A Python-based Brain-Computer Interface Package for Neural Data Analysis

Anowar, Md Hasan, A Python-based Brain-Computer Interface Package for Neural Data Analysis. Master of Science (MS), December, 2020, 70 pp., 4 tables, 23 figures, 74 references. Although a growing amount of research has been dedicated to neural engineering, only a handful of software packages are available for brain signal processing. Popular brain-computer interface packages depend on commercial software products such as MATLAB. Moreover, almost every brain-computer interface software is designed for a specific neuro-biological signal; there is no single Python-based package that supports motor imagery, sleep, and stimulated brain signal analysis. The necessity to introduce a brain-computer interface package that can be a free alternative for commercial software has motivated me to develop a toolbox using the python platform. In this thesis, the structure of MEDUSA, a brain-computer interface toolbox, is presented. The features of the toolbox are demonstrated with publicly available data sources. The MEDUSA toolbox provides a valuable tool to biomedical engineers and computational neuroscience researchers

Data-driven multivariate and multiscale methods for brain computer interface

This thesis focuses on the development of data-driven multivariate and multiscale methods for brain computer interface (BCI) systems. The electroencephalogram (EEG), the most convenient means to measure neurophysiological activity due to its noninvasive nature, is mainly considered. The nonlinearity and nonstationarity inherent in EEG and its multichannel recording nature require a new set of data-driven multivariate techniques to estimate more accurately features for enhanced BCI operation. Also, a long term goal is to enable an alternative EEG recording strategy for achieving long-term and portable monitoring. Empirical mode decomposition (EMD) and local mean decomposition (LMD), fully data-driven adaptive tools, are considered to decompose the nonlinear and nonstationary EEG signal into a set of components which are highly localised in time and frequency. It is shown that the complex and multivariate extensions of EMD, which can exploit common oscillatory modes within multivariate (multichannel) data, can be used to accurately estimate and compare the amplitude and phase information among multiple sources, a key for the feature extraction of BCI system. A complex extension of local mean decomposition is also introduced and its operation is illustrated on two channel neuronal spike streams. Common spatial pattern (CSP), a standard feature extraction technique for BCI application, is also extended to complex domain using the augmented complex statistics. Depending on the circularity/noncircularity of a complex signal, one of the complex CSP algorithms can be chosen to produce the best classification performance between two different EEG classes. Using these complex and multivariate algorithms, two cognitive brain studies are investigated for more natural and intuitive design of advanced BCI systems. Firstly, a Yarbus-style auditory selective attention experiment is introduced to measure the user attention to a sound source among a mixture of sound stimuli, which is aimed at improving the usefulness of hearing instruments such as hearing aid. Secondly, emotion experiments elicited by taste and taste recall are examined to determine the pleasure and displeasure of a food for the implementation of affective computing. The separation between two emotional responses is examined using real and complex-valued common spatial pattern methods. Finally, we introduce a novel approach to brain monitoring based on EEG recordings from within the ear canal, embedded on a custom made hearing aid earplug. The new platform promises the possibility of both short- and long-term continuous use for standard brain monitoring and interfacing applications

Support vector machines to detect physiological patterns for EEG and EMG-based human-computer interaction:a review

Support vector machines (SVMs) are widely used classifiers for detecting physiological patterns in human-computer interaction (HCI). Their success is due to their versatility, robustness and large availability of free dedicated toolboxes. Frequently in the literature, insufficient details about the SVM implementation and/or parameters selection are reported, making it impossible to reproduce study analysis and results. In order to perform an optimized classification and report a proper description of the results, it is necessary to have a comprehensive critical overview of the applications of SVM. The aim of this paper is to provide a review of the usage of SVM in the determination of brain and muscle patterns for HCI, by focusing on electroencephalography (EEG) and electromyography (EMG) techniques. In particular, an overview of the basic principles of SVM theory is outlined, together with a description of several relevant literature implementations. Furthermore, details concerning reviewed papers are listed in tables and statistics of SVM use in the literature are presented. Suitability of SVM for HCI is discussed and critical comparisons with other classifiers are reported

Exploration of Computational Methods for Classification of Movement Intention During Human Voluntary Movement from Single Trial EEG

Objective: To explore effective combinations of computational methods for the prediction of movement intention preceding the production of self-paced right and left hand movements from single trial scalp electroencephalogram (EEG). Methods: Twelve naïve subjects performed self-paced movements consisting of three key strokes with either hand. EEG was recorded from 128 channels. The exploration was performed offline on single trial EEG data. We proposed that a successful computational procedure for classification would consist of spatial filtering, temporal filtering, feature selection, and pattern classification. A systematic investigation was performed with combinations of spatial filtering using principal component analysis (PCA), independent component analysis (ICA), common spatial patterns analysis (CSP), and surface Laplacian derivation (SLD); temporal filtering using power spectral density estimation (PSD) and discrete wavelet transform (DWT); pattern classification using linear Mahalanobis distance classifier (LMD), quadratic Mahalanobis distance classifier (QMD), Bayesian classifier (BSC), multi-layer perceptron neural network (MLP), probabilistic neural network (PNN), and support vector machine (SVM). A robust multivariate feature selection strategy using a genetic algorithm was employed. Results: The combinations of spatial filtering using ICA and SLD, temporal filtering using PSD and DWT, and classification methods using LMD, QMD, BSC and SVM provided higher performance than those of other combinations. Utilizing one of the better combinations of ICA, PSD and SVM, the discrimination accuracy was as high as 75%. Further feature analysis showed that beta band EEG activity of the channels over right sensorimotor cortex was most appropriate for discrimination of right and left hand movement intention. Conclusions: Effective combinations of computational methods provide possible classification of human movement intention from single trial EEG. Such a method could be the basis for a potential brain-computer interface based on human natural movement, which might reduce the requirement of long-term training. Significance: Effective combinations of computational methods can classify human movement intention from single trial EEG with reasonable accuracy

EEG-based brain-computer interfaces using motor-imagery: techniques and challenges.

Electroencephalography (EEG)-based brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), particularly those using motor-imagery (MI) data, have the potential to become groundbreaking technologies in both clinical and entertainment settings. MI data is generated when a subject imagines the movement of a limb. This paper reviews state-of-the-art signal processing techniques for MI EEG-based BCIs, with a particular focus on the feature extraction, feature selection and classification techniques used. It also summarizes the main applications of EEG-based BCIs, particularly those based on MI data, and finally presents a detailed discussion of the most prevalent challenges impeding the development and commercialization of EEG-based BCIs

Comparison of EEG Pattern Recognition of Motor Imagery for Finger Movement Classification

The detection of a hand movement beforehand can be a beneficent tool to control a prosthetic hand for upper extremity rehabilitation. To be able to achieve smooth control, the intention detection is acquired from the human body, especially from brain signal or electroencephalogram (EEG) signal. However, many constraints hamper the development of this brain-computer interface (BCI, especially for finger movement detection). Most of the researchers have focused on the detection of the left and right-hand movement. This article presents the comparison of various pattern recognition method for recognizing five individual finger movements, i.e., the thumb, index, middle, ring, and pinky finger movements. The EEG pattern recognition utilized common spatial pattern (CSP) for feature extraction. As for the classifier, four classifiers, i.e., random forest (RF), support vector machine (SVM), k-nearest neighborhood (kNN), and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) were tested and compared to each other. The experimental results indicated that the EEG pattern recognition with RF achieved the best accuracy of about 54%. Other published publication reported that the classification of the individual finger movement is still challenging and need more efforts to make the best performance

Исследование электрической активности мозга, связанной с движениями: обзор

Робота присвячена розгляду проблем, що виникають при дослідженні діяльності мозку, пов'язаної з рухами. Зміни в корі головного мозку під час виконання руху, а також його уявлення, відображають нейронні мережі, сформовані для планування і реалізації конкретного руху. Наведено огляд методів первинної обробки зареєстрованої активності головного мозку, які можуть бути використані для підвищення значимості виділених ознак. Описано закономірності, які мають місце до початку руху і після нього. Представлені методи, які підходять для оцінки зв'язку як між активністю мозку і активністю м'язів, так і між активністю областей головного мозку. Крім того, розглянута можливість класифікації та прогнозування рухів разом з реконструкцією кінематичних властивостей.The work is devoted to consideration of different problems which arise in studying of the movement-related brain activity. Changes in the cortex activity during performing of the movement both real and imagery represent neural networks formed for planning and performing of the particular motion. The review of possible preprocessing methods of the registered brain activity for increasing significance of extracted features are shown. Regularities and patterns which take place before and after movement onset are described. The methods that suitable for connectivity estimations in case of cortico-muscular relationships and in case of evaluations between brain regions are shown. In addition, possibility of movement classification and prediction together with reconstruction of kinematics features of the motion are considered.Работа посвящена рассмотрению проблем, возникающих при изучении деятельности мозга, связанной с движениями. Изменения в коре головного мозга во время выполнения движения, а также его представления, отображают нейронные сети, сформированные для планирования и реализации конкретного движения. Приведен обзор методов первичной обработки зарегистрированной активности головного мозга, которые могут быть использованы для повышения значимости выделенных признаков. Описаны закономерности, которые имеют место до начала движения и после него. Представлены методы, подходящие для оценки связи как между активностью мозга и активностью мышц, так и между активностью областей головного мозга. Кроме того, рассмотрена возможность классификации и прогнозирования движений вместе с реконструкцией кинематических свойств

Multiresolution analysis over graphs for a motor imagery based online BCI game

Multiresolution analysis (MRA) over graph representation of EEG data has proved to be a promising method for offline brain–computer interfacing (BCI) data analysis. For the first time we aim to prove the feasibility of the graph lifting transform in an online BCI system. Instead of developing a pointer device or a wheel-chair controller as test bed for human–machine interaction, we have designed and developed an engaging game which can be controlled by means of imaginary limb movements. Some modifications to the existing MRA analysis over graphs for BCI have also been proposed, such as the use of common spatial patterns for feature extraction at the different levels of decomposition, and sequential floating forward search as a best basis selection technique. In the online game experiment we obtained for three classes an average classification rate of 63.0% for fourteen naive subjects. The application of a best basis selection method helps significantly decrease the computing resources needed. The present study allows us to further understand and assess the benefits of the use of tailored wavelet analysis for processing motor imagery data and contributes to the further development of BCI for gaming purposes