Robust Subject-Independent P300 Waveform Classification via Signal Pre-Processing and Deep Learning

Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs) are capable of processing neural stimuli using electroencephalogram (EEG) measurements to aid communication capabilities. Yet, BCIs often require extensive calibration steps in order to be tuned to specific users. In this work, we develop a subject independent P300 classification framework, which eliminates the need for user-specific calibration. We begin by employing a series of pre-processing steps, where, among other steps, we consider different trial averaging methodologies and various EEG electrode configurations. We then consider three distinct deep learning architectures and two linear machine learning models as P300 signal classifiers. Through evaluation on three datasets, and in comparison to three benchmark P300 classification frameworks, we find that averaging up to seven trials while using eight specific electrode channels on a two-layered convolutional neural network (CNN) leads to robust subject independent P300 classification. In this capacity, our method achieves greater than a 0.20 gain in AUC in comparison to prior P300 classification methods. In addition, our proposed framework is computationally efficient with training time gains of greater than 3×, compared to linear machine learning models, and online evaluation time speedups of up to 2× compared to benchmark methods.