Deep learning classification of EEG-based BCI monitoring of the attempted arm and hand movements

Abstract

Abstract Objectives The primary objective of this research is to improve the average classification performance for specific movements in patients with cervical spinal cord injury (SCI). Methods The study utilizes a low-frequency multi-class electroencephalography (EEG) dataset from Graz University of Technology. The research combines convolutional neural network (CNN) and long-short-term memory (LSTM) architectures to uncover neural correlations between temporal and spatial aspects of the EEG signals associated with attempted arm and hand movements. To achieve this, three different methods are used to select relevant features, and the proposed model’s robustness against variations in the data is validated using 10-fold cross-validation (CV). The research also investigates subject-specific adaptation in an online paradigm, extending movement classification proof-of-concept. Results The combined CNN-LSTM model, enhanced by three feature selection methods, demonstrates robustness with a mean accuracy of 75.75 % and low standard deviation (+/− 0.74 %) in 10-fold cross-validation, confirming its reliability. Conclusions In summary, this research aims to make valuable contributions to the field of neuro-technology by developing EEG-controlled assistive devices using a generalized brain-computer interface (BCI) and deep learning (DL) framework. The focus is on capturing high-level spatiotemporal features and latent dependencies to enhance the performance and usability of EEG-based assistive technologies.