Motor Imagery Classification via Temporal Attention Cues of Graph Embedded EEG Signals

Motor imagery classification from EEG signals is essential for motor rehabilitation with a Brain-Computer Interface (BCI). Most current works on this issue require a subject-specific adaptation step before applied to a new user. Thus the research of directly extending a pre-trained model to new users is particularly desired and indispensable. As brain dynamics fluctuate considerably across different subjects, it is challenging to design practical hand-crafted features based on prior knowledge. Regarding this gap, this paper proposes a Graph-based Convolutional Recurrent Attention Model (G-CRAM) to explore EEG features across different subjects for motor imagery classification. A graph structure is first developed to represent the positioning information of EEG nodes. Then a convolutional recurrent attention model learns EEG features from both spatial and temporal dimensions and emphasizes on the most distinguishable temporal periods. We evaluate the proposed approach on two benchmark EEG datasets of motor imagery classification on the subject-independent testing. The results show that the G-CRAM achieves superior performance to state-of-the-art methods regarding recognition accuracy and ROC-AUC. Furthermore, model interpretation studies reveal the learning process of different neural network components and demonstrate that the proposed model can extract detailed features efficiently.