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 brain-computer interface



Du-IN: Discrete units-guided mask modeling for decoding speech from Intracranial Neural signals

Neural Information Processing Systems

Invasive brain-computer interfaces with Electrocorticography (ECoG) have shown promise for high-performance speech decoding in medical applications, but less damaging methods like intracranial stereo-electroencephalography (sEEG) remain underexplored. With rapid advances in representation learning, leveraging abundant recordings to enhance speech decoding is increasingly attractive. However, popular methods often pre-train temporal models based on brain-level tokens, overlooking that brain activities in different regions are highly desynchronized during tasks. Alternatively, they pre-train spatial-temporal models based on channel-level tokens but fail to evaluate them on challenging tasks like speech decoding, which requires intricate processing in specific language-related areas. To address this issue, we collected a well-annotated Chinese word-reading sEEG dataset targeting language-related brain networks from 12 subjects. Using this benchmark, we developed the Du-IN model, which extracts contextual embeddings based on region-level tokens through discrete codex-guided mask modeling. Our model achieves state-of-the-art performance on the 61-word classification task, surpassing all baselines. Model comparisons and ablation studies reveal that our design choices, including (\romannumeral1) temporal modeling based on region-level tokens by utilizing 1D depthwise convolution to fuse channels in the ventral sensorimotor cortex (vSMC) and superior temporal gyrus (STG) and (\romannumeral2) self-supervision through discrete codex-guided mask modeling, significantly contribute to this performance. Overall, our approach -- inspired by neuroscience findings and capitalizing on region-level representations from specific brain regions -- is suitable for invasive brain modeling and represents a promising neuro-inspired AI approach in brain-computer interfaces.


Sam Altman's New Brain Venture, Merge Labs, Will Spin Out of a Nonprofit

WIRED

Merge Labs, a brain-computer interface startup that seeks to read brain activity using ultrasound, is being spun out of Forest Neurotech, a Los Angeles nonprofit. Samuel Altman, CEO of OpenAI, testifies in Washington, DC, on May 16, 2023. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's new brain-computer interface startup, Merge Labs, is being spun out of the Los Angeles-based nonprofit Forest Neurotech, according to a source with direct knowledge of the plans. It will focus on using ultrasound to read brain activity. Along with Altman, WIRED has learned, Forest Neurotech's CEO Sumner Norman and chief scientific officer Tyson Aflalo are among the cofounders of Merge Labs, which is still in stealth mode.


Enhancing Interpretability of AR-SSVEP-Based Motor Intention Recognition via CNN-BiLSTM and SHAP Analysis on EEG Data

Yang, Lin, Li, Xiang, Ma, Xin, Zhao, Xinxin

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

Traditional SSVEP-based brain-computer interface (BCI) systems rely heavily on external visual stimulus equipment, limiting their practicality in real-world settings. This study proposes an augmented reality steady-state visually evoked potential (AR-SSVEP) system to address the lack of patient initiative and the high workload on therapists. Firstly, we design four HoloLens 2-based EEG classes and collect EEG data from seven healthy subjects for analysis. Secondly, we build upon the conventional CNN-BiLSTM architecture by integrating a multi-head attention mechanism (MACNN-BiLSTM). We extract ten temporal-spectral EEG features and feed them into a CNN to learn high-level representations. Then, we use BiLSTM to model sequential dependencies and apply a multi-head attention mechanism to highlight motor-intention-related patterns. Finally, the SHAP (SHapley Additive exPlanations) method is applied to visualize EEG feature contributions to the neural network's decision-making process, enhancing the model's interpretability. These findings enhance real-time motor intention recognition and support recovery in patients with motor impairments.


Graph-Based Learning of Spectro-Topographical EEG Representations with Gradient Alignment for Brain-Computer Interfaces

Angkan, Prithila, Jalali, Amin, Hungler, Paul, Etemad, Ali

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

ABSTRACT We present a novel graph-based learning of EEG representations with gradient alignment (GEEGA) that leverages multi-domain information to learn EEG representations for brain-computer interfaces. GEEGA addresses the challenge of achieving high inter-class separability, which arises from the temporally dynamic and subject-sensitive nature of EEG signals by incorporating the center loss and pairwise difference loss. Additionally, GEEGA incorporates a gradient alignment strategy to resolve conflicts between gradients from different domains and the fused embeddings, ensuring that discrepancies, where gradients point in conflicting directions, are aligned toward a unified optimization direction. Index T erms-- EEG, BCI, Graph, Gradient alignment 1. INTRODUCTION Electroencephalography (EEG) is a non-invasive technique that captures the electrical activity of the brain. Its cost-effectiveness and high temporal resolution make it widely used for brain-computer interfaces (BCI) in various research areas [1-3].


NeuroPhysNet: A FitzHugh-Nagumo-Based Physics-Informed Neural Network Framework for Electroencephalograph (EEG) Analysis and Motor Imagery Classification

Xia, Zhenyu, Huang, Xinlei, Gu, Yuantong, Saha, Suvash C.

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

Electroencephalography (EEG) is extensively employed in medical diagnostics and brain-computer interface (BCI) applications due to its non-invasive nature and high temporal resolution. However, EEG analysis faces significant challenges, including noise, nonstationarity, and inter-subject variability, which hinder its clinical utility. Traditional neural networks often lack integration with biophysical knowledge, limiting their interpretability, robustness, and potential for medical translation. To address these limitations, this study introduces NeuroPhysNet, a novel Physics-Informed Neural Network (PINN) framework tailored for EEG signal analysis and motor imagery classification in medical contexts. NeuroPhysNet incorporates the FitzHugh-Nagumo model, embedding neurodynamical principles to constrain predictions and enhance model robustness. Evaluated on the BCIC-IV-2a dataset, the framework achieved superior accuracy and generalization compared to conventional methods, especially in data-limited and cross-subject scenarios, which are common in clinical settings. By effectively integrating biophysical insights with data-driven techniques, NeuroPhysNet not only advances BCI applications but also holds significant promise for enhancing the precision and reliability of clinical diagnostics, such as motor disorder assessments and neurorehabilitation planning.


Deep Learning Architectures for Code-Modulated Visual Evoked Potentials Detection

Nair, Kiran, Cecotti, Hubert

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

Non-invasive Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) based on Code-Modulated Visual Evoked Potentials (C-VEPs) require highly robust decoding methods to address temporal variability and session-dependent noise in EEG signals. This study proposes and evaluates several deep learning architectures, including convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for 63-bit m-sequence reconstruction and classification, and Siamese networks for similarity-based decoding, alongside canonical correlation analysis (CCA) baselines. EEG data were recorded from 13 healthy adults under single-target flicker stimulation. The proposed deep models significantly outperformed traditional approaches, with distance-based decoding using Earth Mover's Distance (EMD) and constrained EMD showing greater robustness to latency variations than Euclidean and Mahalanobis metrics. Temporal data augmentation with small shifts further improved generalization across sessions. Among all models, the multi-class Siamese network achieved the best overall performance with an average accuracy of 96.89%, demonstrating the potential of data-driven deep architectures for reliable, single-trial C-VEP decoding in adaptive non-invasive BCI systems.


Are Large Brainwave Foundation Models Capable Yet? Insights from Fine-tuning

Lee, Na, Barmpas, Konstantinos, Panagakis, Yannis, Adamos, Dimitrios, Laskaris, Nikolaos, Zafeiriou, Stefanos

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

Foundation Models have demonstrated significant success across various domains in Artificial Intelligence (AI), yet their capabilities for brainwave modeling remain unclear. In this paper, we comprehensively evaluate current Large Brainwave Foundation Models (LBMs) through systematic fine-tuning experiments across multiple Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) benchmark tasks, including memory tasks and sleep stage classification. Our extensive analysis shows that state-of-the-art LBMs achieve only marginal improvements (0.9%-1.2%) over traditional deep architectures while requiring significantly more parameters (millions vs thousands), raising important questions about their efficiency and applicability in BCI contexts. Moreover, through detailed ablation studies and Low-Rank Adaptation (LoRA), we significantly reduce trainable parameters without performance degradation, while demonstrating that architectural and training inefficiencies limit LBMs' current capabilities. Our experiments span both full model fine-tuning and parameter-efficient adaptation techniques, providing insights into optimal training strategies for BCI applications. We pioneer the application of LoRA to LBMs, revealing that performance benefits generally emerge when adapting multiple neural network components simultaneously. These findings highlight the critical need for domain-specific development strategies to advance LBMs, suggesting that current architectures may require redesign to fully leverage the potential of foundation models in brainwave analysis.


Gated Uncertainty-Aware Runtime Dual Invariants for Neural Signal-Controlled Robotics

Kim, Tasha, Jones, Oiwi Parker

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

Safety-critical assistive systems that directly decode user intent from neural signals require rigorous guarantees of reliability and trust. We present GUARDIAN (Gated Uncertainty-Aware Runtime Dual Invariants), a framework for real-time neuro-symbolic verification for neural signal-controlled robotics. GUARDIAN enforces both logical safety and physiological trust by coupling confidence-calibrated brain signal decoding with symbolic goal grounding and dual-layer runtime monitoring. On the BNCI2014 motor imagery electroencephalogram (EEG) dataset with 9 subjects and 5,184 trials, the system performs at a high safety rate of 94-97% even with lightweight decoder architectures with low test accuracies (27-46%) and high ECE confidence miscalibration (0.22-0.41). We demonstrate 1.7x correct interventions in simulated noise testing versus at baseline. The monitor operates at 100Hz and sub-millisecond decision latency, making it practically viable for closed-loop neural signal-based systems. Across 21 ablation results, GUARDIAN exhibits a graduated response to signal degradation, and produces auditable traces from intent, plan to action, helping to link neural evidence to verifiable robot action.


Geometry-Aware Deep Congruence Networks for Manifold Learning in Cross-Subject Motor Imagery

Manivannan, Sanjeev, Lakshminarayan, Chandrashekar

arXiv.org Machine Learning

Cross-subject motor-imagery decoding remains a major challenge in EEG-based brain-computer interfaces due to strong subject variability and the curved geometry of covariance matrices on the symmetric positive definite (SPD) manifold. We address the zero-shot cross-subject setting, where no target-subject labels or adaptation are allowed, by introducing novel geometry-aware preprocessing modules and deep congruence networks that operate directly on SPD covariance matrices. Our preprocessing modules, DCR and RiFU, extend Riemannian Alignment by improving action separation while reducing subject-specific distortions. We further propose two manifold classifiers, SPD-DCNet and RiFUNet, which use hierarchical congruence transforms to learn discriminative, subject-invariant covariance representations. On the BCI-IV 2a benchmark, our framework improves cross-subject accuracy by 3-4% over the strongest classical baselines, demonstrating the value of geometry-aware transformations for robust EEG decoding.