The analytic common spatial patterns method for EEG-based BCI data

One of the most important stages in a brain-computer interface (BCI) system is that of extracting features that can reliably discriminate data recorded during different user states. A popular technique used for feature extraction in BCIs is the common spatial patterns (CSP) method, which provides a set of spatial filters that optimally discriminate between two classes of data in the least-squares sense. The method also yields a set of spatial patterns that are associated with the most relevant activity for distinguishing between the two classes. The high recognition rates that have been achieved with the method have led to its widespread adoption in the field. Here, a variant of the CSP method that considers EEG data in its complex form is described. By explicitly considering the amplitude and phase information in the data, the analytic CSP (ACSP) technique can provide a more comprehensive picture of the underlying activity, resulting in improved classification accuracies and more informative spatial patterns than the conventional CSP method. In this paper, we elaborate on the theoretical aspects of the ACSP algorithm and demonstrate the advantages of the method through a number of simulations and through tests on EEG data.