Low-Complexity Discriminative Feature Selection From EEG Before and After Short-Term Memory Task

Abstract

A reliable and unobtrusive quantification of changes in cortical activity during short-term memory task can be used to evaluate the efficacy of interfaces and to provide real-time user-state information. In this article, we investigate changes in electroencephalogram signals in short-term memory with respect to the baseline activity. The electroencephalogram signals have been analyzed using 9 linear and nonlinear/dynamic measures. We applied statistical Wilcoxon examination and Davis-Bouldian criterion to select optimal discriminative features. The results show that among the features, the permutation entropy significantly increased in frontal lobe and the occipital second lower alpha band activity decreased during memory task. These 2 features reflect the same mental task; however, their correlation with memory task varies in different intervals. In conclusion, it is suggested that the combination of the 2 features would improve the performance of memory based neurofeedback systems.

Keywords: Davis-Bouldian criterion; EEG; feature; memory; neurofeedback; statistical examination.