@article{BlanchardKawanabeSugiyamaetal.2006,
  author    = {Blanchard, Gilles and Kawanabe, Motoaki and Sugiyama, Masashi and Spokoiny, Vladimir G. and M{\"u}ller, Klaus-Robert},
  title     = {In search of non-Gaussian components of a high-dimensional distribution},
  issn      = {1532-4435},
  year      = {2006},
  abstract  = {Finding non-Gaussian components of high-dimensional data is an important preprocessing step for efficient information processing. This article proposes a new linear method to identify the '' non-Gaussian subspace '' within a very general semi-parametric framework. Our proposed method, called NGCA (non-Gaussian component analysis), is based on a linear operator which, to any arbitrary nonlinear (smooth) function, associates a vector belonging to the low dimensional non-Gaussian target subspace, up to an estimation error. By applying this operator to a family of different nonlinear functions, one obtains a family of different vectors lying in a vicinity of the target space. As a final step, the target space itself is estimated by applying PCA to this family of vectors. We show that this procedure is consistent in the sense that the estimaton error tends to zero at a parametric rate, uniformly over the family, Numerical examples demonstrate the usefulness of our method},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{BlankertzDornhegeKrauledatetal.2006,
  author    = {Blankertz, Benjamin and Dornhege, Guido and Krauledat, Matthias and M{\"u}ller, Klaus-Robert and Kunzmann, Volker and Losch, Florian and Curio, Gabriel},
  title     = {The Berlin brain-computer interface : EEG-based communication without subject training},
  issn      = {1534-4320},
  doi       = {10.1109/Tnsre.2006.875557},
  year      = {2006},
  abstract  = {The Berlin Brain-Computer Interface (BBCI) project develops a noninvasive BCI system whose key features are 1) the use of well-established motor competences as control paradigms, 2) high-dimensional features from 128-channel electroencephalogram (EEG), and 3) advanced machine learning techniques. As reported earlier, our experiments demonstrate that very high information transfer rates can be achieved using the readiness potential (RP) when predicting the laterality of upcoming left-versus right-hand movements in healthy subjects. A more recent study showed that the RP similarily accompanies phantom movements in arm amputees, but the signal strength decreases with longer loss of the limb. In a complementary approach, oscillatory features are used to discriminate imagined movements (left hand versus right hand versus foot). In a recent feedback study with six healthy subjects with no or very little experience with BCI control, three subjects achieved an information transfer rate above 35 bits per minute (bpm), and further two subjects above 24 and 15 bpm, while one subject could not achieve any BCI control. These results are encouraging for an EEG-based BCI system in untrained subjects that is independent of peripheral nervous system activity and does not rely on evoked potentials even when compared to results with very well-trained subjects operating other BCI systems},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{BlankertzMuellerCurioetal.2004,
  author    = {Blankertz, Benjamin and M{\"u}ller, Klaus-Robert and Curio, Gabriel and Vaughan, Theresa M. and Schalk, Gerwin and Wolpaw, Jonathan R. and Schlogl, Alois and Neuper, Christa and Pfurtscheller, Gert and Hinterberger, Thilo and Schroder, Michael and Birbaumer, Niels},
  title     = {The BCI competition 2003 : Progress and perspectives in detection and discrimination of EEG single trials},
  issn      = {0018-9294},
  year      = {2004},
  abstract  = {Interest in developing a new method of man-to-machine communication-a brain-computer interface (BCI)-has grown steadily over the past few decades. BCIs create a new communication channel between the brain and an output device by bypassing conventional motor output pathways of nerves and muscles. These systems use signals recorded from the scalp, the surface of the cortex, or from inside the brain to enable users to control a variety of applications including simple word-processing software and orthotics. BCI technology could therefore provide a new communication and control option for individuals who cannot otherwise express their wishes to the outside world. Signal processing and classification methods are essential tools in the development of improved BCI technology. We organized the BCI Competition 2003 to evaluate the current state of the art of these tools. Four laboratories well versed in EEG-based BCI research provided six data sets in a documented format. We made these data sets (i.e., labeled training sets and unlabeled test sets) and their descriptions available on the Internet. The goal in the competition was to maximize the performance measure for the test labels. Researchers worldwide tested their algorithms and competed for the best classification results. This paper describes the six data sets and the results and function of the most successful algorithms},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{BlankertzMuellerKrusienskietal.2006,
  author    = {Blankertz, Benjamin and M{\"u}ller, Klaus-Robert and Krusienski, Dean and Schalk, Gerwin and Wolpaw, Jonathan R. and Schl{\"o}gl, Alois and Pfurtscheller, Gert and Millan, Jos{\´e} del R. and Schr{\"o}der, Michael and Birbaumer, Niels},
  title     = {The BCI competition III : validating alternative approaches to actual BCI problems},
  issn      = {1534-4320},
  doi       = {10.1109/Tnsre.2006.875642},
  year      = {2006},
  abstract  = {A brain-computer interface (BCI) is a system that allows its users to control external devices with brain activity. Although the proof-of-concept was given decades ago, the reliable translation of user intent into device control commands is still a major challenge. Success requires the effective interaction of two adaptive controllers: the user's brain, which produces brain activity that encodes intent, and the BCI system, which translates that activity into device control commands. In order to facilitate this interaction, many laboratories are exploring a variety of signal analysis techniques to improve the adaptation of the BCI system to the user. In the literature, many machine learning and pattern classification algorithms have been reported to give impressive results when applied to BCI data in offline analyses. However, it is more difficult to evaluate their relative value for actual online use. BCI data competitions have been organized to provide objective formal evaluations of alternative methods. Prompted by the great interest in the first two BCI Competitions, we organized the third BCI Competition to address several of the most difficult and important analysis problems in BCI research. The paper describes the data sets that were provided to the competitors and gives an overview of the results.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{DornhegeBlankertzCurioetal.2004,
  author    = {Dornhege, Guido and Blankertz, Benjamin and Curio, Gabriel and M{\"u}ller, Klaus-Robert},
  title     = {Boosting bit rates in noninvasive EEG single-trial classifications by feature combination and multiclass paradigms},
  year      = {2004},
  abstract  = {Noninvasive electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings provide for easy and safe access to human neocortical processes which can be exploited for a brain-computer interface (BCI). At present, however, the use of BCIs is severely limited by low bit-transfer rates. We systematically analyze and develop two recent concepts, both capable of enhancing the information gain from multichannel scalp EEG recordings: 1) the combination of classifiers, each specifically tailored for different physiological phenomena, e.g., slow cortical potential shifts, such as the premovement Bereitschaftspotential or differences in spatio-spectral distributions of brain activity (i.e., focal event-related desynchronizations) and 2) behavioral paradigms inducing the subjects to generate one out of several brain states (multiclass approach) which all bare a distinctive spatio-temporal signature well discriminable in the standard scalp EEG. We derive information-theoretic predictions and demonstrate their relevance in experimental data. We will show that a suitably arranged interaction between these concepts can significantly boost BCI performances},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{DornhegeBlankertzKrauledatetal.2006,
  author    = {Dornhege, Guido and Blankertz, Benjamin and Krauledat, Matthias and Losch, Florian and Curio, Gabriel and M{\"u}ller, Klaus-Robert},
  title     = {Combined optimization of spatial and temporal filters for improving brain-computer interfacing},
  series = {IEEE transactions on bio-medical electronics},
  volume    = {53},
  journal   = {IEEE transactions on bio-medical electronics},
  number    = {11},
  publisher = {IEEE},
  address   = {New York},
  issn      = {0018-9294},
  doi       = {10.1109/TBME.2006.883649},
  pages     = {2274 -- 2281},
  year      = {2006},
  abstract  = {Brain-computer interface (BCI) systems create a novel communication channel from the brain to an output de ice by bypassing conventional motor output pathways of nerves and muscles. Therefore they could provide a new communication and control option for paralyzed patients. Modern BCI technology is essentially based on techniques for the classification of single-trial brain signals. Here we present a novel technique that allows the simultaneous optimization of a spatial and a spectral filter enhancing discriminability rates of multichannel EEG single-trials. The evaluation of 60 experiments involving 22 different subjects demonstrates the significant superiority of the proposed algorithm over to its classical counterpart: the median classification error rate was decreased by 11\%. Apart from the enhanced classification, the spatial and/or the spectral filter that are determined by the algorithm can also be used for further analysis of the data, e.g., for source localization of the respective brain rhythms.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{HarmelingDornhegeTaxetal.2006,
  author    = {Harmeling, Stefan and Dornhege, Guido and Tax, David and Meinecke, Frank C. and M{\"u}ller, Klaus-Robert},
  title     = {From outliers to prototypes : Ordering data},
  issn      = {0925-2312},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.neucom.2005.05.015},
  year      = {2006},
  abstract  = {We propose simple and fast methods based on nearest neighbors that order objects from high-dimensional data sets from typical points to untypical points. On the one hand, we show that these easy-to-compute orderings allow us to detect outliers (i.e. very untypical points) with a performance comparable to or better than other often much more sophisticated methods. On the other hand, we show how to use these orderings to detect prototypes (very typical points) which facilitate exploratory data analysis algorithms such as noisy nonlinear dimensionality reduction and clustering. Comprehensive experiments demonstrate the validity of our approach.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{HarmelingMeineckeMueller2004,
  author    = {Harmeling, Stefan and Meinecke, Frank C. and M{\"u}ller, Klaus-Robert},
  title     = {Injecting noise for analysing the stability of ICA components},
  issn      = {0165-1684},
  year      = {2004},
  abstract  = {Usually, noise is considered to be destructive. We present a new method that constructively injects noise to assess the reliability and the grouping structure of empirical ICA component estimates. Our method can be viewed as a Monte-Carlo-style approximation of the curvature of some performance measure at the solution. Simulations show that the true root-mean-squared angle distances between the real sources and the source estimates can be approximated well by our method. In a toy experiment, we see that we are also able to reveal the underlying grouping structure of the extracted ICA components. Furthermore, an experiment with fetal ECG data demonstrates that our approach is useful for exploratory data analysis of real-world data. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{KawanabeBlanchardSugiyamaetal.2006,
  author    = {Kawanabe, Motoaki and Blanchard, Gilles and Sugiyama, Masashi and Spokoiny, Vladimir G. and M{\"u}ller, Klaus-Robert},
  title     = {A novel dimension reduction procedure for searching non-Gaussian subspaces},
  issn      = {0302-9743},
  doi       = {10.1007/11679363_19},
  year      = {2006},
  abstract  = {In this article, we consider high-dimensional data which contains a low-dimensional non-Gaussian structure contaminated with Gaussian noise and propose a new linear method to identify the non-Gaussian subspace. Our method NGCA (Non-Gaussian Component Analysis) is based on a very general semi-parametric framework and has a theoretical guarantee that the estimation error of finding the non-Gaussian components tends to zero at a parametric rate. NGCA can be used not only as preprocessing for ICA, but also for extracting and visualizing more general structures like clusters. A numerical study demonstrates the usefulness of our method},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{KawanabeMueller2005,
  author    = {Kawanabe, Motoaki and M{\"u}ller, Klaus-Robert},
  title     = {Estimating functions for blind separation when sources have variance dependencies},
  year      = {2005},
  abstract  = {A blind separation problem where the sources are not independent, but have variance dependencies is discussed. For this scenario Hyvarinen and Hurri (2004) proposed an algorithm which requires no assumption on distributions of sources and no parametric model of dependencies between components. In this paper, we extend the semiparametric approach of Amari and Cardoso (1997) to variance dependencies and study estimating functions for blind separation of such dependent sources. In particular, we show that many ICA algorithms are applicable to the variance-dependent model as well under mild conditions, although they should in principle not. Our results indicate that separation can be done based only on normalized sources which are adjusted to have stationary variances and is not affected by the dependent activity levels. We also study the asymptotic distribution of the quasi maximum likelihood method and the stability of the natural gradient learning in detail. Simulation results of artificial and realistic examples match well with our theoretical findings},
  language  = {en}
}