System and method for noninvasive identification of cognitive and behavioral goals

A brain machine interface comprising:

• an electroencephalogram configured to sense electromagnetic signals generated by a brain of a person, wherein the electromagnetic signals comprise a time component and a frequency component;
• an eye tracking monitor configured to determine that the person is looking at a first stimulus;
• an auditory monitor configured to determine the presence of a second stimulus based on an auditory volume corresponding to the second stimulus;
• and
• a processor configured to segment the electromagnetic signals into a first segment and a second segment, wherein the first segment corresponds to the first stimulus and the second segment corresponds to the second stimulus,
• wherein the processor is further configured to process the first segment and the second segment and wherein the processor is configured to:
• extract a first set of feature vectors from the first segment and a second set of feature vectors from the second segment, wherein each of the first set and the second set of feature vectors define a class of behavioral intent;
• determine a bicoherence element to define a measure of phase coupling, wherein the measure of phase coupling corresponds to the first set of feature vectors and the second set of feature vectors derived from the respective first stimulus and second stimulus;
• and
• determine a first behavioral intent based on the first set of feature vectors and a second behavioral intent based on the second set of feature vectors.

A method for identifying a behavioral intent of a person, the method comprising:

• sensing, by an electroencephalogram attached to a person, electromagnetic signals generated by a brain of the person, wherein the electromagnetic signals comprise a time component and a frequency component;
• detecting, by a monitor, an eye movement of the person and a volume of an auditory stimulus, wherein the eye movement corresponds to a visual stimulus;
• synchronizing, by a synchronization module, the electromagnetic signals with the visual stimulus and the auditory stimulus;
• extracting, by a processor, a first set of feature vectors corresponding to the visual stimulus and a second set of feature vectors corresponding to the auditory stimulus, wherein each of the feature vectors define a class of behavioral intent;
• pre-processing, by the processor, the electromagnetic signals, wherein the pre-processing comprises filtering and referencing the electromagnetic signals;
• extracting, by the processor, spectral features from the electromagnetic signals;
• determining, by the processor, a first frequency band and a second frequency band of the spectral features;
• applying, by the processor, a wavelet transformation to the electromagnetic signals, wherein the wavelet transformation is applied over a period of time corresponding to the time component;
• determining, by the processor, a bicoherence element to define a measure of phase coupling based on the first frequency band and the second frequency band, wherein the measure of phase coupling corresponds to the first set and the second set of the feature vectors;
• and
• determining, by the processor, a behavioral intent of the person based on the first set of feature vectors and the second set of feature vectors.