Online EEG artifact removal for BCI applications by adaptive spatial filtering

R Guarnieri, M Marino, F Barban…�- Journal of neural�…, 2018 - iopscience.iop.org
Journal of neural engineering, 2018iopscience.iop.org
Objective. The performance of brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) based on
electroencephalography (EEG) data strongly depends on the effective attenuation of artifacts
that are mixed in the recordings. To address this problem, we have developed a novel
online EEG artifact removal method for BCI applications, which combines blind source
separation (BSS) and regression (REG) analysis. Approach. The BSS-REG method relies on
the availability of a calibration dataset of limited duration for the initialization of a spatial filter�…
Objective
The performance of brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) based on electroencephalography (EEG) data strongly depends on the effective attenuation of artifacts that are mixed in the recordings. To address this problem, we have developed a novel online EEG artifact removal method for BCI applications, which combines blind source separation (BSS) and regression (REG) analysis.
Approach
The BSS-REG method relies on the availability of a calibration dataset of limited duration for the initialization of a spatial filter using BSS. Online artifact removal is implemented by dynamically adjusting the spatial filter in the actual experiment, based on a linear regression technique.
Main results
Our results showed that the BSS-REG method is capable of attenuating different kinds of artifacts, including ocular and muscular, while preserving true neural activity. Thanks to its low computational requirements, BSS-REG can be applied to low-density as well as high-density EEG data.
Significance
We argue that BSS-REG may enable the development of novel BCI applications requiring high-density recordings, such as source-based neurofeedback and closed-loop neuromodulation.
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