Synchronization-based fusion of EEG and eye blink signals for enhanced decoding accuracy

Abstract Decoding locomotor tasks is crucial in cognitive neuroscience for understanding brain responses to physical tasks. Traditional methods like EEG offer brain activity insights but may require additional modalities for enhanced interpretative precision and depth. The integration of EEG with oc...

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Main Authors: Emad Alyan, Stefan Arnau, Julian Elias Reiser, Edmund Wascher
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2024-11-01
Series:Scientific Reports
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-78542-9
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author Emad Alyan
Stefan Arnau
Julian Elias Reiser
Edmund Wascher
author_facet Emad Alyan
Stefan Arnau
Julian Elias Reiser
Edmund Wascher
author_sort Emad Alyan
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Decoding locomotor tasks is crucial in cognitive neuroscience for understanding brain responses to physical tasks. Traditional methods like EEG offer brain activity insights but may require additional modalities for enhanced interpretative precision and depth. The integration of EEG with ocular metrics, particularly eye blinks, presents a promising avenue for understanding cognitive processes by combining neural and ocular behaviors. However, synchronizing EEG and eye blink activities poses a significant challenge due to their frequently inconsistent alignment. Our study with 35 participants performing various locomotor tasks such as standing, walking, and transversing obstacles introduced a novel methodology, pcEEG+, which fuses EEG principal components (pcEEG) with aligned eye blink data (syncBlink). The results demonstrated that pcEEG+ significantly improved decoding accuracy in locomotor tasks, reaching 78% in some conditions, and surpassed standalone pcEEG and syncBlink methods by 7.6% and 22.7%, respectively. The temporal generalization matrix confirmed the consistency of pcEEG+ across tasks and times. The results were replicated using two driving simulator datasets, thereby confirming the validity of our method. This study demonstrates the efficacy of the pcEEG+ method in decoding locomotor tasks, underscoring the importance of temporal synchronization for accuracy and offering a deeper insight into brain activity during complex movements.
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spelling doaj-art-9d504d6630fa46318fb4f5b362fc3d7f2024-11-10T12:23:25ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222024-11-0114111510.1038/s41598-024-78542-9Synchronization-based fusion of EEG and eye blink signals for enhanced decoding accuracyEmad Alyan0Stefan Arnau1Julian Elias Reiser2Edmund Wascher3Department of Ergonomics, Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human FactorsDepartment of Ergonomics, Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human FactorsDepartment of Ergonomics, Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human FactorsDepartment of Ergonomics, Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human FactorsAbstract Decoding locomotor tasks is crucial in cognitive neuroscience for understanding brain responses to physical tasks. Traditional methods like EEG offer brain activity insights but may require additional modalities for enhanced interpretative precision and depth. The integration of EEG with ocular metrics, particularly eye blinks, presents a promising avenue for understanding cognitive processes by combining neural and ocular behaviors. However, synchronizing EEG and eye blink activities poses a significant challenge due to their frequently inconsistent alignment. Our study with 35 participants performing various locomotor tasks such as standing, walking, and transversing obstacles introduced a novel methodology, pcEEG+, which fuses EEG principal components (pcEEG) with aligned eye blink data (syncBlink). The results demonstrated that pcEEG+ significantly improved decoding accuracy in locomotor tasks, reaching 78% in some conditions, and surpassed standalone pcEEG and syncBlink methods by 7.6% and 22.7%, respectively. The temporal generalization matrix confirmed the consistency of pcEEG+ across tasks and times. The results were replicated using two driving simulator datasets, thereby confirming the validity of our method. This study demonstrates the efficacy of the pcEEG+ method in decoding locomotor tasks, underscoring the importance of temporal synchronization for accuracy and offering a deeper insight into brain activity during complex movements.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-78542-9
spellingShingle Emad Alyan
Stefan Arnau
Julian Elias Reiser
Edmund Wascher
Synchronization-based fusion of EEG and eye blink signals for enhanced decoding accuracy
Scientific Reports
title Synchronization-based fusion of EEG and eye blink signals for enhanced decoding accuracy
title_full Synchronization-based fusion of EEG and eye blink signals for enhanced decoding accuracy
title_fullStr Synchronization-based fusion of EEG and eye blink signals for enhanced decoding accuracy
title_full_unstemmed Synchronization-based fusion of EEG and eye blink signals for enhanced decoding accuracy
title_short Synchronization-based fusion of EEG and eye blink signals for enhanced decoding accuracy
title_sort synchronization based fusion of eeg and eye blink signals for enhanced decoding accuracy
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-78542-9
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AT julianeliasreiser synchronizationbasedfusionofeegandeyeblinksignalsforenhanceddecodingaccuracy
AT edmundwascher synchronizationbasedfusionofeegandeyeblinksignalsforenhanceddecodingaccuracy