A motor imagery classification model based on hybrid brain-computer interface and multitask learning of electroencephalographic and electromyographic deep features

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ObjectiveExtracting deep features from participants’ bioelectric signals and constructing models are key research directions in motor imagery (MI) classification tasks. In this study, we constructed a multimodal multitask hybrid brain-computer interface net (2M-hBCINet) based on deep features of electroencephalogram (EEG) and electromyography (EMG) to effectively accomplish motor imagery classification tasks.MethodsThe model first used a variational autoencoder (VAE) network for unsupervised learning of EEG and EMG signals to extract their deep features, and subsequently applied the channel attention mechanism (CAM) to select these deep features and highlight the advantageous features and minimize the disadvantageous ones. Moreover, in this study, multitask learning (MTL) was applied to train the 2M-hBCINet model, incorporating the primary task that is the MI classification task, and auxiliary tasks including EEG reconstruction task, EMG reconstruction task, and a feature metric learning task, each with distinct loss functions to enhance the performance of each task. Finally, we designed module ablation experiments, multitask learning comparison experiments, multi-frequency band comparison experiments, and muscle fatigue experiments. Using leave-one-out cross-validation(LOOCV), the accuracy and effectiveness of each module of the 2M-hBCINet model were validated using the self-made MI-EEMG dataset and the public datasets WAY-EEG-GAL and ESEMIT.ResultsThe results indicated that compared to comparative models, the 2M-hBCINet model demonstrated good performance and achieved the best results across different frequency bands and under muscle fatigue conditions.ConclusionThe 2M-hBCINet model constructed based on EMG and EEG data innovatively in this study demonstrated excellent performance and strong generalization in the MI classification task. As an excellent end-to-end model, 2M-hBCINet can be generalized to be used in EEG-related fields such as anomaly detection and emotion analysis.