Exploring Motor Imagery EEG: Enhanced EEG Microstate Analysis with GMD-Driven Density Canopy Method

The analysis of microstates in EEG signals is a crucial technique for understanding the spatiotemporal dynamics of brain electrical activity.Traditional methods such as Atomic Agglomerative Hierarchical Clustering(AAHC),K-means clustering,Principal Component Analysis(PCA),and Independent Component Analysis(ICA)are limited by a fixed number of microstate maps and insufficient capability in cross-task feature extraction.Tackling these limitations,this study introduces a Global Map Dissimilarity(GMD)-driven density canopy K-means clustering algorithm.This innovative approach autonomously determines the optimal number of EEG microstate topographies and employs Gaussian kernel density estimation alongside the GMD index for dynamic modeling of EEG data.Utilizing this advanced algorithm,the study analyzes the Motor Imagery(MI)dataset from the GigaScience database,GigaDB.The findings reveal six distinct microstates during actual right-hand movement and five microstates across other task conditions,with microstate C showing superior performance in all task states.During imagined movement,microstate A was significantly enhanced.Comparison with existing algorithms indicates a significant improvement in clustering performance by the refined method,with an average Calinski-Harabasz Index(CHI)of 35517.29 and a Davis-Bouldin Index(DBI)average of 2.57.Furthermore,an information-theoretical analysis of the microstate sequences suggests that imagined movement exhibits higher complexity and disorder than actual movement.By utilizing the extracted microstate sequence parameters as features,the improved algorithm achieved a classification accuracy of 98.41%in EEG signal categorization for motor imagery.A performance of 78.183%accuracy was achieved in a four-class motor imagery task on the BCI-IV-2a dataset.These results demonstrate the potential of the advanced algorithm in microstate analysis,offering a more effective tool for a deeper understanding of the spatiotemporal features of EEG signals.

Application of a hospital–community–family trinity rehabilitation nursing model combined with motor imagery therapy in patients with cerebral infarction

BACKGROUND Rehabilitation nursing is considered an indispensable part of the cerebral infarction treatment system.The hospital–community–family trinity rehabilitation nursing model can provide continuous nursing services across hospitals,communities,and families for patients.AIM To explore the application of a hospital–community–family rehabilitation nursing model combined with motor imagery therapy in patients with cerebral infarction.METHODS From January 2021 to December 2021,88 patients with cerebral infarction were divided into a study(n=44)and a control(n=44)group using a simple random number table.The control group received routine nursing and motor imagery therapy.The study group was given hospital–community–family trinity rehabilitation nursing based on the control group.Motor function(FMA),balance ability(BBS),activities of daily living(BI),quality of life(SS-QOL),activation status of the contralateral primary sensorimotor cortical area to the affected side,and nursing satisfaction were evaluated before and after intervention in both groups.RESULTS Before intervention,FMA and BBS were similar(P>0.05).After 6 months’intervention,FMA and BBS were significantly higher in the study than in the control group(both P<0.05).Before intervention,BI and SS-QOL scores were not different between the study and control group(P>0.05).However,after 6months’intervention,BI and SS-QOL were higher in the study than in the control group(P<0.05).Before intervention,activation frequency and volume were similar between the study and the control group(P>0.05).After 6 months’intervention,the activation frequency and volume were higher in the study than in the control group(P<0.05).The reliability,empathy,reactivity,assurance,and tangibles scores for quality of nursing service were higher in the study than in the control group(P<0.05).CONCLUSION Combining a hospital–community–family trinity rehabilitation nursing model and motor imagery therapy enhances the motor function and balance ability of patients with cerebral infarction,improving their quality of life.

Motor imagery training induces changes in brain neural networks in stroke patients

Motor imagery is the mental representation of an action without overt movement or muscle activation. However, the effects of motor imagery on stroke-induced hand dysfunction and brain neural networks are still unknown. We conducted a randomized controlled trial in the China Rehabilitation Research Center. Twenty stroke patients, including 13 males and 7 females, 32–51 years old, were recruited and randomly assigned to the traditional rehabilitation treatment group（PP group, n = 10） or the motor imagery training combined with traditional rehabilitation treatment group（MP group, n = 10）. All patients received rehabilitation training once a day, 45 minutes per session, five times per week, for 4 consecutive weeks. In the MP group, motor imagery training was performed for 45 minutes after traditional rehabilitation training, daily. Action Research Arm Test and the Fugl-Meyer Assessment of the upper extremity were used to evaluate hand functions before and after treatment. Transcranial magnetic stimulation was used to analyze motor evoked potentials in the affected extremity. Diffusion tensor imaging was used to assess changes in brain neural networks. Compared with the PP group, the MP group showed better recovery of hand function, higher amplitude of the motor evoked potential in the abductor pollicis brevis, greater fractional anisotropy of the right dorsal pathway, and an increase in the fractional anisotropy of the bilateral dorsal pathway. Our findings indicate that 4 weeks of motor imagery training combined with traditional rehabilitation treatment improves hand function in stroke patients by enhancing the dorsal pathway. This trial has been registered with the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry（registration number： Chi CTR-OCH-12002238）.

Motor Imagery and Error Related Potential Induced Position Control of a Robotic Arm

The paper introduces an electroencephalography(EEG) driven online position control scheme for a robot arm by utilizing motor imagery to activate and error related potential(ErrP) to stop the movement of the individual links, following a fixed(pre-defined) order of link selection. The right(left)hand motor imagery is used to turn a link clockwise(counterclockwise) and foot imagery is used to move a link forward. The occurrence of ErrP here indicates that the link under motion crosses the visually fixed target position, which usually is a plane/line/point depending on the desired transition of the link across 3D planes/around 2D lines/along 2D lines respectively. The imagined task about individual link's movement is decoded by a classifier into three possible class labels: clockwise, counterclockwise and no movement in case of rotational movements and forward, backward and no movement in case of translational movements. One additional classifier is required to detect the occurrence of the ErrP signal, elicited due to visually inspired positional link error with reference to a geometrically selected target position. Wavelet coefficients and adaptive autoregressive parameters are extracted as features for motor imagery and ErrP signals respectively. Support vector machine classifiers are used to decode motor imagination and ErrP with high classification accuracy above 80%. The average time taken by the proposed scheme to decode and execute control intentions for the complete movement of three links of a robot is approximately33 seconds. The steady-state error and peak overshoot of the proposed controller are experimentally obtained as 1.1% and4.6% respectively.

Discrimination of Motor Imagery Patterns by Electroencephalogram Phase Synchronization Combined With Frequency Band Energy

Central nerve signal evoked by thoughts can be directly used to control a robot or prosthetic devices without the involvement of the peripheral nerve and muscles.This is a new strategy of human-computer interaction.A method of electroencephalogram(EEG) phase synchronization combined with band energy was proposed to construct a feature vector for pattern recognition of brain-computer interaction based on EEG induced by motor imagery in this paper,rhythm and beta rhythm were first extracted from EEG by band pass filter and then the frequency band energy was calculated by the sliding time window;the instantaneous phase values were obtained using Hilbert transform and then the phase synchronization feature was calculated by the phase locking value(PLV) and the best time interval for extracting the phase synchronization feature was searched by the distribution of the PLV value in the time domain.Finally,discrimination of motor imagery patterns was performed by the support vector machine(SVM).The results showed that the phase synchronization feature more effective in4s-7s and the correct classification rate was 91.4%.Compared with the results achieved by a single EEG feature related to motor imagery,the correct classification rate was improved by 3.5 and4.3 percentage points by combining phase synchronization with band energy.These indicate that the proposed method is effective and it is expected that the study provides a way to improve the performance of the online real-time brain-computer interaction control system based on EEG related to motor imagery.

Comparison of cerebral activation between motor execution and motor imagery of self-feeding activity

Motor imagery is defined as an act wherein an individual contemplates a mental action of motor execution without apparent action.Mental practice executed by repetitive motor imagery can improve motor performance without simultaneous sensory input or overt output.We aimed to investigate cerebral hemodynamics during motor imagery and motor execution of a self-feeding activity using chopsticks.This study included 21 healthy right-handed volunteers.The self-feeding activity task comprised either motor imagery or motor execution of eating sliced cucumber pickles with chopsticks to examine eight regions of interest:pre-supplementary motor area,supplementary motor area,bilateral prefrontal cortex,premotor area,and sensorimotor cortex.The mean oxyhemoglobin levels were detected using near-infrared spectroscopy to reflect cerebral activation.The mean oxyhemoglobin levels during motor execution were significantly higher in the left sensorimotor cortex than in the supplementary motor area and the left premotor area.Moreover,significantly higher oxyhemoglobin levels were detected in the supplementary motor area and the left premotor area during motor imagery,compared to motor execution.Supplementary motor area and premotor area had important roles in the motor imagery of self-feeding activity.Moreover,the activation levels of the supplementary motor area and the premotor area during motor execution and motor imagery are likely affected by intentional cognitive processes.Levels of cerebral activation differed in some areas during motor execution and motor imagery of a self-feeding activity.This study was approved by the Ethical Review Committee of Nagasaki University(approval No.18110801)on December 10,2018.

Enhanced Accuracy for Motor Imagery Detection Using Deep Learning for BCI

Brain-Computer Interface(BCI)is a system that provides a link between the brain of humans and the hardware directly.The recorded brain data is converted directly to the machine that can be used to control external devices.There are four major components of the BCI system:acquiring signals,preprocessing of acquired signals,features extraction,and classification.In traditional machine learning algorithms,the accuracy is insignificant and not up to the mark for the classification of multi-class motor imagery data.The major reason for this is,features are selected manually,and we are not able to get those features that give higher accuracy results.In this study,motor imagery(MI)signals have been classified using different deep learning algorithms.We have explored two different methods:Artificial Neural Network(ANN)and Long Short-Term Memory(LSTM).We test the classification accuracy on two datasets:BCI competition III-dataset IIIa and BCI competition IV-dataset IIa.The outcome proved that deep learning algorithms provide greater accuracy results than traditional machine learning algorithms.Amongst the deep learning classifiers,LSTM outperforms the ANN and gives higher classification accuracy of 96.2%.

Robust Spatial Filters on Three-Class Motor Imagery EEG Data Using Independent Component Analysis

Independent Component Analysis (ICA) was often used to separate movement related independent components (MRICs) from Electroencephalogram (EEG) data.?However, to obtain robust spatial filters, complex characteristic features, which were manually selected in most cases, have been commonly used. This study proposed a new simple algorithm to extract MRICs automatically, which just utilized the spatial distribution pattern of ICs. The main goal of this study was to show the relationship between spatial filters performance and designing samples. The EEG data which contain?mixed brain states (preparing, motor imagery and rest) were used to design spatial filters. Meanwhile, the single class data was also used to calculate spatial filters to assess whether the MRICs extracted on different class motor imagery spatial filters are similar. Furthermore, the spatial filters constructed on one subject’s EEG data were applied to extract the others’ MRICs. Finally, the different spatial filters were then applied to single-trial EEG to extract MRICs, and Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifiers were used to discriminate left hand、right-hand and foot imagery movements of BCI Competition IV Dataset 2a, which recorded four motor imagery data of nine subjects. The results suggested that any segment of finite motor imagery EEG samples could be used to design ICA spatial filters, and the extracted MRICs are consistent if the position of electrodes are the same, which confirmed the robustness and practicality of ICA used in the motor imagery Brain Computer Interfaces (MI-BCI) systems.

A method for using video presentation to increase the vividness and activity of cortical regions during motor imagery tasks

In recent years,mental practice(MP)using laterally inverted video of a subject’s non-paralyzed upper limb to improve the vividness of presented motor imagery(MI)has been shown to be effective for improving the function of a paralyzed upper limb.However,no studies have yet assessed the activity of cortical regions engaged during MI task performance using inverse video presentations and neurophysiological indicators.This study sought to investigate changes in MI vividness and hemodynamic changes in the cerebral cortex during MI performance under the following three conditions in near-infrared spectroscopy:MI-only without inverse video presentation(MI-only),MI with action observation(AO)of an inverse video presentation of another person’s hand(AO+MI(other hand)),and MI with AO of an inverse video presentation of a participant’s own hand(AO+MI(own hand)).Participants included 66 healthy right-handed adults(41 men and 25 women;mean age:26.3±4.3 years).There were 23 patients in the MI-only group(mean age:26.4±4.1 years),20 in the AO+MI(other hand)group(mean age:25.9±5.0 years),and 23 in the AO+MI(own hand)group(mean age:26.9±4.1 years).The MI task involved transferring 1 cm×1 cm blocks from one plate to another,once per second,using chopsticks held in the non-dominant hand.Based on a visual analog scale(VAS),MI vividness was significantly higher in the AO+MI(own hand)group than in the MI-only group and the AO+MI(other hand)group.A main effect of condition was revealed in terms of MI vividness,as well as regions of interest(ROIs)in certain brain areas associated with motor processing.The data suggest that inverse video presentation of a person’s own hand enhances the MI vividness and increases the activity of motor-related cortical areas during MI.This study was approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee of Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical and Health Sciences(approval No.18121303)on January 18,2019.

Pattern Recognition of Motor Imagery EEG using Wavelet Transform

Brain-computer interface (BCI) provides new communication and control channels that do not depend on the brain’s normal output of peripheral nerves and muscles. In this paper, we report on results of developing a single trial online motor imagery feature extraction method for BCI. The wavelet coefficients and autoregressive parameter model was used to extraction the features from the motor imagery EEG and the linear discriminant analysis based on mahalanobis distance was utilized to classify the pattern of left and right hand movement imagery. The performance was tested by the Graz dataset for BCI competition 2003 and satisfactory results are obtained with an error rate as low as 10.0%.

An Algorithm for Idle-State Detection and Continuous Classifier Design in Motor-Imagery-Based BCI

Abstract-The development of asynchronous brain-computer interface （BCI） based on motor imagery （M1） poses the research in algorithms for detecting the nontask states （i.e., idle state） and the design of continuous classifiers that classify continuously incoming electroencephalogram （EEG） samples. An algorithm is proposed in this paper which integrates two two-class classifiers to detect idle state and utilizes a sliding window to achieve continuous outputs. The common spatial pattern （CSP） algorithm is used to extract features of EEG signals and the linear support vector machine （SVM） is utilized to serve as classifier. The algorithm is applied on dataset IVb of BCI competition Ⅲ, with a resulting mean square error of 0.66. The result indicates that the proposed algorithm is feasible in the first step of the development of asynchronous systems.

Analysis of Brain Activation during Motor Imagery Based on fMRI

Brain activation during motor imagery （MI） has been studied extensively for years. Based on studies of brain activations of MI, in present study, a complex finger tapping imagery and execution experi- ment is designed to test the brain activation during MI. The experiment results show that during MI, brain activation exists mainly in the supplementary motor area （SMA） and precentral area where the dorsal premotor area （PMd） and the primary motor area （M1） mainly located; and some activation can be also observed in the primary and secondary somatosensory cortex （S1）, the inferior parietal lobule （IPL） and the superior parietal lobule （SPL）. Additionally, more brain activation can be observed during left-hand MI than during right-hand MI, this difference probably is caused by asymmetry of brain.

Corticospinal excitability during motor imagery is diminished by continuous repetition-induced fatigue

Application of continuous repetition of motor imagery can improve the performance of exercise tasks.However,there is a lack of more detailed neurophysiological evidence to support the formulation of clear standards for interventions using motor imagery.Moreover,identification of motor imagery intervention time is necessary because it exhibits possible central fatigue.Therefore,the purpose of this study was to elucidate the development of fatigue during continuous repetition of motor imagery through objective and subjective evaluation.The study involved two experiments.In experiment 1,14 healthy young volunteers were required to imagine grasping and lifting a 1.5-L plastic bottle using the whole hand.Each participant performed the motor imagery task 100 times under each condition with 48 hours interval between two conditions:500 mL or 1500 mL of water in the bottle during the demonstration phase.Mental fatigue and a decrease in pinch power appeared under the 1500-mL condition.There were changes in concentration ability or corticospinal excitability,as assessed by motor evoked potentials,between each set with continuous repetition of motor imagery also under the 1500-mL condition.Therefore,in experiment 2,12 healthy volunteers were required to perform the motor imagery task 200 times under the 1500-mL condition.Both concentration ability and corticospinal excitability decreased.This is the first study to show that continuous repetition of motor imagery can decrease corticospinal excitability in addition to producing mental fatigue.This study was approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee at the Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical and Health Sciences(approval No.18121302)on January 30,2019.

Estimation of the Hemodynamic Response during Motor Imagery Using Bayesian RBF Neural Network

Hemodynamic response during motor imagery （MI） is studied extensively by functional magnetic resonance imaging （fMRI） technologies. To further understand the human brain functions under MI, a more precise classification of the brain regions corresponding to each brain function is desired. In this study, a Bayesian trained radial basis function （RBF） neural network, which determines the weights and regularization parameters automatically by Bayesian learning, is applied to make a precise classification of the hemodynamic response to the tasks during the MI experiment. To illustrate the proposed method, data with MI task performance from 1 subject was used. The results demonstrate that this approach splits the hemodynamic response to different tasks successfully.

33% Classification Accuracy Improvement in a Motor Imagery Brain Computer Interface

A right-hand motor imagery based brain-computer interface is proposed in this work. Such a system requires the identification of different brain states and their classification. Brain signals recorded by electroencephalography are naturally contaminated by various noises and interferences. Ocular artifact removal is performed by implementing an auto-matic method “Kmeans-ICA” which does not require a reference channel. This method starts by decomposing EEG signals into Independent Components;artefactual ones are then identified using Kmeans clustering, a non-supervised machine learning technique. After signal preprocessing, a Brain computer interface system is implemented;physiologically interpretable features extracting the wavelet-coherence, the wavelet-phase locking value and band power are computed and introduced into a statistical test to check for a significant difference between relaxed and motor imagery states. Features which pass the test are conserved and used for classification. Leave One Out Cross Validation is performed to evaluate the performance of the classifier. Two types of classifiers are compared: a Linear Discriminant Analysis and a Support Vector Machine. Using a Linear Discriminant Analysis, classification accuracy improved from 66% to 88.10% after ocular artifacts removal using Kmeans-ICA. The proposed methodology outperformed state of art feature extraction methods, namely, the mu rhythm band power.

Spectral entropy analysis of different alpha band rhythms in relation to hand motor imagery

The event-related desynchronization/synchronization(ERD/ERS) time courses of lower and upper alpha band rhythms during hand motor imagery are investigated respectively by Fourier Sectral Entropy (FSE) in this paper. By analyzing one group of BCI competition data, it was found that FSE within upper alpha band displays a pronounced increase and decrease over contralateral and ipsilateral brain areas respectively at the onset of hand motor imagery, which is corresponding to the antagonistic ERD/ERS patterns in previous studies. Different from the upper alpha activity pattern, FSE within lower alpha band displays a consistent increase over both two hemispheres hand representative areas. The preliminary results show that FSE could disclose the different behaviors of the upper and lower alpha band rhythms so that a new idea with the complexity measure is provided to characterize functional dissociation of lower and upper frequency alpha rhythms in relation to hand motor imagery.

Transfer Learning Algorithm Design for Feature Transfer Problem in Motor Imagery Brain-computer Interface

The non-stationary of the motor imagery electroencephalography(MI-EEG)signal is one of the main limitations for the development of motor imagery brain-computer interfaces(MI-BCI).The nonstationary of the MI-EEG signal and the changes of the experimental environment make the feature distribution of the testing set and training set deviates,which reduces the classification accuracy of MI-BCI.In this paper,we propose a Kullback–Leibler divergence(KL)-based transfer learning algorithm to solve the problem of feature transfer,the proposed algorithm uses KL to measure the similarity between the training set and the testing set,adds support vector machine(SVM)classification probability to classify and weight the covariance,and discards the poorly performing samples.The results show that the proposed algorithm can significantly improve the classification accuracy of the testing set compared with the traditional algorithms,especially for subjects with medium classification accuracy.Moreover,the algorithm based on transfer learning has the potential to improve the consistency of feature distribution that the traditional algorithms do not have,which is significant for the application of MI-BCI.

ENERGY FEATURE EXTRACTION AND SVM CLASSIFICATION OFMOTORIMAGERY-INDUCED ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAMS

The precise classification for the electroencephalogram(EEG)in different mental tasks in the research on brain
computer interface(BCI)is the key for the design and clinical application of the system.In this paper,a new combination classification algorithm is presented and tested using the EEG data of right and left motor imagery experiments.First,to eliminate the low frequency noise in the original EEGs,the signals were decomposed by empirical mode decomposition(EMD)and then the optimal kernel parameters for support vector machine(SVM)were determined,the energy features of thefirst three intrinsic mode functions(IMFs)of every signal were extracted and used as input vectors of the employed SVM.The output of the SVM will be classification result for different mental task EEG signals.The study shows that mean identification rate of the proposed algorithm is 95%,which is much better than the present traditional algorithms.

Combining Motor Imagery and Action Observation with Vibratory Stimulation Increases Corticomotor Excitability in Healthy Young Adults

Vibratory stimulation but also motor imagery and action observation can induce corticomotor modulation, as a bottom-up stimulus and top-down stimuli, respectively. However, it remains unknown whether the combination of motor imagery, action observation, and vibratory stimulation can effectively increase corticomotor excitability. This study aimed to investigate the effect of motor imagery and/or action observation, in the presence or absence of vibratory stimulation, on the corticomotor excitability of healthy young adults. Vibratory stimulation was provided to the palm of the right hand. Action observation consisted in viewing a movie of someone else’s finger flexion and extension movements. The imagery condition required the participants to imagine they were moving their fingers while viewing the movie and attempting to move their fingers in accordance with the movie. Eleven right-handed healthy young adults were asked to perform six conditions randomly: 1) vibratory stimulation, imagery, and action observation, 2) vibratory stimulation and action observation, 3) vibratory stimulation and viewing of a blank screen, 4) imagery and action observation, 5) action observation, and 6) viewing of a blank screen. Single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation was conducted to assess corticomotor excitability and the peak-to-peak amplitude of the motor evoked potentials. The results showed that vibratory stimulation increases corticospinal excitability. The findings further revealed that performing motor imagery while viewing finger movement is more effective at inducing an augmentation of corticomotor excitability compared to action observation alone. Thus, the combination of motor imagery, action observation, and vibratory stimulation can effectively augment corticomotor excitability.

BCI+VR Rehabilitation Design of Closed-Loop Motor Imagery Based on the Degree of Drug Addiction

After abusing drugs for long,drug users will experience deteriorated self-control cognitive ability,and poor emotional regulation.This paper designs a closed-loop virtual-reality(VR),motorimagery(MI)rehabilitation training system based on brain-computer interface(BCI)(MI-BCI+VR),aiming to enhance the self-control,cognition,and emotional regulation of drug addicts via personalized rehabilitation schemes.This paper is composed of two parts.In the first part,data of 45 drug addicts(mild:15;moderate:15;and severe:15)is tested with electroencephalogram(EEG)and near-infrared spectroscopy(NIRS)equipment(EEG-NIRS)under the dual-mode,synchronous signal collection paradigm.Using these data sets,a dual-modal signal convolutional neural network(CNN)algorithm is then designed based on decision fusion to detect and classify the addiction degree.In the second part,the MIBCI+VR rehabilitation system is designed,optimizing the Filter Bank Common Spatial Pattern(FBCSP)algorithm used in MI,and realizing MI-EEG intention recognition.Eight VR rehabilitation scenes are devised,achieving the communication between MI-BCI and VR scene models.Ten subjects are selected to test the rehabilitation system offline and online,and the test accuracy verifies the feasibility of the system.In future,it is suggested to develop personalized rehabilitation programs and treatment cycles based on the addiction degree.