Denoising of multiscale/multiresolution structural feature dictionaries for rapid training of a brain computer interface.

Multichannel neural activities such as EEG or ECoG in a brain computer interface can be classified with subset selection algorithms running on large feature dictionaries describing subject specific features in spectral, temporal and spatial domain. While providing high accuracies in classification, the subset selection techniques are associated with long training times due to the large feature set constructed from multichannel neural recordings. In this paper we study a novel denoising technique for reducing the dimensionality of the feature space which decreases the computational complexity of the subset selection step radically without causing any degradation in the final classification accuracy. The denoising procedure was based on the comparison of the energy in a particular time segment and in a given scale/level to the energy of the raw data. By setting denoising threshold a priori the algorithm removes those nodes which fail to capture the energy in the raw data in a given scale. We provide experimental studies towards the classification of motor imagery related multichannel ECoG recordings for a brain computer interface. The denoising procedure was able to reach the same classification accuracy without denoising and a computational complexity around 5 times smaller. We also note that in some cases the denoised procedure performed better classification.

Classification of EEG with structural feature dictionaries in a brain computer interface.

We present a new method for the classification of EEG in a brain computer interface by adapting subject specific features in spectral, temporal and spatial domain. For this particular purpose we extend our previous work on ECoG classification based on structural feature dictionary and apply it to extract the spectro-temporal patterns of multichannel EEG recordings related to a motor imagery task. The construction of the feature dictionary based on undecimated wavelet packet transform is extended to block FFT. We evaluate several subset selection algorithms to select a small number of features for final classification. We tested our proposed approach on five subjects of BCI Competition 2005 dataset- IVa. By adapting the wavelet filter for each subject, the algorithm achieved an average classification accuracy of 91.4% The classification results and characteristic of selected features indicate that the proposed algorithm can jointly adapt to EEG patterns in spectro-spatio-temporal domain and provide classification accuracies as good as existing methods used in the literature.

Selection of spectro-temporal patterns in multichannel MEG with support vector machines for schizophrenia classification.

We present a new framework for the diagnosis of schizophrenia based on the spectro-temporal patterns selected by a support vector machine from multichannel magnetoencephalogram (MEG) recordings in a verbal working memory task. In the experimental paradigm, five letters appearing sequentially on a screen were memorized by subjects. The letters constituted a word in one condition and a pronounceable nonword in the other. Power changes were extracted as features in frequency subbands of 248 channel MEG data to form a rich feature dictionary. A support vector machine has been used to select a small subset of features with recursive feature elimination technique (SVM-RFE) and the reduced subset was used for classification. We note that the discrimination between patients and controls in the word condition was higher than in the non-word condition (91.8% vs 83.8%). Furthermore, in the word condition, the most discriminant patterns were extracted in delta (1-4 Hz), theta (4-8Hz) and alpha (12-16 Hz) frequency bands. We note that these features were located around the left frontal, left temporal and occipital areas, respectively. Our results indicate that the proposed approach can quantify discriminative neural patterns associated to a functional task in spatial, spectral and temporal domain. Moreover these features provide interpretable information to the medical expert about physiological basis of the illness and can be effectively used as a biometric marker to recognize schizophrenia in clinical practice.