Unsupervised frequency-recognition method of SSVEPs using a filter bank implementation of binary subband CCA

A Time-Local Weighted Transformation Recognition Framework for Steady State Visual Evoked Potentials Based Brain-Computer Interfaces

Canonical correlation analysis (CCA), Multivariate synchronization index (MSI), and their extended methods have been widely used for target recognition in Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) based on Steady State Visual Evoked Potentials (SSVEP), and covariance calculation is an important process for these algorithms. Some studies have proved that embedding time-local information into the covariance can optimize the recognition effect of the above algorithms. However, the optimization effect can only be observed from the recognition results and the improvement principle of time-local information cannot be explained. Therefore, we propose a time-local weighted transformation (TT) recognition framework that directly embeds the time-local information into the electroencephalography signal through weighted transformation. The influence mechanism of time-local information on the SSVEP signal can then be observed in the frequency domain. Low-frequency noise is suppressed on the premise of sacrificing part of the SSVEP fundamental frequency energy, the harmonic energy of SSVEP is enhanced at the cost of introducing a small amount of high-frequency noise. The experimental results show that the TT recognition framework can significantly improve the recognition ability of the algorithms and the separability of extracted features. Its enhancement effect is significantly better than the traditional time-local covariance extraction method, which has enormous application potential.

Novel hybrid visual stimuli incorporating periodic motions into conventional flickering or pattern-reversal visual stimuli for steady-state visual evoked potential-based brain-computer interfaces

In this study, we proposed a new type of hybrid visual stimuli for steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP)-based brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), which incorporate various periodic motions into conventional flickering stimuli (FS) or pattern reversal stimuli (PRS). Furthermore, we investigated optimal periodic motions for each FS and PRS to enhance the performance of SSVEP-based BCIs. Periodic motions were implemented by changing the size of the stimulus according to four different temporal functions denoted by none, square, triangular, and sine, yielding a total of eight hybrid visual stimuli. Additionally, we developed the extended version of filter bank canonical correlation analysis (FBCCA), which is a state-of-the-art training-free classification algorithm for SSVEP-based BCIs, to enhance the classification accuracy for PRS-based hybrid visual stimuli. Twenty healthy individuals participated in the SSVEP-based BCI experiment to discriminate four visual stimuli with different frequencies. An average classification accuracy and information transfer rate (ITR) were evaluated to compare the performances of SSVEP-based BCIs for different hybrid visual stimuli. Additionally, the user's visual fatigue for each of the hybrid visual stimuli was also evaluated. As the result, for FS, the highest performances were reported when the periodic motion of the sine waveform was incorporated for all window sizes except for 3 s. For PRS, the periodic motion of the square waveform showed the highest classification accuracies for all tested window sizes. A significant statistical difference in the performance between the two best stimuli was not observed. The averaged fatigue scores were reported to be 5.3 ± 2.05 and 4.05 ± 1.28 for FS with sine-wave periodic motion and PRS with square-wave periodic motion, respectively. Consequently, our results demonstrated that FS with sine-wave periodic motion and PRS with square-wave periodic motion could effectively improve the BCI performances compared to conventional FS and PRS. In addition, thanks to its low visual fatigue, PRS with square-wave periodic motion can be regarded as the most appropriate visual stimulus for the long-term use of SSVEP-based BCIs, particularly for window sizes equal to or larger than 2 s.

An extended binary subband canonical correlation analysis detection algorithm oriented to the radial contraction-expansion motion steady-state visual evoked paradigm

The radial contraction-expansion motion paradigm is a novel steady-state visual evoked experimental paradigm, and the electroencephalography (EEG) evoked potential is different from the traditional luminance modulation paradigm. The signal energy is concentrated chiefly in the fundamental frequency, while the higher harmonic power is lower. Therefore, the conventional steady-state visual evoked potential recognition algorithms optimizing multiple harmonic response components, such as the extended canonical correlation analysis (eCCA) and task-related component analysis (TRCA) algorithm, have poor recognition performance under the radial contraction-expansion motion paradigm. This paper proposes an extended binary subband canonical correlation analysis (eBSCCA) algorithm for the radial contraction-expansion motion paradigm. For the radial contraction-expansion motion paradigm, binary subband filtering was used to optimize the weighting coefficients of different frequency response signals, thereby improving the recognition performance of EEG signals. The results of offline experiments involving 13 subjects showed that the eBSCCA algorithm exhibits a better performance than the eCCA and TRCA algorithms under the stimulation of the radial contraction-expansion motion paradigm. In the online experiment, the average recognition accuracy of 13 subjects was 88.68% ± 6.33%, and the average information transmission rate (ITR) was 158.77 ± 43.67 bits/min, which proved that the algorithm had good recognition effect signals evoked by the radial contraction-expansion motion paradigm.

Signal processing algorithms for SSVEP-based brain computer interface: State-of-the-art and recent developments

Over past two decades, steady-state evoked potentials (SSVEP)-based brain computer interface (BCI) systems have been extensively developed. As we all know, signal processing algorithms play an important role in this BCI. However, there is no comprehensive review of the latest development of signal processing algorithms for SSVEP-based BCI. By analyzing the papers published in authoritative journals in nearly five years, signal processing algorithms of preprocessing, feature extraction and classification modules are discussed in detail. In addition, other aspects existed in this BCI are mentioned. The following key problems are solved. (1) In recent years, which signal processing algorithms are frequently used in each module? (2) Which signal processing algorithms attract more attention in recent years? (3) Which modules are the key to signal processing in BCI field? This information is very important for choosing the appropriate algorithms, and can also be considered as a reference for further research. Simultaneously, we hope that this work can provide relevant BCI researchers with valuable information about the latest trends of signal processing algorithms for SSVEP-based BCI systems.

An Introductory Tutorial on Brain–Computer Interfaces and Their Applications

The prospect and potentiality of interfacing minds with machines has long captured human imagination. Recent advances in biomedical engineering, computer science, and neuroscience are making brain–computer interfaces a reality, paving the way to restoring and potentially augmenting human physical and mental capabilities. Applications of brain–computer interfaces are being explored in applications as diverse as security, lie detection, alertness monitoring, gaming, education, art, and human cognition augmentation. The present tutorial aims to survey the principal features and challenges of brain–computer interfaces (such as reliable acquisition of brain signals, filtering and processing of the acquired brainwaves, ethical and legal issues related to brain–computer interface (BCI), data privacy, and performance assessment) with special emphasis to biomedical engineering and automation engineering applications. The content of this paper is aimed at students, researchers, and practitioners to glimpse the multifaceted world of brain–computer interfacing.

A Training Data-Driven Canonical Correlation Analysis Algorithm for Designing Spatial Filters to Enhance Performance of SSVEP-Based BCIs

Canonical correlation analysis (CCA) is an effective spatial filtering algorithm widely used in steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP)-based brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). In existing CCA methods, training data are used for constructing templates of stimulus targets and the spatial filters are created between the template signals and a single-trial testing signal. The fact that spatial filters rely on testing data, however, results in low classification performance of CCA compared to other state-of-the-art algorithms such as task-related component analysis (TRCA). In this study, we proposed a novel CCA method in which spatial filters are estimated using training data only. This is achieved by using observed EEG training data and their SSVEP components as the two inputs of CCA and the objective function is optimized by averaging multiple training trials. In this case, we proved in theory that the two spatial filters estimated by the CCA are equivalent, and that the CCA and TRCA are also equivalent under certain hypotheses. A benchmark SSVEP data set from 35 subjects was used to compare the performance of the two algorithms according to different lengths of data, numbers of channels and numbers of training trials. In addition, the CCA was also compared with power spectral density analysis (PSDA). The experimental results suggest that the CCA is equivalent to TRCA if the signal-to-noise ratio of training data is high enough; otherwise, the CCA outperforms TRCA in terms of classification accuracy. The CCA is much faster than PSDA in detecting time of targets. The robustness of the training data-driven CCA to noise gives it greater potential in practical applications.

Multiband entropy-based feature-extraction method for automatic identification of epileptic focus based on high-frequency components in interictal iEEG

Presurgical investigations for categorizing focal patterns are crucial, leading to localization and surgical removal of the epileptic focus. This paper presents a machine learning approach using information theoretic features extracted from high-frequency subbands to detect the epileptic focus from interictal intracranial electroencephalogram (iEEG). It is known that high-frequency subbands (>80 Hz) include important biomarkers such as high-frequency oscillations (HFOs) for identifying epileptic focus commonly referred to as the seizure onset zone (SOZ). In this analysis, the multi-channel interictal iEEG signals were splitted into segments and each segment was decomposed into multiple high-frequency subbands. The different types of entropy were calculated for each of the subbands and the sparse linear discriminant analysis (sLDA) was applied to select the prominent entropy features. Due to the imbalance of SOZ and non-SOZ channels in iEEG data, the use of machine learning techniques is always tricky. To deal with the imbalanced learning problem, an adaptive synthetic oversampling approach (ADASYN) with radial basis function kernel-based SVM was used to detect the focal segments. Finally, the epileptic focus was identified based on detection of focal segments on SOZ and non-SOZ channels. Eight patients were examined to observe the efficiency of the automatic detector. The experimental results and statistical tests indicate that the proposed automatic detector can identify the epileptic focus accurately and efficiently.

Adaptive Time Segment Analysis for Steady-State Visual Evoked Potential Based Brain-Computer Interfaces

The research in non-invasive Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) has led to significant improvements in the recent years for potential end users. However, the user experience and the BCI illiteracy problem remains challenging areas to address for obtaining robust and resilient clinical applications. In this study, we address the choice of the time segment for the detection of steady state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) detection. This problem has been widely addressed for the detection of event-related potentials compared to SSVEP based BCIs. The choice of this parameter is typically fixed and has a direct influence on both the detection accuracy and the information transfer rate. We propose to shift the problem of the time segment to the choice of the threshold for determining if a response has been properly detected. We consider two open-datasets for benchmarking the rationale of the approach. The results support the conclusion that an adaptive time segment for each trial, based on the selection of a threshold, can lead to a substantial higher ITR (86.92 bits/min), compared to the time segment chosen at the user (79.56 bits/min) or group level (73.78 bits/min). Finally, the results suggest that the threshold could be determined automatically in relation to the number of classes. Such an approach can leverage the literacy of SSVEP based BCI.

Two-Stage Frequency Recognition Method Based on Correlated Component Analysis for SSVEP-Based BCI

A canonical correlation analysis (CCA) is a state-of-the-art method for frequency recognition in steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP)-based brain-computer interface (BCI) systems. Various extended methods have been developed, and among such methods, a combination method of CCA and individual-template-based CCA has achieved the best performance. However, the CCA requires the canonical vectors to be orthogonal, which may not be a reasonable assumption for the EEG analysis. In this paper, we propose using the correlated component analysis (CORRCA) rather than CCA to implement frequency recognition. CORRCA can relax the constraint of canonical vectors in CCA and generate the same projection vector for two multichannel EEG signals. Furthermore, we propose a two-stage method based on the basic CORRCA method (termed TSCORRCA). Evaluated on a benchmark data set of 35 subjects, the experimental results demonstrate that CORRCA significantly outperformed CCA, and TSCORRCA obtained the best performance among the compared methods. This paper demonstrates that CORRCA-based methods have a great potential for implementing high-performance SSVEP-based BCI systems.

Correlated Component Analysis for Enhancing the Performance of SSVEP-Based Brain-Computer Interface

A new method for steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) frequency recognition is proposed to enhance the performance of SSVEP-based brain-computer interface (BCI). Correlated component analysis (CORCA) is introduced, which originally was designed to find linear combinations of electrodes that are consistent across subjects and maximally correlated between them. We propose a CORCA algorithm to learn spatial filters with multiple blocks of individual training data for SSVEP-based BCI scenario. The spatial filters are used to remove background noises by combining the multichannel electroencephalogram signals. We conduct a comparison between the proposed CORCA-based and the task-related component analysis (TRCA) based methods using a 40-class SSVEP benchmark data set recorded from 35 subjects. Our experimental study validates the efficiency of the CORCA-based method, and the extensive comparison results indicate that the CORCA-based method significantly outperforms the TRCA-based method. Superior performance demonstrates that the proposed method holds the promising potential to achieve satisfactory performance for SSVEP-based BCI with a large number of targets.

Complex sparse spatial filter for decoding mixed frequency and phase coded steady-state visually evoked potentials

BACKGROUND

Mixed frequency and phase coding (FPC) can achieve the significant increase of the number of commands in steady-state visual evoked potential-based brain-computer interface (SSVEP-BCI). However, the inconsistent phases of the SSVEP over channels in a trial and the existence of non-contributing channels due to noise effects can decrease accurate detection of stimulus frequency.

NEW METHOD

We propose a novel command detection method based on a complex sparse spatial filter (CSSF) by solving ℓ₁- and ℓ_2,1-regularization problems for a mixed-coded SSVEP-BCI. In particular, ℓ_2,1-regularization (aka group sparsification) can lead to the rejection of electrodes that are not contributing to the SSVEP detection.

RESULTS

A calibration data based canonical correlation analysis (CCA) and CSSF with ℓ₁- and ℓ_2,1-regularization cases were demonstrated for a 16-target stimuli with eleven subjects. The results of statistical test suggest that the proposed method with ℓ₁- and ℓ_2,1-regularization significantly achieved the highest ITR.

COMPARISON WITH EXISTING METHODS

The proposed approaches do not need any reference signals, automatically select prominent channels, and reduce the computational cost compared to the other mixed frequency-phase coding (FPC)-based BCIs.

CONCLUSIONS

The experimental results suggested that the proposed method can be usable implementing BCI effectively with reduce visual fatigue.

To train or not to train? A survey on training of feature extraction methods for SSVEP-based BCIs

OBJECTIVE

Despite the vast research aimed at improving the performance of steady-state visually evoked potential (SSVEP)-based brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), several limitations exist that restrict the use of such applications for long-term users in the real-world. One of the main challenges has been to reduce training time while maintaining good BCI performance. In view of this challenge, this survey identifies and compares the different training requirements of feature extraction methods for SSVEP-based BCIs.

APPROACH

This paper reviews the various state-of-the-art SSVEP feature extraction methods that have been developed and are most widely used in the literature.

MAIN RESULTS

The main contributions compared to existing reviews are the following: (i) a detailed summary, including a brief mathematical description of each feature extraction algorithm, providing a guide to the basic concepts of the state-of-the-art techniques for SSVEP-based BCIs found in literature; (ii) a categorisation of the training requirements of SSVEP-based methods into three categories, defined as training-free methods, subject-specific and subject-independent training methods; (iii) a comparative review of the training requirements of SSVEP feature extraction methods, providing a reference for future work on SSVEP-based BCIs.

SIGNIFICANCE

This review highlights the strengths and weaknesses of the three categories of SSVEP training methods. Training-free systems are more practical but their performance is limited due to inter-subject variability resulting from the complex EEG activity. Feature extraction methods that incorporate some training data address this issue and in fact have outperformed training-free methods: subject-specific BCIs are tuned to the individual yielding the best performance at the cost of long, tiring training sessions making these methods unsuitable for everyday use; subject-independent BCIs that make use of training data from various subjects offer a good trade-off between training effort and performance, making these BCIs better suited for practical use.