A convolutional neural network for steady state visual evoked potential classification under ambulatory environment

No Sang Kwak, Klaus Robert Müller, Seong Whan Lee

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

186 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The robust analysis of neural signals is a challenging problem. Here, we contribute a convolutional neural network (CNN) for the robust classification of a steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) paradigm. We measure electroencephalogram (EEG)-based SSVEPs for a brain-controlled exoskeleton under ambulatory conditions in which numerous artifacts may deteriorate decoding. The proposed CNN is shown to achieve reliable performance under these challenging conditions. To validate the proposed method, we have acquired an SSVEP dataset under two conditions: 1) a static environment, in a standing position while fixated into a lower-limb exoskeleton and 2) an ambulatory environment, walking along a test course wearing the exoskeleton (here, artifacts are most challenging). The proposed CNN is compared to a standard neural network and other state-of-the-art methods for SSVEP decoding (i.e., a canonical correlation analysis (CCA)-based classifier, a multivariate synchronization index (MSI), a CCA combined with k-nearest neighbors (CCA-KNN) classifier) in an offline analysis. We found highly encouraging SSVEP decoding results for the CNN architecture, surpassing those of other methods with classification rates of 99.28% and 94.03% in the static and ambulatory conditions, respectively. A subsequent analysis inspects the representation found by the CNN at each layer and can thus contribute to a better understanding of the CNN's robust, accurate decoding abilities.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere0172578
JournalPloS one
Volume12
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017 Feb

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology(all)
  • Agricultural and Biological Sciences(all)
  • General

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