm 9$ % and $67\pm 7$ % (covert and overt), but it is possible to have more classes available for control. The possibility of using covert speech for controlling a BCI was outlined; this is a step towards a multimodal BCI system for improved usability.

Advances in Hybrid Brain-Computer Interfaces: Principles, Design, and Applications

Conventional brain-computer interface (BCI) systems have been facing two fundamental challenges: the lack of high detection performance and the control command problem. To this end, the researchers have proposed a hybrid brain-computer interface (hBCI) to address these challenges. This paper mainly discusses the research progress of hBCI and reviews three types of hBCI, namely, hBCI based on multiple brain models, multisensory hBCI, and hBCI based on multimodal signals. By analyzing the general principles, paradigm designs, experimental results, advantages, and applications of the latest hBCI system, we found that using hBCI technology can improve the detection performance of BCI and achieve multidegree/multifunctional control, which is significantly superior to single-mode BCIs.

Optimized Complex Network Method (OCNM) for Improving Accuracy of Measuring Human Attention in Single-Electrode Neurofeedback System

A neurofeedback system adjusting an individual's attention is an effective treatment for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In current studies, an accurate measure of the level of human attention is one of the key issues that arouse much interest. This paper proposes a novel optimized complex network method (OCNM) for measuring an individual's attention level using single-electrode electroencephalography (EEG) signals. A time-delay embedding algorithm was used to reconstruct EEG data epochs into nodes of the OCNM network. Euclidean distances were calculated between each two nodes to decide edges of the network. Three key parameters influencing OCNM, i.e., delaying time, embedding dimension, and connection threshold, were optimized for each individual. The average degree and clustering coefficient of the constructed network were extracted as a feature vector and were classified into two patterns of concentration and relaxation using an LDA classifier. In the offline experiments of six subjects, the classification performance was tested and compared with an attention meter method (AMM) and an α + β + δ + θ + R method. The experimental results showed that the proposed OCNM achieved the highest accuracy rate (80.67% versus 70.58% and 68.88%). This suggests that the proposed method can potentially be used for EEG-based neurofeedback systems with a single electrode.

Retinotopic and topographic analyses with gaze restriction for steady-state visual evoked potentials

Although the mechanisms of steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) have been well studied, none of them have been implemented with strictly experimental conditions. Our objective was to create an ideal observer condition to exploit the features of SSVEPs. We present here an electroencephalographic (EEG) eye tracking experimental paradigm that provides biofeedback for gaze restriction during the visual stimulation. Specifically, we designed an EEG eye tracking synchronous data recording system for successful trial selection. Forty-six periodic flickers within a visual field of 11.5° were successively presented to evoke SSVEP responses, and online biofeedback based on an eye tracker was provided for gaze restriction. For eight participants, SSVEP responses in the visual field and topographic maps from full-brain EEG were plotted and analyzed. The experimental results indicated that the optimal visual flicking arrangement to boost SSVEPs should include the features of circular stimuli within a 4–6° spatial distance and increased stimulus area below the fixation point. These findings provide a basis for determining stimulus parameters for neural engineering studies, e.g. SSVEP-based brain-computer interface (BCI) designs. The proposed experimental paradigm could also provide a precise framework for future SSVEP-related studies.

Using brain-computer interfaces: a scoping review of studies employing social research methods

Background

The rapid expansion of research on Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) is not only due to the promising solutions offered for persons with physical impairments. There is also a heightened need for understanding BCIs due to the challenges regarding ethics presented by new technology, especially in its impact on the relationship between man and machine. Here we endeavor to present a scoping review of current studies in the field to gain insight into the complexity of BCI use. By examining studies related to BCIs that employ social research methods, we seek to demonstrate the multitude of approaches and concerns from various angles in considering the social and human impact of BCI technology.

Methods

For this scoping review of research on BCIs’ social and ethical implications, we systematically analyzed six databases, encompassing the fields of medicine, psychology, and the social sciences, in order to identify empirical studies on BCIs. The search yielded 73 publications that employ quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods.

Results

Of the 73 publications, 71 studies address the user perspective. Some studies extend to consideration of other BCI stakeholders such as medical technology experts, caregivers, or health care professionals. The majority of the studies employ quantitative methods. Recurring themes across the studies examined were general user opinion towards BCI, central technical or social issues reported, requests/demands made by users of the technology, the potential/future of BCIs, and ethical aspects of BCIs.

Conclusions

Our findings indicate that while technical aspects of BCIs such as usability or feasibility are being studied extensively, comparatively little in-depth research has been done on the self-image and self-experience of the BCI user. In general there is also a lack of focus or examination of the caregiver’s perspective.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12910-019-0354-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Cerebral and gaze data fusion for wheelchair navigation enhancement: case of distracted users

The goal of this paper is to present a new hybrid system based on the fusion of gaze data and Steady State Visual Evoked Potentials (SSVEP) not only to command a powered wheelchair, but also to account for users distraction levels (concentrated or distracted). For this purpose, a multi-layer perception neural network was set up in order to combine relevant gazing and blinking features from gaze sequence and brainwave features from occipital and parietal brain regions. The motivation behind this work is the shortages raised from the individual use of gaze-based and SSVEP-based wheelchair command techniques. The proposed framework is based on three main modules: a gaze module to select command and activate the flashing stimuli. An SSVEP module to validate the selected command. In parallel, a distraction level module estimates the intention of the user by mean of behavioral entropy and validates/inhibits the command accordingly. An experimental protocol was set up and the prototype was tested on five paraplegic subjects and compared with standard SSVEP and gaze-based systems. The results showed that the new framework performed better than conventional gaze-based and SSVEP-based systems. Navigation performance was assessed based on navigation time and obstacles collisions.

Development of Single-Channel Hybrid BCI System Using Motor Imagery and SSVEP

Numerous EEG-based brain-computer interface (BCI) systems that are being developed focus on novel feature extraction algorithms, classification methods and combining existing approaches to create hybrid BCIs. Several recent studies demonstrated various advantages of hybrid BCI systems in terms of an improved accuracy or number of commands available for the user. But still, BCI systems are far from realization for daily use. Having high performance with less number of channels is one of the challenging issues that persists, especially with hybrid BCI systems, where multiple channels are necessary to record information from two or more EEG signal components. Therefore, this work proposes a single-channel (C3 or C4) hybrid BCI system that combines motor imagery (MI) and steady-state visually evoked potential (SSVEP) approaches. This study demonstrates that besides MI features, SSVEP features can also be captured from C3 or C4 channel. The results show that due to rich feature information (MI and SSVEP) at these channels, the proposed hybrid BCI system outperforms both MI- and SSVEP-based systems having an average classification accuracy of 85.6 ± 7.7% in a two-class task.

Hybrid Brain-Computer Interface Techniques for Improved Classification Accuracy and Increased Number of Commands: A Review

In this article, non-invasive hybrid brain-computer interface (hBCI) technologies for improving classification accuracy and increasing the number of commands are reviewed. Hybridization combining more than two modalities is a new trend in brain imaging and prosthesis control. Electroencephalography (EEG), due to its easy use and fast temporal resolution, is most widely utilized in combination with other brain/non-brain signal acquisition modalities, for instance, functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), electromyography (EMG), electrooculography (EOG), and eye tracker. Three main purposes of hybridization are to increase the number of control commands, improve classification accuracy and reduce the signal detection time. Currently, such combinations of EEG + fNIRS and EEG + EOG are most commonly employed. Four principal components (i.e., hardware, paradigm, classifiers, and features) relevant to accuracy improvement are discussed. In the case of brain signals, motor imagination/movement tasks are combined with cognitive tasks to increase active brain-computer interface (BCI) accuracy. Active and reactive tasks sometimes are combined: motor imagination with steady-state evoked visual potentials (SSVEP) and motor imagination with P300. In the case of reactive tasks, SSVEP is most widely combined with P300 to increase the number of commands. Passive BCIs, however, are rare. After discussing the hardware and strategies involved in the development of hBCI, the second part examines the approaches used to increase the number of control commands and to enhance classification accuracy. The future prospects and the extension of hBCI in real-time applications for daily life scenarios are provided.

Development of a Novel Motor Imagery Control Technique and Application in a Gaming Environment

We present a methodology for a hybrid brain-computer interface (BCI) system, with the recognition of motor imagery (MI) based on EEG and blink EOG signals. We tested the BCI system in a 3D Tetris and an analogous 2D game playing environment. To enhance player's BCI control ability, the study focused on feature extraction from EEG and control strategy supporting Game-BCI system operation. We compared the numerical differences between spatial features extracted with common spatial pattern (CSP) and the proposed multifeature extraction. To demonstrate the effectiveness of 3D game environment at enhancing player's event-related desynchronization (ERD) and event-related synchronization (ERS) production ability, we set the 2D Screen Game as the comparison experiment. According to a series of statistical results, the group performing MI in the 3D Tetris environment showed more significant improvements in generating MI-associated ERD/ERS. Analysis results of game-score indicated that the players' scores presented an obvious uptrend in 3D Tetris environment but did not show an obvious downward trend in 2D Screen Game. It suggested that the immersive and rich-control environment for MI would improve the associated mental imagery and enhance MI-based BCI skills.

Progress in EEG-Based Brain Robot Interaction Systems

The most popular noninvasive Brain Robot Interaction (BRI) technology uses the electroencephalogram- (EEG-) based Brain Computer Interface (BCI), to serve as an additional communication channel, for robot control via brainwaves. This technology is promising for elderly or disabled patient assistance with daily life. The key issue of a BRI system is to identify human mental activities, by decoding brainwaves, acquired with an EEG device. Compared with other BCI applications, such as word speller, the development of these applications may be more challenging since control of robot systems via brainwaves must consider surrounding environment feedback in real-time, robot mechanical kinematics, and dynamics, as well as robot control architecture and behavior. This article reviews the major techniques needed for developing BRI systems. In this review article, we first briefly introduce the background and development of mind-controlled robot technologies. Second, we discuss the EEG-based brain signal models with respect to generating principles, evoking mechanisms, and experimental paradigms. Subsequently, we review in detail commonly used methods for decoding brain signals, namely, preprocessing, feature extraction, and feature classification, and summarize several typical application examples. Next, we describe a few BRI applications, including wheelchairs, manipulators, drones, and humanoid robots with respect to synchronous and asynchronous BCI-based techniques. Finally, we address some existing problems and challenges with future BRI techniques.

Towards a gaze-independent hybrid-BCI based on SSVEPs, alpha-band modulations and the P300

In recent years it has been shown to be possible to create a Brain Computer Interface (BCI) using non-invasive electroencephalographic (EEG) measurements of covert visual spatial attention. For example, that both Steady-State Visual Evoked Potentials (SSVEP) and parieto-occipital alpha band activity have been shown to be sensitive to covert attention and this has been exploited to provide simple communication control without the need for any physical movement. In this study, potential improvements in the speed and accuracy of such a BCI are investigated by exploring the possibility of incorporating a P300 task into an SSVEP covert attention paradigm. Should this be possible it would pave the way for a gaze-independent hybrid BCI based on three somewhat independent EEG signals. Within a well-established SSVEP-based attention paradigm we show that it is possible to make a binary classification of covert attention using just the P300 with an average accuracy of 71% across three subjects. We also validate previously published research by showing robust attention effects on the SSVEP and alpha band activity within this paradigm. In future work, it is hoped that by integrating the three signals into a hybrid BCI a significant improvement in performance will be forthcoming leading to an easily usable real time communication device for patients with severe disabilities such as Locked-In Syndrome (LIS).

Discriminative Feature Extraction via Multivariate Linear Regression for SSVEP-Based BCI

Many of the most widely accepted methods for reliable detection of steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) in the electroencephalogram (EEG) utilize canonical correlation analysis (CCA). CCA uses pure sine and cosine reference templates with frequencies corresponding to the visual stimulation frequencies. These generic reference templates may not optimally reflect the natural SSVEP features obscured by the background EEG. This paper introduces a new approach that utilizes spatio-temporal feature extraction with multivariate linear regression (MLR) to learn discriminative SSVEP features for improving the detection accuracy. MLR is implemented on dimensionality-reduced EEG training data and a constructed label matrix to find optimally discriminative subspaces. Experimental results show that the proposed MLR method significantly outperforms CCA as well as several other competing methods for SSVEP detection, especially for time windows shorter than 1 second. This demonstrates that the MLR method is a promising new approach for achieving improved real-time performance of SSVEP-BCIs.

EEG Classification for Hybrid Brain-Computer Interface Using a Tensor Based Multiclass Multimodal Analysis Scheme

Electroencephalogram- (EEG-) based brain-computer interface (BCI) systems usually utilize one type of changes in the dynamics of brain oscillations for control, such as event-related desynchronization/synchronization (ERD/ERS), steady state visual evoked potential (SSVEP), and P300 evoked potentials. There is a recent trend to detect more than one of these signals in one system to create a hybrid BCI. However, in this case, EEG data were always divided into groups and analyzed by the separate processing procedures. As a result, the interactive effects were ignored when different types of BCI tasks were executed simultaneously. In this work, we propose an improved tensor based multiclass multimodal scheme especially for hybrid BCI, in which EEG signals are denoted as multiway tensors, a nonredundant rank-one tensor decomposition model is proposed to obtain nonredundant tensor components, a weighted fisher criterion is designed to select multimodal discriminative patterns without ignoring the interactive effects, and support vector machine (SVM) is extended to multiclass classification. Experiment results suggest that the proposed scheme can not only identify the different changes in the dynamics of brain oscillations induced by different types of tasks but also capture the interactive effects of simultaneous tasks properly. Therefore, it has great potential use for hybrid BCI.

Sequence detection analysis based on canonical correlation for steady-state visual evoked potential brain computer interfaces

BACKGROUND

Steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) has been widely applied to develop brain computer interface (BCI) systems. The essence of SSVEP recognition is to recognize the frequency component of target stimulus focused by a subject significantly present in EEG spectrum.

NEW METHOD

In this paper, a novel statistical approach based on sequence detection (SD) is proposed for improving the performance of SSVEP recognition. This method uses canonical correlation analysis (CCA) coefficients to observe SSVEP signal sequence. And then, a threshold strategy is utilized for SSVEP recognition.

RESULTS

The result showed the classification performance with the longer duration of time window achieved the higher accuracy for most subjects. And the average time costing per trial was lower than the predefined recognition time. It was implicated that our approach could improve the speed of BCI system in contrast to other methods. Comparison with existing method(s): In comparison with other resultful algorithms, experimental accuracy of SD approach was better than those using a widely used CCA-based method and two newly proposed algorithms, least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) recognition model as well as multivariate synchronization index (MSI) method. Furthermore, the information transfer rate (ITR) obtained by SD approach was higher than those using other three methods for most participants.

CONCLUSIONS

These conclusions demonstrated that our proposed method was promising for a high-speed online BCI.

A Hybrid Brain-Computer Interface Based on the Fusion of P300 and SSVEP Scores

The present study proposes a hybrid brain-computer interface (BCI) with 64 selectable items based on the fusion of P300 and steady-state visually evoked potential (SSVEP) brain signals. With this approach, row/column (RC) P300 and two-step SSVEP paradigms were integrated to create two hybrid paradigms, which we denote as the double RC (DRC) and 4-D spellers. In each hybrid paradigm, the target is simultaneously detected based on both P300 and SSVEP potentials as measured by the electroencephalogram. We further proposed a maximum-probability estimation (MPE) fusion approach to combine the P300 and SSVEP on a score level and compared this approach to other approaches based on linear discriminant analysis, a naïve Bayes classifier, and support vector machines. The experimental results obtained from thirteen participants indicated that the 4-D hybrid paradigm outperformed the DRC paradigm and that the MPE fusion achieved higher accuracy compared with the other approaches. Importantly, 12 of the 13 participants, using the 4-D paradigm achieved an accuracy of over 90% and the average accuracy was 95.18%. These promising results suggest that the proposed hybrid BCI system could be used in the design of a high-performance BCI-based keyboard.