Analysis of phase coding SSVEP based on canonical correlation analysis (CCA)

Application of a reconstruction technique in detection of dominant SSVEP frequency

A classification algorithm of an SSVEP brain-Computer interface based on CCA fusion wavelet coefficients

Brain machine interfaces (BMIs) provide one of the important means to interact with external world for a patient who lost motor function by using brain electrical signals such as scalp electroencephalogram (EEG). The main function of BMIs is to detect, analyze and classify the modulation of EEG according to a user's intent and to decode it to demonstrate to others. Most of conventional BMIs with relatively high speed and high classification accuracy have a requisite that a user can open and move his/her eyes toward a target corresponding to user's intent and gaze at it. Locked-in patients, who have lost almost all motor function including facial muscle, cannot control the eye-movement as well as gaze. The present study aimed at developing a BMI which was independent of the eye-movement and eye-gaze as a final goal. In this paper, we discuss the feasibility of binary class of BMI available with eyes-closed condition using a recent our newly observation that the steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) could be modulated by performing the mental tasks even in the eyes-close state. Temporal evolution of the modulation of SSVEP was investigated using the amplitude of SSVEP and Kullback-Leibler (KL) divergence. The amplitudes of fundamental SSVEP (10 Hz) averaged across 11 participants showed significant difference between the mental focusing task and relaxed runs from the onset of the flicker stimuli with the frequency of 10 Hz and the intensity of 5 lx, whereas those of the second harmonic SSVEP (20 Hz) gave only small difference without statistical significance. For the image recalling task, the amplitude differences between the fundamental SSVEPs in the task and relaxed conditions did not show significant difference, whereas the amplitude differences of the second harmonic SSVEP showed the main effect of the image recall task. The KL divergences for the fundamental SSVEP amplitude showed large differences at the onset of flicker stimuli and gradual decrease with time at P4 and O2 for the mental focus task, yet no such characteristic evolution was not seen in KL divergence for the second harmonic SSVEP. On the other hand, the KL divergences during the image recalling were increased with time for both the fundamental and second harmonic SSVEPs at most of the electrode sites. The classification accuracies of the proposed BMI exceeded 75 % in average across the subjects for both tasks using Fisher's linear discriminant analysis.

Brain-computer interface (BCI) systems translate the human neurophysiological activities into commands through EEG analysis. Improving the BCI performances leads to faster and easier use and less fatigue. In this study, we proposed a new prepossessing approach to increase the robustness of a steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) based BCI. Inspiring from the known properties of the SSVEP frequency components, the goal was to enhance the signal quality by making it more convenient to be interpreted by the decision-making step. We first investigated the potential to detect the deteriorating periods based on the physiological properties of the SSVEP. The proposed system localizes the intervals which can obscure the SSVEP frequencies by a new algorithm founded on the processing and the analysis of the instantaneous phase. The piecewise linear regression allows a sampler comprehension of the phase signal. Then, these intervals are filtered by the moving average filter to enhance the SSVEP quality. Finally, the decision making is made by the canonical correlation analysis (CCA) algorithm. The results of experiments, using real EEG signals from five subjects, show that the proposed approach significantly increases the performances in terms of accuracy and information transfer rate by about 7.3% and 3.85 bits/min, respectively, in case of 2 s segment length. On the other hand, the spatial filtering methods of the literature weaken the system performances.

Decision letter: Neural markers of predictive coding under perceptual uncertainty revealed with Hierarchical Frequency Tagging

Spectrum-Enhanced TRCA (SE-TRCA): A novel approach for direction detection in SSVEP-based BCI

Purpose: In recent years, the use of Steady-State Visual Evoked Potentials (SSVEPs) in Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) systems has dramatically increased across several fields, such as rehabilitation, cognitive impairment, and brain disease or disorder detection, as well as artificial limbs, wheelchairs, and biomechanical systems. In this study, a novel method is proposed to help scientists develop more efficient BCI systems for Machine Learning Operations (MLOps). This study proposed a state-of-the-art method for detecting SSVEP-based stimulation frequencies with statistical models to design an optimal BCI system. Materials and Methods: In this study, the Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA) method has been implemented to extract features from the accessible-to-the-public Tsinghua University Benchmark dataset. A limited number of subjects are being studied. After completing feature selection methods and selecting the best subset of features using a specified feature selection method, the classification of the best features using machine learning-based classification methods has been completed. Furthermore, it is assumed that scientists will design and implement a system specifically for subjects. Models work for subjects independently. However, because model training is subject-specific, we must execute the proposed methods on each subject separately. Results: The findings indicate that the novel suggested BCI system achieves an average accuracy of 83±9% in stimulation detection, which is higher than that of the traditional CCA approach with an accuracy of 80±11% (p<0.05). Conclusion: Based on the findings, we demonstrated an increase in accuracy with the novel method. It was also discovered that by using the proposed techniques, it is possible to keep MLOps systems as an advantage.

Multi-frequency-modulated visual stimulation scheme has been shown effective for the steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP)-based brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) recently, especially in increasing the visual target number with less stimulus frequencies and mitigating the visual fatigue. However, the existing calibration-free recognition algorithms based on the traditional canonical correlation analysis (CCA) cannot provide the merited performance. To improve the recognition performance, this study proposes a phase difference constrained CCA (pdCCA), which assumes that the multi-frequency-modulated SSVEPs share a common spatial filter over different frequencies and have a specified phase difference. Specifically, during the CCA computation, the phase differences of the spatially filtered SSVEPs are constrained using the temporal concatenation of the sine-cosine reference signals with the pre-defined initial phases. We evaluate the performance of the proposed pdCCA-based method on three representative multi-frequency-modulated visual stimulation paradigms (i.e., based on the multi-frequency sequential coding, the dual-frequency, and the amplitude modulation). The evaluation results on four SSVEP datasets (Dataset Ia, Ib, II, and III) show that the pdCCA-based method can significantly outperform the current CCA method in terms of recognition accuracy. It improves the accuracy by 22.09% in Dataset Ia, 20.86% in Dataset Ib, 8.61% in Dataset II, and 25.85% in Dataset III. The pdCCA-based method, which actively controls the phase difference of the multi-frequency-modulated SSVEPs after spatial filtering, is a new calibration-free method for multi-frequency-modulated SSVEP-based BCIs.

Brain Computer Interfacing (BCI) systems, which are a new communicating channel between humans and the computers are growing rapidly. One such a method is based on the Steady State Visual Evoked Potentials (SSVEP), which can be recorded during visual stimulating of the subject by a twinkling light source with a fixed frequency. An important parameter to be considered is the effect of the inter-sources distance on the accuracy of such BCI systems. In particular inter-sources (LEDs) distances of 4, 14, 24, 44 and 64 cm when the sources plane is located 60 cm away from the subject's eyes (producing inter-sources visual angles of 3.8°, 13.4°, 22.6°, 40.2° and 56° respectively) were examined. In addition, four different sweep lengths of 0.5, 1, 2 and 3 seconds are considered. In addition, due to the usage of the AR models for feature extraction from the SSVEP signals, selection of the best AR model together with the best classifier among the LDA, the SVM and the Naive Bayes are studied. It is showed that the BCI system with D=44 cm, AR order of 13 and either the LDA or the SVM classifiers could produce the best results compared to the other cases.

Objective. A visual stimulator plays a vital part in brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) based on steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP). The properties of visual stimulation, such as frequency, color, and waveform, will influence SSVEP-based BCI performance to some extent. Recently, the computer monitor serves as a visual stimulator that is widespread in SSVEP-based BCIs because of its great flexibility in generating visual stimuli. However, stimulation properties based on a computer monitor have received very little attention. For a better comprehension of SSVEPs, this study explored the stimulation effects of waveforms and frequencies, when evoking SSVEPs through a computer monitor. Approach. This study utilized the approximation methods to realize sine- and square-wave temporal modulations at 18 stimulation frequencies ranging from 6 to 40 Hz on a conventional 120 Hz LCD screen. We collected electroencephalogram (EEG) datasets from 12 healthy subjects and compared the signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs), amplitudes, and topographic mapping of SSVEPs evoked by these two temporal modulation flickers (sine- and square-wave). In addition, a BCI experiment with two nine-target BCIs (i.e. low-frequency BCI and high-frequency BCI) was implemented to compare the two stimulation waveforms in terms of BCI performance. Main results. For both sine- and square-wave stimulation conditions, strong SSVEPs over the occipital area were observed for each stimulation frequency. SSVEP amplitudes at the stimulation frequency exhibited a global peak in the low-frequency band. The second harmonic SSVEP frequency-response functions showed the largest amplitude at 6 Hz and fell sharply for higher frequencies. In the BCI experiment, the classification performance of the square-wave stimuli was notably higher than that of the sine-wave stimuli when using shorter data lengths. Significance. These results suggested that the square-wave flicker was more efficient at implementing high-speed BCIs based on SSVEP when using a computer monitor as a visual stimulator.

Objective. Steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) is an important control method of the brain–computer interface (BCI) system. The development of an efficient SSVEP feature decoding algorithm is the core issue in SSVEP-BCI. It has been proposed to use user training data to reduce the spontaneous electroencephalogram activity interference on SSVEP response, thereby improving the feature recognition accuracy of the SSVEP signal. Nevertheless, the tedious data collection process increases the mental fatigue of the user and severely affects the applicability of the BCI system. Approach. A cross-subject spatial filter transfer (CSSFT) method that transfer the existing user model with good SSVEP response to the new user test data without collecting any training data from the new user is proposed. Main results. Experimental results demonstrate that the transfer model increases the distinction of the feature discriminant coefficient between the gaze following target and the non-gaze following target and accurately identifies the wrong target in the fundamental algorithm model. The public datasets show that the CSSFT method significantly increases the recognition performance of canonical correlation analysis (CCA) and filter bank CCA. Additionally, when the data used to calculate the transfer model contains one data block only, the CSSFT method retains its effective feature recognition capabilities. Significance. The proposed method requires no tedious data calibration process for new users, provides an effective technical solution for the transfer of the cross-subject model, and has potential application value for promoting the application of the BCI system.

Steady State Visual Evoked Potential (SSVEP) has been commonly adopted in Brain Computer Interface (BCI) applications. For wearable BCI applications, several aspects of SSVEP-based BCI systems, such as speed, subject variability, and accurate target detection, are under ongoing research investigations. Up to date, Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA) has been considered the state-of-the-art feature extraction method for SSVEP-based BCI systems. Nevertheless, although CCA outperforms traditional SSVEP detection methods, such as Power Spectral Density Analysis (PSDA), achieving high accuracies when detecting target frequencies is still a challenging task due to user variation and physiological changes in the human body. In this paper, we investigate an SSVEP-based BCI application using wireless EEG recording and an Android tablet-based user interface. We propose a fusion of CCA and PSDA solutions at the score level by dividing their score space into multiple partitions, and extract and combine their complementary discriminative information to minimize the detection error in a linear fashion. We investigated transforming the fusion score space to lower dimensions with the purpose of alleviating redundancy. As such, we employed Principal Component Analysis (PCA), and Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA). Our experimental results demonstrated that our proposed score fusion method is effective in reducing the effect of noise and non-stationary elements in EEG dynamics. Average detection accuracies improved from 63% for CCA to 72% for fusion+PCA and further improved to 98% for fusion+LDA.

Brain Computer Interfaces (BCI) rely on brain waves signal, such as electro-encephalogram (EEG) recording, to endow a disabled user with non-muscular communication. Given the very low signal-to-noise ratio of EEG, a signal enhancement phase is crucial for ensuring decent performances in BCI systems. Several methods have been proposed for EEG signal enhancement, such as Independent Component Analysis, Common Spatial Pattern, and Principal Component Analysis. We show that Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA), initially introduced to SSVEP-based BCI as a feature extraction method, is a good candidate for such preprocessing state. Evaluation is performed on a recording from 5 subjects during a BCI task based on Steady-State Visual Evoked Potentials (SSVEP). The authors demonstrate that CCA significantly improves classification performances in SSVEP-based BCIs.

Brain-computer interface (BCI) is used for non-muscular communication between the human brain and an external device. One of the most commonly utilized phenomena in BCI are steady-state visually evoked potentials (SSVEP) that are measured with electroencephalography (EEG). If the subject focuses his/her attention on the stimulus flashing with specified frequency on the computer screen, a signal fluctuations with the same frequency may be observed in his or her visual cortex. Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA) was adapted to EEG signal analysis and the outcomes of this straightforward approach are more promising in terms of obtaining decoding accuracy than conventional methods. In CCA two sets of data are being compared: a multichannel signal, and a reference prior corresponding to the classes between which the distinction is being made. Category of the signal (e.g., 8 Hz vs 14 Hz) is determined on the basis of the correlation coefficient between the acquired signal and several reference signals. The aim of this paper is to present an idea of utilizing genetic algorithms to generate these reference priors. Outcomes of our analyses suggest that a genetic approach (with signal encoding in the form of the binary code) and tournament selection method may improve the accuracy of SSVEP classification. Further work may help to improve the accuracy even more, with different encoding scheme or alternative and/or more sophisticated selection approach.

Brain–computer interface (BCI) systems rely on the direct measurement of brain signals, such as event-related desynchronization (ERD), steady state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs), P300s, or slow cortical potentials. Unfortunately, none of these BCI approaches work for all users. This study compares two conventional BCI approaches (ERD and SSVEP) within subjects, and also evaluates a novel hybrid BCI based on a combination of these signals. We recorded EEG data from 12 subjects across three conditions. In the first condition, subjects imagined moving both hands or both feet (ERD). In the second condition, subjects focused on one of the two oscillating visual stimuli (SSVEP). In the third condition, subjects simultaneously performed both tasks. We used logarithmic band power features at sites and frequencies consistent with ERD and SSVEP activity, and subjects received real-time feedback based on their performance. Subjects also completed brief questionnaires. All subjects could simultaneously perform the movement and visual task in the hybrid condition even though most subjects had little or no training. All subjects showed both SSVEP and ERD activity during the hybrid task, consistent with the activity in both single tasks. Subjects generally considered the hybrid condition moderately more difficult, but all of them were able to complete the hybrid task. Results support the hypothesis that subjects who do not have strong ERD activity might be more effective with an SSVEP BCI, and suggest that SSVEP BCIs work for more subjects. A simultaneous hybrid BCI is feasible, although the current hybrid approach, which involves combining ERD and SSVEP in a two-choice task to improve accuracy, is not significantly better than a comparable SSVEP BCI. Switching to an SSVEP BCI could increase reliability in subjects who have trouble producing the EEG activity necessary to use an ERD BCI. Subjects who are proficient in both BCI approaches might be able to combine these approaches in different ways and for different goals.