Characterization of electroencephalography signals for estimating saliency features in videos. (September 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Liang, Zhen; Hamada, Yasuyuki; Oba, Shigeyuki; Ishii, Shin
• Is Part Of: Neural networks. Volume 105(2018)
• Page Start: 52
• Page End: 64
• Publication Date: 2018-09
• Subjects: Electroencephalography -- Brain activity -- Visual saliency -- Decoding model; Neural computers -- Periodicals; Neural networks (Computer science) -- Periodicals; Neural networks (Neurobiology) -- Periodicals; Nervous System -- Periodicals; Ordinateurs neuronaux -- Périodiques; Réseaux neuronaux (Informatique) -- Périodiques; Réseaux neuronaux (Neurobiologie) -- Périodiques; Neural computers; Neural networks (Computer science); Neural networks (Neurobiology); Periodicals; 006.32
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neunet.2018.04.013
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0893-6080

Abstract

Abstract: Understanding the functions of the visual system has been one of the major targets in neuroscience for many years. However, the relation between spontaneous brain activities and visual saliency in natural stimuli has yet to be elucidated. In this study, we developed an optimized machine learning-based decoding model to explore the possible relationships between the electroencephalography (EEG) characteristics and visual saliency. The optimal features were extracted from the EEG signals and saliency map which was computed according to an unsupervised saliency model (Tavakoli and Laaksonen, 2017 ). Subsequently, various unsupervised feature selection/extraction techniques were examined using different supervised regression models. The robustness of the presented model was fully verified by means of ten-fold or nested cross validation procedure, and promising results were achieved in the reconstruction of saliency features based on the selected EEG characteristics. Through the successful demonstration of using EEG characteristics to predict the real-time saliency distribution in natural videos, we suggest the feasibility of quantifying visual content through measuring brain activities (EEG signals) in real environments, which would facilitate the understanding of cortical involvement in the processing of natural visual stimuli and application developments motivated by human visual processing.