Topological Data Analysis (TDA) Techniques Enhance Hand Pose Classification from ECoG Neural Recordings

Electrocorticogram (ECoG) well characterizes hand movement intentions and gestures. In the present work we aim to investigate the possibility to enhance hand pose classification, in a Rock-Paper-Scissor and Rest task, by introducing topological descriptors of time series data. We hypothesized that an innovative approach based on topological data analysis can extract hidden information that are not detectable with standard Brain Computer Interface (BCI) techniques. To investigate this hypothesis, we integrate topological features together with power band features and feed them to several standard classifiers, e.g. Random Forest, Gradient Boosting. Model selection is thus completed after a meticulous phase of bayesian hyperparameter optimization. With our method, we observed robust results in terms of accuracy for a four-labels classification problem, with limited available data. Through feature importance investigation, we conclude that topological descriptors are able to extract useful discriminative information and provide novel insights. Since our data are restricted to single-patient recordings, generalization might be limited. Nevertheless, our method can be extended and applied to a wide range of neurophysiological recordings and it might be an intriguing point of departure for future studies.