In this paper, we propose a novel training strategy designed to prevent deep neural networks from overfitting when trained on a very limited number of samples. This approach enables the use of very deep networks in applications like EEG classification, where data collection is challenging, leading to significant overfitting issues. To address this issue, we introduce a classification network that leverages a deep clustering operation in its latent space. The network utilizes a set of dictionary elements as auxiliary inputs and learns to guide each input sample toward one of the clusters, each derived from a dictionary element. This process facilitates the grouping of samples from the same class within the same region of the latent space, thereby reducing the risk of complex class boundaries and overfitting. Additionally, we introduce two probabilistic models within our clustering approach to mitigate outlier issues and address augmentation challenges commonly encountered with EEG signals. Experimental evaluations on two widely recognized databases, EEG-ImageNet and BCIIV2a, demonstrate the effectiveness and superiority of our method compared to state-of-the-art approaches, achieving 97.9% accuracy on EEG-ImageNet and 84.1% accuracy on BCIIV2a.
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