# Evaluating Fast Adaptability of Neural Networks for Brain-Computer Interface

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.15350 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.15350/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 8 of its 24 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 14 Apr 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 8 of 8)

- [PyTorch: An Imperative Style, High-Performance Deep Learning Library](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.01703/) (2019)
- [Model-Agnostic Meta-Learning for Fast Adaptation of Deep Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1703.03400/) (2017)
- [EEGNet: A Compact Convolutional Network for EEG-based Brain-Computer Interfaces](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1611.08024/) (2016)
- [BENDR: using transformers and a contrastive self-supervised learning task to learn from massive amounts of EEG data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2101.12037/) (2021)
- [MAEEG: Masked Auto-encoder for EEG Representation Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.02625/) (2022)
- [Transfer Learning in Brain-Computer Interfaces](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1512.00296/) (2015)
- [A Novel Semi-supervised Meta Learning Method for Subject-transfer Brain-computer Interface](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.03785/) (2022)
- [Model-Agnostic Meta-Learning for EEG Motor Imagery Decoding in Brain-Computer-Interfacing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.08664/) (2021)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Separating personal from population gains when calibrating EEG foundation models for new users](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.34801/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Electroencephalography (EEG) classification is a versatile and portable technique for building non-invasive Brain-computer Interfaces (BCI). However, the classifiers that decode cognitive states from EEG brain data perform poorly when tested on newer domains, such as tasks or individuals absent during model training. Researchers have recently used complex strategies like Model-agnostic meta-learning (MAML) for domain adaptation. Nevertheless, there is a need for an evaluation strategy to evaluate the fast adaptability of the models, as this characteristic is essential for real-life BCI applications for quick calibration. We used motor movement and imaginary signals as input to Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) based classifier for the experiments. Datasets with EEG signals typically have fewer examples and higher time resolution. Even though batch-normalization is preferred for Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN), we empirically show that layer-normalization can improve the adaptability of CNN-based EEG classifiers with not more than ten fine-tuning steps. In summary, the present work (i) proposes a simple strategy to evaluate fast adaptability, and (ii) empirically demonstrate fast adaptability across individuals as well as across tasks with simple transfer learning as compared to MAML approach.