Assessing movement factors in upper limb kinematics decoding from EEG signals

PLoS One. 2015 May 28;10(5):e0128456. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0128456. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

The past decades have seen the rapid development of upper limb kinematics decoding techniques by performing intracortical recordings of brain signals. However, the use of non-invasive approaches to perform similar decoding procedures is still in its early stages. Recent studies show that there is a correlation between electroencephalographic (EEG) signals and hand-reaching kinematic parameters. From these studies, it could be concluded that the accuracy of upper limb kinematics decoding depends, at least partially, on the characteristics of the performed movement. In this paper, we have studied upper limb movements with different speeds and trajectories in a controlled environment to analyze the influence of movement variability in the decoding performance. To that end, low frequency components of the EEG signals have been decoded with linear models to obtain the position of the volunteer's hand during performed trajectories grasping the end effector of a planar manipulandum. The results confirm that it is possible to obtain kinematic information from low frequency EEG signals and show that decoding performance is significantly influenced by movement variability and tracking accuracy as continuous and slower movements improve the accuracy of the decoder. This is a key factor that should be taken into account in future experimental designs.

Publication types

  • Clinical Trial
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Biomechanical Phenomena
  • Electroencephalography*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Models, Biological*
  • Movement / physiology*
  • Upper Extremity / physiology*

Grants and funding

AU, JMA, EH, and EI have been supported by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain through the project DPI2011-27022-C02-01 (http://www.mineco.gob.es/portal/site/mineco/?lang_choosen = en). AU has also been supported by Conselleria d’Educació, Cultura i Esport of Generalitat Valenciana through grant VALi+d ACIF/2012/135 (http://www.cece.gva.es/). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.