No Arabic abstract
Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have become a powerful technique to decode EEG and have become the benchmark for motor imagery EEG Brain-Computer-Interface (BCI) decoding. However, it is still challenging to train CNNs on multiple subjects EEG without decreasing individual performance. This is known as the negative transfer problem, i.e. learning from dissimilar distributions causes CNNs to misrepresent each of them instead of learning a richer representation. As a result, CNNs cannot directly use multiple subjects EEG to enhance model performance directly. To address this problem, we extend deep transfer learning techniques to the EEG multi-subject training case. We propose a multi-branch deep transfer network, the Separate-Common-Separate Network (SCSN) based on splitting the networks feature extractors for individual subjects. We also explore the possibility of applying Maximum-mean discrepancy (MMD) to the SCSN (SCSN-MMD) to better align distributions of features from individual feature extractors. The proposed network is evaluated on the BCI Competition IV 2a dataset (BCICIV2a dataset) and our online recorded dataset. Results show that the proposed SCSN (81.8%, 53.2%) and SCSN-MMD (81.8%, 54.8%) outperformed the benchmark CNN (73.4%, 48.8%) on both datasets using multiple subjects. Our proposed networks show the potential to utilise larger multi-subject datasets to train an EEG decoder without being influenced by negative transfer.
We introduce here the idea of Meta-Learning for training EEG BCI decoders. Meta-Learning is a way of training machine learning systems so they learn to learn. We apply here meta-learning to a simple Deep Learning BCI architecture and compare it to transfer learning on the same architecture. Our Meta-learning strategy operates by finding optimal parameters for the BCI decoder so that it can quickly generalise between different users and recording sessions -- thereby also generalising to new users or new sessions quickly. We tested our algorithm on the Physionet EEG motor imagery dataset. Our approach increased motor imagery classification accuracy between 60% to 80%, outperforming other algorithms under the little-data condition. We believe that establishing the meta-learning or learning-to-learn approach will help neural engineering and human interfacing with the challenges of quickly setting up decoders of neural signals to make them more suitable for daily-life.
The success of deep learning (DL) methods in the Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI) field for classification of electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings has been restricted by the lack of large datasets. Privacy concerns associated with EEG signals limit the possibility of constructing a large EEG-BCI dataset by the conglomeration of multiple small ones for jointly training machine learning models. Hence, in this paper, we propose a novel privacy-preserving DL architecture named federated transfer learning (FTL) for EEG classification that is based on the federated learning framework. Working with the single-trial covariance matrix, the proposed architecture extracts common discriminative information from multi-subject EEG data with the help of domain adaptation techniques. We evaluate the performance of the proposed architecture on the PhysioNet dataset for 2-class motor imagery classification. While avoiding the actual data sharing, our FTL approach achieves 2% higher classification accuracy in a subject-adaptive analysis. Also, in the absence of multi-subject data, our architecture provides 6% better accuracy compared to other state-of-the-art DL architectures.
As a technology to read brain states from measurable brain activities, brain decoding are widely applied in industries and medical sciences. In spite of high demands in these applications for a universal decoder that can be applied to all individuals simultaneously, large variation in brain activities across individuals has limited the scope of many studies to the development of individual-specific decoders. In this study, we used deep neural network (DNN), a nonlinear hierarchical model, to construct a subject-transfer decoder. Our decoder is the first successful DNN-based subject-transfer decoder. When applied to a large-scale functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) database, our DNN-based decoder achieved higher decoding accuracy than other baseline methods, including support vector machine (SVM). In order to analyze the knowledge acquired by this decoder, we applied principal sensitivity analysis (PSA) to the decoder and visualized the discriminative features that are common to all subjects in the dataset. Our PSA successfully visualized the subject-independent features contributing to the subject-transferability of the trained decoder.
Transfer learning (TL) has been widely used in motor imagery (MI) based brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) to reduce the calibration effort for a new subject, and demonstrated promising performance. While a closed-loop MI-based BCI system, after electroencephalogram (EEG) signal acquisition and temporal filtering, includes spatial filtering, feature engineering, and classification blocks before sending out the control signal to an external device, previous approaches only considered TL in one or two such components. This paper proposes that TL could be considered in all three components (spatial filtering, feature engineering, and classification) of MI-based BCIs. Furthermore, it is also very important to specifically add a data alignment component before spatial filtering to make the data from different subjects more consistent, and hence to facilitate subsequential TL. Offline calibration experiments on two MI datasets verified our proposal. Especially, integrating data alignment and sophisticated TL approaches can significantly improve the classification performance, and hence greatly reduces the calibration effort.
We solve the fNIRS left/right hand force decoding problem using a data-driven approach by using a convolutional neural network architecture, the HemCNN. We test HemCNNs decoding capabilities to decode in a streaming way the hand, left or right, from fNIRS data. HemCNN learned to detect which hand executed a grasp at a naturalistic hand action speed of $~1,$Hz, outperforming standard methods. Since HemCNN does not require baseline correction and the convolution operation is invariant to time translations, our method can help to unlock fNIRS for a variety of real-time tasks. Mobile brain imaging and mobile brain machine interfacing can benefit from this to develop real-world neuroscience and practical human neural interfacing based on BOLD-like signals for the evaluation, assistance and rehabilitation of force generation, such as fusion of fNIRS with EEG signals.