脳波信号解析に注目したノイズ除去、特徴抽出、実験観測応用を最適化する数理基盤に関する研究

Electroencephalography (EEG) data inevitably contains a large amount of noise particularly from ocular potentials in tasks with eye-movements and eye-blink, known as electrooculography (EOG) artifact, which has been a crucial issue in the braincomputer- interface (BCI) study. The eye-movements and eye-blinks have different time-frequency properties mixing together in EEGs of interest. This time-frequency characteristic has been substantially dealt with past proposed denoising algorithms relying on the consistent assumption based on the single noise component model. However, the traditional model is not simply applicable for biomedical signals consist of multiple signal components, such as weak EEG signals easily recognized as a noise because of the signal amplitude with respect to the EOG signal. In consideration of the realistic signal contamination, we newly designed the EEG-EOG signal contamination model for quantitative validations of the artifact removal from EEGs, and then proposed the two-stage wavelet shrinkage method with the undecimated wavelet decomposition (UDWT), which is suitable for the signal structure. The features of EEG-EOG signal has been extracted with existing decomposition methods known as Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Independent Component Analysis (ICA) based on a consistent assumption of the orthogonality of signal vectors or statistical independence of signal components. In the viewpoint of the signal morphology such as spiking, waves and signal pattern transitions, A systematic decomposition method is proposed to identify the type of signal components or morphology on the basis of sparsity in time-frequency domain. Morphological Component Analysis (MCA) is extended the traditional concept of signal decomposition including Fourier and wavelet transforms and provided a way of reconstruction that guarantees accuracy in reconstruction by using multiple bases being independent of each other and uniqueness representation, called the concept of “dictionary”. MCA is applied to decompose the real EEG signal and clarified the best combination of dictionaries for the purpose. In this proposed semi-realistic biological signal analysis, target EEG data was prepared as mixture signals of artificial eye movements and blinks and iEEG recorded from electrodes embedded into the brain intracranially and then those signals were successfully decomposed into original types by a linear expansion of waveforms such as redundant transforms: UDWT, DCT,LDCT, DST and DIRAC. The result demonstrated that the most suitable combination for EEG data analysis was UDWT, DST and DIRAC to represent the baseline envelop, multi frequency wave forms and spiking activities individually as representative types of EEG morphologies. MCA proposed method is used in negative-going Bereitschaftspotential (BP). It is associated with the preparation and execution of voluntary movement. Thus far, the BP for simple movements involving either the upper or lower body segment has been studied. However, the BP has not yet been recorded during sit-to-stand movements, which use the upper and lower body segments. Electroencephalograms were recorded during movement. To detect the movement of the upper body segment, a gyro sensor was placed on the back, and to detect the movement of the lower body segment, an electromyogram (EMG) electrode was placed on the surface of the hamstrings and quadriceps. Our study revealed that a negative-going BP was evoked around -3 to -2 seconds before the onset of the upper body movement in the sit-to-stand movement in response to the start cue. The BP had a negative peak before the onset of the movement. The potential was followed by premotor positivity, a motor-related potential, and a reafferent potential. The BP for the sit-to-stand movement had a steeper negative slope (-0.8 to -0.001 seconds) just before the onset of the upper body movement. The slope correlated with the gyro peak and the max amplitude of hamstrings EMG. A BP negative peak value was correlated with the max amplitude of the hamstring EMG. These results suggested that the observed BP is involved in the preparation/execution for a sit-to-stand movement using the upper and lower body. In summary, this thesis is help to pave the practical approach of real time analysis of desired EEG signal of interest toward the implementation of rehabilitation device which may be used for motor disabled people. We also pointed out the EEG-EOG contamination model that helps in removal of the artifacts and explicit dictionaries are representing the EEG morphologies.九州工業大学博士学位論文 学位記番号:生工博甲第290号 学位授与年月日:平成29年3月24日1 Introduction|2 Research Background and Preliminaries|3 Introduction of Morphological Component Analysis|4 Two-Stage Undecimated Wavelet Shrinkage Method|5 Morphologically Decomposition of EEG Signals|6 Bereitschaftspotential for Rise to Stand-Up Behavior九州工業大学平成28年

Connectivity Analysis in EEG Data: A Tutorial Review of the State of the Art and Emerging Trends

Understanding how different areas of the human brain communicate with each other is a crucial issue in neuroscience. The concepts of structural, functional and effective connectivity have been widely exploited to describe the human connectome, consisting of brain networks, their structural connections and functional interactions. Despite high-spatial-resolution imaging techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) being widely used to map this complex network of multiple interactions, electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings claim high temporal resolution and are thus perfectly suitable to describe either spatially distributed and temporally dynamic patterns of neural activation and connectivity. In this work, we provide a technical account and a categorization of the most-used data-driven approaches to assess brain-functional connectivity, intended as the study of the statistical dependencies between the recorded EEG signals. Different pairwise and multivariate, as well as directed and non-directed connectivity metrics are discussed with a pros-cons approach, in the time, frequency, and information-theoretic domains. The establishment of conceptual and mathematical relationships between metrics from these three frameworks, and the discussion of novel methodological approaches, will allow the reader to go deep into the problem of inferring functional connectivity in complex networks. Furthermore, emerging trends for the description of extended forms of connectivity (e.g., high-order interactions) are also discussed, along with graph-theory tools exploring the topological properties of the network of connections provided by the proposed metrics. Applications to EEG data are reviewed. In addition, the importance of source localization, and the impacts of signal acquisition and pre-processing techniques (e.g., filtering, source localization, and artifact rejection) on the connectivity estimates are recognized and discussed. By going through this review, the reader could delve deeply into the entire process of EEG pre-processing and analysis for the study of brain functional connectivity and learning, thereby exploiting novel methodologies and approaches to the problem of inferring connectivity within complex networks

Developing multidimensional metrics for evaluating paediatric neurodevelopmental disorders

Healthy brain functioning depends on efficient communication of information between brain regions, forming complex networks. By quantifying synchronisation between brain regions, a functionally connected brain network can be articulated. In neurodevelopmental disorders, where diagnosis is based on measures of behaviour and tasks, a measure of the underlying biological mechanisms holds promise as a potential clinical tool. Graph theory provides a tool for investigating the neural correlates of neuropsychiatric disorders, where there is disruption of efficient communication within and between brain networks. This research aimed to use recent conceptualisation of graph theory, along with measures of behaviour and cognitive functioning, to increase understanding of the neurobiological risk factors of atypical development. Using magnetoencephalography to investigate frequency-specific temporal dynamics at rest, the research aimed to identify potential biological markers derived from sensor-level whole-brain functional connectivity. Whilst graph theory has proved valuable for insight into network efficiency, its application is hampered by two limitations. First, its measures have hardly been validated in MEG studies, and second, graph measures have been shown to depend on methodological assumptions that restrict direct network comparisons. The first experimental study (Chapter 3) addressed the first limitation by examining the reproducibility of graph-based functional connectivity and network parameters in healthy adult volunteers. Subsequent chapters addressed the second limitation through adapted minimum spanning tree (a network analysis approach that allows for unbiased group comparisons) along with graph network tools that had been shown in Chapter 3 to be highly reproducible. Network topologies were modelled in healthy development (Chapter 4), and atypical neurodevelopment (Chapters 5 and 6). The results provided support to the proposition that measures of network organisation, derived from sensor-space MEG data, offer insights helping to unravel the biological basis of typical brain maturation and neurodevelopmental conditions, with the possibility of future clinical utility

Applications of Blind Source Separation to the Magnetoencephalogram Background Activity in Alzheimer’s Disease

En esta Tesis Doctoral se ha analizado actividad basal de magnetoencefalograma (MEG) de 36 pacientes con la Enfermedad de Alzheimer (Alzheimer’s Disease, AD) y 26 sujetos de control de edad avanzada con técnicas de separación ciega de fuentes (Blind Source Separation, BSS). El objetivo era aplicar los métodos de BSS para ayudar en el análisis e interpretación de este tipo de actividad cerebral, prestando especial atención a la AD. El término BSS denota un conjunto de técnicas útiles para descomponer registros multicanal en las componentes que los dieron lugar. Cuatro diferentes aplicaciones han sido desarrolladas. Los resultados de esta Tesis Doctoral sugieren la utilidad de la BSS para ayudar en el procesado de la actividad basal de MEG y para identificar y caracterizar la AD.Departamento de Teoría de la Señal y Comunicaciones e Ingeniería Telemátic