Brain-Switches for Asynchronous Brain−Computer Interfaces: A Systematic Review

A brain–computer interface (BCI) has been extensively studied to develop a novel communication system for disabled people using their brain activities. An asynchronous BCI system is more realistic and practical than a synchronous BCI system, in that, BCI commands can be generated whenever the user wants. However, the relatively low performance of an asynchronous BCI system is problematic because redundant BCI commands are required to correct false-positive operations. To significantly reduce the number of false-positive operations of an asynchronous BCI system, a two-step approach has been proposed using a brain-switch that first determines whether the user wants to use an asynchronous BCI system before the operation of the asynchronous BCI system. This study presents a systematic review of the state-of-the-art brain-switch techniques and future research directions. To this end, we reviewed brain-switch research articles published from 2000 to 2019 in terms of their (a) neuroimaging modality, (b) paradigm, (c) operation algorithm, and (d) performance

Discriminative methods for classification of asynchronous imaginary motor tasks from EEG data

In this work, two methods based on statistical models that take into account the temporal changes in the electroencephalographic (EEG) signal are proposed for asynchronous brain-computer interfaces (BCI) based on imaginary motor tasks. Unlike the current approaches to asynchronous BCI systems that make use of windowed versions of the EEG data combined with static classifiers, the methods proposed here are based on discriminative models that allow sequential labeling of data. In particular, the two methods we propose for asynchronous BCI are based on conditional random fields (CRFs) and latent dynamic CRFs (LDCRFs), respectively. We describe how the asynchronous BCI problem can be posed as a classification problem based on CRFs or LDCRFs, by defining appropriate random variables and their relationships. CRF allows modeling the extrinsic dynamics of data, making it possible to model the transitions between classes, which in this context correspond to distinct tasks in an asynchronous BCI system. On the other hand, LDCRF goes beyond this approach by incorporating latent variables that permit modeling the intrinsic structure for each class and at the same time allows modeling extrinsic dynamics. We apply our proposed methods on the publicly available BCI competition III dataset V as well as a data set recorded in our laboratory. Results obtained are compared to the top algorithm in the BCI competition as well as to methods based on hierarchical hidden Markov models (HHMMs), hierarchical hidden CRF (HHCRF), neural networks based on particle swarm optimization (IPSONN) and to a recently proposed approach based on neural networks and fuzzy theory, the S-dFasArt. Our experimental analysis demonstrates the improvements provided by our proposed methods in terms of classification accuracy

Toward a semi-self-paced EEG brain computer interface: decoding initiation state from non-initiation state in dedicated time slots.

Brain computer interfaces (BCIs) offer a broad class of neurologically impaired individuals an alternative means to interact with the environment. Many BCIs are "synchronous" systems, in which the system sets the timing of the interaction and tries to infer what control command the subject is issuing at each prompting. In contrast, in "asynchronous" BCIs subjects pace the interaction and the system must determine when the subject's control command occurs. In this paper we propose a new idea for BCI which draws upon the strengths of both approaches. The subjects are externally paced and the BCI is able to determine when control commands are issued by decoding the subject's intention for initiating control in dedicated time slots. A single task with randomly interleaved trials was designed to test whether it can be used as stimulus for inducing initiation and non-initiation states when the sensory and motor requirements for the two types of trials are very nearly identical. Further, the essential problem on the discrimination between initiation state and non-initiation state was studied. We tested the ability of EEG spectral power to distinguish between these two states. Among the four standard EEG frequency bands, beta band power recorded over parietal-occipital cortices provided the best performance, achieving an average accuracy of 86% for the correct classification of initiation and non-initiation states. Moreover, delta band power recorded over parietal and motor areas yielded a good performance and thus could also be used as an alternative feature to discriminate these two mental states. The results demonstrate the viability of our proposed idea for a BCI design based on conventional EEG features. Our proposal offers the potential to mitigate the signal detection challenges of fully asynchronous BCIs, while providing greater flexibility to the subject than traditional synchronous BCIs

Brain computer interface based robotic rehabilitation with online modification of task speed

We present a systematic approach that enables online modification/adaptation of robot assisted rehabilitation exercises by continuously monitoring intention levels of patients utilizing an electroencephalogram (EEG) based Brain-Computer Interface (BCI). In particular, we use Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) to classify event-related synchronization (ERS) and desynchronization (ERD) patterns associated with motor imagery; however, instead of providing a binary classification output, we utilize posterior probabilities extracted from LDA classifier as the continuous-valued outputs to control a rehabilitation robot. Passive velocity field control (PVFC) is used as the underlying robot controller to map instantaneous levels of motor imagery during the movement to the speed of contour following tasks. In other words, PVFC changes the speed of contour following tasks with respect to intention levels of motor imagery. PVFC also allows decoupling of the task and the speed of the task from each other, and ensures coupled stability of the overall robot patient system. The proposed framework is implemented on AssistOn-Mobile - a series elastic actuator based on a holonomic mobile platform, and feasibility studies with healthy volunteers have been conducted test effectiveness of the proposed approach. Giving patients online control over the speed of the task, the proposed approach ensures active involvement of patients throughout exercise routines and has the potential to increase the efficacy of robot assisted therapies

Brain-Computer Interface: comparison of two control modes to drive a virtual robot

A Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) is a system that enables communication and control that is not based on muscular movements, but on brain activity. Some of these systems are based on discrimination of different mental tasks; usually they match the number of mental tasks to the number of control commands. Previous research at the University of Málaga (UMA-BCI) have proposed a BCI system to freely control an external device, letting the subjects choose among several navigation commands using only one active mental task (versus any other mental activity). Although the navigation paradigm proposed in this system has been proved useful for continuous movements, if the user wants to move medium or large distances, he/she needs to keep the effort of the MI task in order to keep the command. In this way, the aim of this work was to test a navigation paradigm based on the brain-switch mode for ‘forward’ command. In this mode, the subjects used the mental task to switch their state on /off: they stopped if they were moving forward and vice versa. Initially, twelve healthy and untrained subjects participated in this study, but due to a lack of control in previous session, only four subjects participated in the experiment, in which they had to control a virtual robot using two paradigms: one based on continuous mode and another based on switch mode. Preliminary results show that both paradigms can be used to navigate through virtual environments, although with the first one the times needed to complete a path were notably lower.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Mental state estimation for brain-computer interfaces

Mental state estimation is potentially useful for the development of asynchronous brain-computer interfaces. In this study, four mental states have been identified and decoded from the electrocorticograms (ECoGs) of six epileptic patients, engaged in a memory reach task. A novel signal analysis technique has been applied to high-dimensional, statistically sparse ECoGs recorded by a large number of electrodes. The strength of the proposed technique lies in its ability to jointly extract spatial and temporal patterns, responsible for encoding mental state differences. As such, the technique offers a systematic way of analyzing the spatiotemporal aspects of brain information processing and may be applicable to a wide range of spatiotemporal neurophysiological signals