Multiple-Classifier Binary Convolutional Siamese Networks for Code-Modulated Visual Evoked Potential Classification

OBJECTIVE:Non-invasive Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) based on Code-Modulated Visual Evoked Potentials (c-VEPs) using electroencephalography (EEG) signals require robust classification algorithms. It is unclear whether the best approach is to use a similarity measure or to follow a discriminant method. METHODS:We propose a multiple-classifier binary convolutional Siamese (MCBCS) network for single-trial c-VEP decoding, in which the multi-class recognition problem is decomposed into a set of class-specific binary similarity-learning tasks. The proposed MCBCS framework is systematically compared against a single multi-class Siamese network, convolutional neural networks for 63-bit m-sequence reconstruction and direct classification, and conventional correlation-based and canonical correlation analysis approaches. The study also investigates distance-based decoding strategies and the effect of temporal data augmentation with small to medium time shifts. RESULTS:Experimental results on EEG data from 13 subjects demonstrate that the MCBCS architecture consistently outperforms other tested methods under within-subject evaluation, with a mean single-trial accuracy of 96.89%. However, the MCBCS approach achieves 96.17% under a leave-one-subject-out protocol, while EEGNet achieves 96.79%. Finally, the Wasserstein Distance (WD$_{1}$) achieved the highest accuracy (93.88%) among the distance metrics. CONCLUSION:The multiple-classifier convolutional binary Siamese network achieved the highest overall performance. SIGNIFICANCE:The results highlight the effectiveness of class-specific similarity learning for robust compared to direct discriminant approaches.