Elnaz Lashgari1, Jordan Ott2, Akima Connelly1, Pierre Baldi2, Uri Maoz3. 1. Chapman University, 1 University Drive, Orange, California, 92866-1005, UNITED STATES. 2. UCI, Irvine, Irvine, California, 92697, UNITED STATES. 3. Chapman University, One University Drive, Orange, California, 92866-1005, UNITED STATES.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Motor-imagery (MI) classification base on electroencephalography (EEG) has been long studied in neuroscience and more recently widely used in healthcare applications such as mobile assistive robots and neurorehabilitation. In particular, EEG-based motor-imagery classification methods that rely on convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have achieved relatively high classification accuracy. However, naively training CNNs to classify raw EEG data from all channels, especially for high-density EEG, is computationally demanding and requires huge training sets. It often also introduces many irrelevant input features, making it difficult for the CNN to extract the informative ones. This problem is compounded by a dearth of training data, which is particularly acute for MI tasks, because these are cognitively demanding and thus fatigue inducing. APPROACH: To address these issues, we proposed an end-to-end CNN-based neural network with attentional mechanism together with different data augmentation (DA) techniques. We tested it on two benchmark MI datasets, Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) Competition IV 2a and 2b. BCI. MAIN RESULTS: Our proposed neural-network architecture outperformed all state-of-the-art methods that we found in the literature, with and without DA, reaching an average classification accuracy of 93.6% and 87.83% on BCI 2a and 2b, respectively. We also directly compare decoding of MI and ME tasks. Focusing on MI classification, we find optimal channel configurations and the best DA techniques as well as investigate combining data across participants and the role of transfer learning. SIGNIFICANCE: Our proposed approach improves the classification accuracy for MI in the benchmark datasets. In addition, collecting our own dataset enables us to compare MI and ME and investigate various aspects of EEG decoding critical for neuroscience and BCI.
OBJECTIVE: Motor-imagery (MI) classification base on electroencephalography (EEG) has been long studied in neuroscience and more recently widely used in healthcare applications such as mobile assistive robots and neurorehabilitation. In particular, EEG-based motor-imagery classification methods that rely on convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have achieved relatively high classification accuracy. However, naively training CNNs to classify raw EEG data from all channels, especially for high-density EEG, is computationally demanding and requires huge training sets. It often also introduces many irrelevant input features, making it difficult for the CNN to extract the informative ones. This problem is compounded by a dearth of training data, which is particularly acute for MI tasks, because these are cognitively demanding and thus fatigue inducing. APPROACH: To address these issues, we proposed an end-to-end CNN-based neural network with attentional mechanism together with different data augmentation (DA) techniques. We tested it on two benchmark MI datasets, Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) Competition IV 2a and 2b. BCI. MAIN RESULTS: Our proposed neural-network architecture outperformed all state-of-the-art methods that we found in the literature, with and without DA, reaching an average classification accuracy of 93.6% and 87.83% on BCI 2a and 2b, respectively. We also directly compare decoding of MI and ME tasks. Focusing on MI classification, we find optimal channel configurations and the best DA techniques as well as investigate combining data across participants and the role of transfer learning. SIGNIFICANCE: Our proposed approach improves the classification accuracy for MI in the benchmark datasets. In addition, collecting our own dataset enables us to compare MI and ME and investigate various aspects of EEG decoding critical for neuroscience and BCI.