Classification of error-related potentials evoked during stroke rehabilitation training

Abstract

Objective. Error-related potentials (ErrPs) are elicited in the human brain following an error’s perception. Recently, ErrPs have been observed in a novel task situation, i.e. when stroke patients perform upper-limb rehabilitation exercises. These ErrPs can be used to develop assist-as-needed (AAN) robotic stroke rehabilitation systems. However, to date, there is no reported research on assessing the feasibility of using the ErrPs to implement the AAN approach. Hence, in this study, we evaluated and compared the single-trial classification of novel ErrPs using various classical machine learning and deep learning approaches. Approach. Electroencephalogram data of 13 stroke patients recorded while performing an upper-limb physical rehabilitation exercise were used. Two classification approaches, one combining the xDAWN spatial filtering and support vector machines, and the other using a convolutional neural network-based double transfer learning, were utilized. Main results. Results showed that the ErrPs could be detected with a mean area under the receiver operating characteristics curve of 0.838, and a mean accuracy of 0.842, 0.257 above the chance level (p < 0.05), for a within-subject classification. The results indicated the feasibility of using ErrP signals in real-time AAN robot therapy with evidence from the conducted latency analysis, cross-subject classification, and three-class asynchronous classification. Significance. The findings presented support our proposed approach of using ErrPs as a measure to trigger and/or modulate as required the robotic assistance in a real-time human-in-the-loop robotic stroke rehabilitation system.