Classification of P300 event-related potentials using SNN, CNN and LSTM deep learning models

Abstract

Accurate classification of P300 event-related potentials remains challenging due to the complex, non-stationary, and low signal-to-noise characteristics of electroencephalography (EEG) signals in brain-computer interface (BCI) systems. P300-based devices, such as the P300 speller, enable communication for patients with severe motor impairments, including those with locked-in syndrome; however, reliable brain signal classification is still a critical limitation. This study presents a comparative evaluation of deep learning models, including convolutional neural networks (CNN), long short-term memory (LSTM) networks, and spiking neural networks (SNN), for P300 signal classification. SNNs represent a biologically inspired paradigm that models the discrete, time-dependent behavior of neural spiking activity and offers advantages in terms of energy efficiency and hardware implementability. Experimental results demonstrate that CNN achieved the highest average classification accuracy (81.04%), followed closely by SNN (80.94%) and LSTM (80.60%). Although CNN slightly outperformed the other models, SNNs showed comparable accuracy while requiring fewer training samples and offering potential benefits for low power and real-time BCI systems. These findings highlight the trade-offs between classification performance and computational efficiency and underline the promise of SNNs as an efficient alternative for P300-based BCI applications.