Detection Of Movement-related Cortical Potentials Research Articles

Non-Linear Adapted Spatio-Temporal Filter for Single-Trial Identification of Movement-Related Cortical Potential

The execution or imagination of a movement is reflected by a cortical potential that can be recorded by electroencephalography (EEG) as Movement-Related Cortical Potentials (MRCPs). The identification of MRCP from a single trial is a challenging possibility to get a natural control of a Brain–Computer Interface (BCI). We propose a novel method for MRCP detection based on optimal non-linear filters, processing different channels of EEG including delayed samples (getting a spatio-temporal filter). Different outputs can be obtained by changing the order of the temporal filter and of the non-linear processing of the input data. The classification performances of these filters are assessed by cross-validation on a training set, selecting the best ones (adapted to the user) and performing a majority voting from the best three to get an output using test data. The method is compared to another state-of-the-art filter recently introduced by our group when applied to EEG data recorded from 16 healthy subjects either executing or imagining 50 self-paced upper-limb palmar grasps. The new approach has a median accuracy on the overall dataset of 80%, which is significantly better than that of the previous filter (i.e., 63%). It is feasible for online BCI system design with asynchronous, self-paced applications.

Influential Factors of an Asynchronous BCI for Movement Intention Detection.

In recent years, asynchronous brain computer interface (BCI) systems have been utilized in many domains such as robot controlling, assistive technology, and rehabilitation. In such BCI systems, movement intention detection algorithms are used to detect movement desires. In recent years, movement-related cortical potential (MRCP), an electroencephalogram (EEG) pattern representing voluntary movement intention, attracts wide attention in movement intention detection. Unfortunately, low MRCP detection accuracy makes the asynchronous BCI system impractical for real usage. In order to develop an effective MRCP detection algorithm, EEG data have to be properly preprocessed. In this work, we investigate the relationship and effects of three factors including frequency bands, spatial filters, and classifiers on MRCP classification performance to determine best settings. In particular, we performed a systematic performance investigation on combinations of five frequency bands, five spatial filters, and six classifiers. The EEG data were acquired from subjects performing series of self-paced ankle dorsiflexions. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) statistical test was performed on F1 scores to investigate effects of these three factors. The results show that frequency bands and spatial filters depend on each other. The combinations directly affect the F1 scores, so they have to be chosen carefully. The results can be used as guidelines for BCI researchers to effectively design a preprocessing method for an advanced asynchronous BCI system, which can assist the stroke rehabilitation.

Adaptive learning in the detection of Movement Related Cortical Potentials improves usability of associative Brain-Computer Interfaces.

Brain-computer interfaces have increasingly found applications in motor function recovery in stroke patients. In this context, it has been demonstrated that associative-BCI protocols, implemented by means the movement related cortical potentials (MRCPs), induce significant cortical plasticity. To date, no methods have been proposed to deal with brain signal (i.e. MRCP feature) non-stationarity. This study introduces adaptive learning methods in MRCP detection and aims at comparing a no-adaptive approach based on the Locality Sensitive Discriminant Analysis (LSDA) with three LSDA-based adaptive approaches. As a proof of concept, EEG and force data were collected from six healthy subjects while performing isometric ankle dorsiflexion. Results revealed that adaptive algorithms increase the number of true detections and decrease the number of false positives per minute. Moreover, the markedly reduction of BCI system calibration time suggests that these methods have the potential to improve the usability of associative-BCI in post-stroke motor recovery.

Global optimal constrained ICA and its application in extraction of movement related cortical potentials from single-trial EEG signals

Background and objectiveThe constrained ICA (cICA) is a recent approach which can extract the desired source signal by using prior information. cICA employs gradient-based algorithms to optimize non convex objective functions and therefore global optimum solution is not guaranteed. In this study, we propose the Global optimal constrained ICA (GocICA) algorithm for solving the conventional cICA problems. Due to the importance of movement related cortical potentials (MRCPs) for neurorehabilitation and developing a suitable mechanism for detection of movement intention, single-trial MRCP extraction is presented as an application of GocICA. MethodsIn order to evaluate the performance of the proposed technique, two kinds of datasets including simulated and real EEG data have been utilized in this paper. The GocICA method has been implemented based on the most popular meta-heuristic optimization algorithms such as Genetic Algorithm (GA), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Charged System Search (CSS) where the results have been compared with those of conventional cICA and two ICA-based methods (JADE and Infomax). ResultsIt was found that GocICA enhanced the extracted MRCP from multi-channel EEG better than both conventional cICA and ICA-based methods and also outperformed them in single-trial MRCP detection with higher true positive rates (TPRs) and lower false positive rates (FPRs). Moreover, CSS-cICA resulted in the greatest TPR (91.2232 ± 3.4708) and the lowest FPR (8.7465 ± 3.7705) for single-trial MRCP detection from real EEG data and the greatest signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) (39.2818) and the lowest mean square error (MSE) and individual performance index (IPI) (41.8230 and 0.0012, respectively) for single-trial MRCP extraction from simulated EEG data. ConclusionsThese results confirm the superiority of GocICA with respect to conventional cICA that is due to the ability of meta-heuristic optimization algorithms to escape from local optimal point. As such, GocICA is a promising new algorithm for single-trial MRCP detection which can be used for detecting other types of event related cortical potentials (ERPs) such as P300 and also for EEG artifact removal.

Detecting intention to execute the next movement while performing current movement from EEG using global optimal constrained ICA

BackgroundBrain–computer interfaces (BCIs) are a promising tool in neurorehabilitation. The intention to perform a motor action can be detected from brain signals and used to control robotic devices. Most previous studies have focused on the starting of movements from a resting state, while in daily life activities, motions occur continuously and the neural activities correlated to the evolving movements are yet to be investigated. MethodFirst we investigate the existence of neural correlates of intention to replace an object on the table during a holding phase. Next, we present a new method to extract the movement-related cortical potentials (MRCP) from a single-trial EEG. A novel method called Global optimal constrained ICA (GocICA) is proposed to overcome the limitations of cICA which is implemented based on Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Charged System Search (CSS) techniques. GocICA is then utilized for decoding the intention to grasp and lift and intention to replace movements where the results were compared. ResultsIt was found that GocICA significantly improves the intention detection performance. Best results in offline detection were obtained with CSS-cICA for both kinds of intentions. Furthermore, pseudo-online decoding showed that GocICA was able to predict both intentions before the onset of related movements with the highest probability. ConclusionsDecoding of the next movement intention during current movement is possible, which can be used to create more natural neuroprostheses. The results demonstrate that GocICA is a promising new algorithm for single-trial MRCP detection which can be used for detecting other types of ERPs such as P300.

Effect of subject training on a movement-related cortical potential-based brain-computer interface

Abstract Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) have been developed for several purposes in communication, control, and rehabilitation. To use the BCI efficiently, the system must be technically tuned, and the user must learn to operate it. In this study, we investigated if the user could be trained to improve the performance of online detection of movement-related cortical potentials (MRCPs) associated with fast and slow movements. Seven healthy subjects participated in nine experiments over eight weeks while the ability of the online system to detect the movements was accessed. The movements were detected using template matching. No training effect was observed on the performance or MRCP morphology over the eight weeks. The system correctly detected ∼80% of the movements with ∼1.5 false positive detections/min. The findings suggest that the detection of MRCPs is stable from the first session and that several training sessions are not needed to obtain control of the BCI; this may have implication for the applicability of BCIs for movement detection.

Influence of dual-tasking with different levels of attention diversion on characteristics of the movement-related cortical potential

Dual tasking is defined as performing two tasks concurrently and has been shown to have a significant effect on attention directed to the performance of the main task. In this study, an attention diversion task with two different levels was administered while participants had to complete a cue-based motor task consisting of foot dorsiflexion. An auditory oddball task with two levels of complexity was implemented to divert the user’s attention. Electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings were made from nine single channels. Event-related potentials (ERPs) confirmed that the oddball task of counting a sequence of two tones decreased the auditory P300 amplitude more than the oddball task of counting one target tone among three different tones. Pre-movement features quantified from the movement-related cortical potential (MRCP) were changed significantly between single and dual-task conditions in motor and fronto-central channels. There was a significant delay in movement detection for the case of single tone counting in two motor channels only (237.1–247.4ms). For the task of sequence counting, motor cortex and frontal channels showed a significant delay in MRCP detection (232.1–250.5ms). This study investigated the effect of attention diversion in dual-task conditions by analysing both ERPs and MRCPs in single channels. The higher attention diversion lead to a significant reduction in specific MRCP features of the motor task. These results suggest that attention division in dual-tasking situations plays an important role in movement execution and detection. This has important implications in designing real-time brain-computer interface systems.

Detection of Movement Related Cortical Potentials from EEG Using Constrained ICA for Brain-Computer Interface Applications.

The movement related cortical potential (MRCP), a slow cortical potential from the scalp electroencephalogram (EEG), has been used in real-time brain-computer-interface (BCI) systems designed for neurorehabilitation. Detecting MPCPs in real time with high accuracy and low latency is essential in these applications. In this study, we propose a new MRCP detection method based on constrained independent component analysis (cICA). The method was tested for MRCP detection during executed and imagined ankle dorsiflexion of 24 healthy participants, and compared with four commonly used spatial filters for MRCP detection in an offline experiment. The effect of cICA and the compared spatial filters on the morphology of the extracted MRCP was evaluated by two indices quantifying the signal-to-noise ratio and variability of the extracted MRCP. The performance of the filters for detection was then directly compared for accuracy and latency. The latency obtained with cICA (−34 ± 29 ms motor execution (ME) and 28 ± 16 ms for motor imagery (MI) dataset) was significantly smaller than with all other spatial filters. Moreover, cICA resulted in greater true positive rates (87.11 ± 11.73 for ME and 86.66 ± 6.96 for MI dataset) and lower false positive rates (20.69 ± 13.68 for ME and 19.31 ± 12.60 for MI dataset) compared to the other methods. These results confirm the superiority of cICA in MRCP detection with respect to previously proposed EEG filtering approaches.

Detection of movement related cortical potential: effects of causal vs. non-causal processing.

Movement Related Cortical Potentials (MRCP) have been the subject of numerous studies. They accompany many self-initiated movements and this makes them a good candidate for incorporation in BCI paradigms. In this work we propose a novel experimental protocol involving natural controlling of a computer mouse and based on EEG recordings from 5 subjects, show that it elicits MRCP. We also show the feasibility of online detection of MRCP by implementing a classification based detection framework. Additionally, we discuss the adverse effects of causality restriction on detection performance by implementing an additional offline approach relaxing those restrictions and comparing the results. The best MRCP detection performance achieved on the recorded data with the offline approach has an average maximum accuracy of 0.76 and with the online approach an average AUC of 0.953.

Discriminative Manifold Learning Based Detection of Movement-Related Cortical Potentials.

The detection of voluntary motor intention from EEG has been applied to closed-loop brain-computer interfacing (BCI). The movement-related cortical potential (MRCP) is a low frequency component of the EEG signal, which represents movement intention, preparation, and execution. In this study, we aim at detecting MRCPs from single-trial EEG traces. For this purpose, we propose a detector based on a discriminant manifold learning method, called locality sensitive discriminant analysis (LSDA), and we test it in both online and offline experiments with executed and imagined movements. The online and offline experimental results demonstrated that the proposed LSDA approach for MRCP detection outperformed the Locality Preserving Projection (LPP) approach, which was previously shown to be the most accurate algorithm so far tested for MRCP detection. For example, in the online tests, the performance of LSDA was superior than LPP in terms of a significant reduction in false positives (FP) (passive FP: 1.6 ±0.9/min versus 2.9 ±1.0/min, p = 0.002, active FP: 2.2 ±0.8/min versus 2.7 ±0.6/min , p = 0.03 ), for a similar rate of true positives. In conclusion, the proposed LSDA based MRCP detection method is superior to previous approaches and is promising for developing patient-driven BCI systems for motor function rehabilitation as well as for neuroscience research.

Endogenous Sensory Discrimination and Selection by a Fast Brain Switch for a High Transfer Rate Brain-Computer Interface.

In this study, we present a novel multi-class brain-computer interface (BCI) for communication and control. In this system, the information processing is shared by the algorithm (computer) and the user (human). Specifically, an electro-tactile cycle was presented to the user, providing the choice (class) by delivering timely sensory input. The user discriminated these choices by his/her endogenous sensory ability and selected the desired choice with an intuitive motor task. This selection was detected by a fast brain switch based on real-time detection of movement-related cortical potentials from scalp EEG. We demonstrated the feasibility of such a system with a four-class BCI, yielding a true positive rate of ∼80% and ∼70%, and an information transfer rate of ∼7 bits/min and ∼5 bits/min, for the movement and imagination selection command, respectively. Furthermore, when the system was extended to eight classes, the throughput of the system was improved, demonstrating the capability of accommodating a large number of classes. Combining the endogenous sensory discrimination with the fast brain switch, the proposed system could be an effective, multi-class, gaze-independent BCI system for communication and control applications.

Comparison of spatial filters and features for the detection and classification of movement-related cortical potentials in healthy individuals and stroke patients

Objective. The possibility of detecting movement-related cortical potentials (MRCPs) at the single trial level has been explored for closing the motor control loop with brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) for neurorehabilitation. A distinct feature of MRCPs is that the movement kinetic information is encoded in the brain potential prior to the onset of the movement, which makes it possible to timely drive external devices to provide sensory feedback according to the efferent activity from the brain. The aim of this study was to compare methods for the detection (different spatial filters) and classification (features extracted from various domains) of MRCPs from continuous electroencephalography recordings from executed and imagined movements from healthy subjects (n = 24) and attempted movements from stroke patients (n = 6) to optimize the performance of MRCP-based BCIs for neurorehabilitation. Approach. The MRCPs from four cue-based tasks were detected with a template matching approach and a set of spatial filters, and classified with a linear support vector machine using the combination of temporal, spectral, time-scale, or entropy-based features. Main results. The best spatial filter (large Laplacian spatial filter (LLSF)) resulted in a true positive rate of 82 ± 9%, 78 ± 12% and 72 ± 9% (with detections occurring ∼200 ms before the onset of the movement) for executed, imagined and attempted movements (stroke patients). The best feature combination (temporal and spectral) led to pairwise classification of 73 ± 9%, 64 ± 10% and 80 ± 12%. When the detection was combined with classification, 60 ± 10%, 49 ± 10% and 58 ± 10% of the movements were both correctly detected and classified for executed, imagined and attempted movements. A similar performance for detection and classification was obtained with optimized spatial filtering. Significance. A simple setup with an LLSF is useful for detecting cued movements while the combination of features from the time and frequency domain can optimize the decoding of kinetic information from MRCPs; this may be used in neuromodulatory BCIs.

Continuous detection of the self-initiated walking pre-movement state from EEG correlates without session-to-session recalibration

Objective. Brain–computer interfaces (BCI) as a rehabilitation tool have been used to restore functions in patients with motor impairments by actively involving the central nervous system and triggering prosthetic devices according to the detected pre-movement state. However, since EEG signals are highly variable between subjects and recording sessions, typically a BCI is calibrated at the beginning of each session. This process is inconvenient especially for patients suffering locomotor disabilities in maintaining a bipedal position for a longer time. This paper presents a continuous EEG decoder of a pre-movement state in self-initiated walking and the usage of this decoder from session to session without recalibrating. Approach. Ten healthy subjects performed a self-initiated walking task during three sessions, with an intersession interval of one week. The implementation of our continuous decoder is based on the combination of movement-related cortical potential (MRCP) and event-related desynchronization (ERD) features with sparse classification models. Main results. During intrasession our technique detects the pre-movement state with 70% accuracy. Moreover this decoder can be applied from session to session without recalibration, with a decrease in performance of about 4% on a one- or two-week intersession interval. Significance. Our detection model operates in a continuous manner, which makes it a straightforward asset for rehabilitation scenarios. By using both temporal and spectral information we attained higher detection rates than the ones obtained with the MRCP and ERD detection models, both during the intrasession and intersession conditions.

Detection of movement-related cortical potentials based on subject-independent training

To allow a routinely use of brain–computer interfaces (BCI), there is a need to reduce or completely eliminate the time-consuming part of the individualized training of the user. In this study, we investigate the possibility of avoiding the individual training phase in the detection of movement intention in asynchronous BCIs based on movement-related cortical potential (MRCP). EEG signals were recorded during ballistic ankle dorsiflexions executed (ME) or imagined (MI) by 20 healthy subjects, and attempted by five stroke subjects. These recordings were used to identify a template (as average over all subjects) for the initial negative phase of the MRCPs, after the application of an optimized spatial filtering used for pre-processing. Using this template, the detection accuracy (mean ± SD) calculated as true positive rate (estimated with leave-one-out procedure) for ME was 69 ± 21 and 58 ± 11 % on single trial basis for healthy and stroke subjects, respectively. This performance was similar to that obtained using an individual template for each subject, which led to accuracies of 71 ± 6 and 55 ± 12 % for healthy and stroke subjects, respectively. The detection accuracy for the MI data was 65 ± 22 % with the average template and 60 ± 13 % with the individual template. These results indicate the possibility of detecting movement intention without an individual training phase and without a significant loss in performance.

Detection of movement intention from single-trial movement-related cortical potentials

Detection of movement intention from neural signals combined with assistive technologies may be used for effective neurofeedback in rehabilitation. In order to promote plasticity, a causal relation between intended actions (detected for example from the EEG) and the corresponding feedback should be established. This requires reliable detection of motor intentions. In this study, we propose a method to detect movements from EEG with limited latency. In a self-paced asynchronous BCI paradigm, the initial negative phase of the movement-related cortical potentials (MRCPs), extracted from multi-channel scalp EEG was used to detect motor execution/imagination in healthy subjects and stroke patients. For MRCP detection, it was demonstrated that a new optimized spatial filtering technique led to better accuracy than a large Laplacian spatial filter and common spatial pattern. With the optimized spatial filter, the true positive rate (TPR) for detection of movement execution in healthy subjects (n = 15) was 82.5 ± 7.8%, with latency of −66.6 ± 121 ms. Although TPR decreased with motor imagination in healthy subject (n = 10, 64.5 ± 5.33%) and with attempted movements in stroke patients (n = 5, 55.01 ± 12.01%), the results are promising for the application of this approach to provide patient-driven real-time neurofeedback.