Despite the impressive performance of large language models (LLMs) in general domains, they often underperform in specialized domains.Existing approaches typically rely on data synthesis methods and yield promising results by using unlabeled data to capture domain-specific features.However, these methods either incur high computational costs or suffer from performance limitations, while also demonstrating insufficient generalization across different tasks.To address these challenges, we propose AQuilt, a framework for constructing instruction-tuning data for any specialized domains from corresponding unlabeled data, including Answer, Question, Unlabeled data, Inspection, Logic, and Task type.By incorporating logic and inspection, we encourage reasoning processes and self-inspection to enhance model performance.Moreover, customizable task instructions enable high-quality data generation for any task.As a result, we construct a dataset of 703k examples to train a powerful data synthesis model.Experiments show that AQuilt is comparable to DeepSeek-V3 while utilizing just 17% of the production cost.Further analysis demonstrates that our generated data exhibits higher relevance to downstream tasks.

Brain-computer interface (BCI) based on steady- state visual evoked potentials (SSVEP) is a popular paradigm for its simplicity and high information transfer rate (ITR). Accurate and fast SSVEP decoding is crucial for reliable BCI performance. However, conventional decoding methods demand longer time windows, and deep learning models typically require subject-specific fine-tuning, leaving challenges in achieving optimal performance in cross-subject settings. This paper proposed a biofocal masking attention-based method (SSVEP-BiMA) that synergistically leverages the native and symmetric-antisymmetric components for decoding SSVEP. By utilizing multiple signal representations, the network is able to integrate features from a wider range of sample perspectives, leading to more generalized and comprehensive feature learning, which enhances both prediction accuracy and robustness. We performed experiments on two public datasets, and the results demonstrate that our proposed method surpasses baseline approaches in both accuracy and ITR. We believe that this work will contribute to the development of more efficient SSVEP-based BCI systems.

The development of EEG decoding algorithms confronts challenges such as data sparsity, subject variability, and the need for precise annotations, all of which are vital for advancing brain-computer interfaces and enhancing the diagnosis of diseases. To address these issues, we propose a novel two-stage approach named Self-Supervised State Reconstruction-Primed Riemannian Dynamics (EEG-ReMinD), which mitigates reliance on supervised learning and integrates inherent geometric features. This approach efficiently handles EEG data corruptions and reduces the dependency on labels. EEG-ReMinD utilizes self-supervised and geometric learning techniques, along with an attention mechanism, to analyze the temporal dynamics of EEG features within the framework of Riemannian geometry, referred to as Riemannian dynamics. Comparative analyses on both intact and corrupted datasets from two different neurodegenerative disorders underscore the enhanced performance of EEG-ReMinD.

Auditory attention detection (AAD) aims to decode listeners' focus in complex auditory environments from electroencephalography (EEG) recordings, which is crucial for developing neuro-steered hearing devices. Despite recent advancements, EEG-based AAD remains hindered by the absence of synergistic frameworks that can fully leverage complementary EEG features under energy-efficiency constraints. We propose ***S$^2$M-Former***, a novel ***s***piking ***s***ymmetric ***m***ixing framework to address this limitation through two key innovations: i) Presenting a spike-driven symmetric architecture composed of parallel spatial and frequency branches with mirrored modular design, leveraging biologically plausible token-channel mixers to enhance complementary learning across branches; ii) Introducing lightweight 1D token sequences to replace conventional 3D operations, reducing parameters by 14.7$\times$. The brain-inspired spiking architecture further reduces power consumption, achieving a 5.8$\times$ energy reduction compared to recent ANN methods, while also surpassing existing SNN baselines in terms of parameter efficiency and performance. Comprehensive experiments on three AAD benchmarks (KUL, DTU and AV-GC-AAD) across three settings (within-trial, cross-trial and cross-subject) demonstrate that S$^2$M-Former achieves comparable state-of-the-art (SOTA) decoding accuracy, making it a promising low-power, high-performance solution for AAD tasks. Code is available at https://github.com/JackieWang9811/S2M-Former.

Reconstructing natural language from noninvasive electroencephalography (EEG) holds great promise as a language decoding technology for brain-computer interfaces (BCIs).How-

Identifying mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is vital for Alzheimer’s disease prevention. As neurodegenerative diseases progress, synchronous activity in electroencephalography (EEG) - indicating functional connectivity - changes due to neural system deterioration. Thus, developing geometric learning to decode the functional brain structure is essential. Techniques such as graph neural networks and Riemannian manifolds show potential in analyzing non-Euclidean data. However, existing approaches neglect to combine synchronous activity with temporal dependence and still remain insufficient for MCI detection. This paper proposes the Brain Network sequence-driven Manifold-based Transformer (BNMTrans) to identify MCI patterns from EEG data. BNMTrans leverages its strengths by extracting features from sequential brain networks through the self-attention mechanism, guided by the geometric correlations within the Riemannian manifold. By integrating long-term temporal dynamics and structural relationships within manifold space based on functional connectivity, this approach outperforms others in EEG feature comparisons and state-of-the-art evaluations based on clinical data from 89 subjects (46 MCI, 43 healthy controls) at a local hospital. Our work has significance for both MCI clinical management and technical progression in the EEG field.

Cross-center data heterogeneity and annotation unreliability significantly challenge the intelligent diagnosis of diseases using brain signals. A notable example is the EEG-based diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases, which features subtler abnormal neural dynamics typically observed in small-group settings. To advance this area, in this work, we introduce a transferable framework employing Manifold Attention and Confidence Stratification (MACS) to diagnose neurodegenerative disorders based on EEG signals sourced from four centers with unreliable annotations. The MACS framework's effectiveness stems from these features: 1) The Augmentor generates various EEG-represented brain variants to enrich the data space; 2) The Switcher enhances the feature space for trusted samples and reduces overfitting on incorrectly labeled samples; 3) The Encoder uses the Riemannian manifold and Euclidean metrics to capture spatiotemporal variations and dynamic synchronization in EEG; 4) The Projector, equipped with dual heads, monitors consistency across multiple brain variants and ensures diagnostic accuracy; 5) The Stratifier adaptively stratifies learned samples by confidence levels throughout the training process; 6) Forward and backpropagation in MACS are constrained by confidence stratification to stabilize the learning system amid unreliable annotations. Our subject-independent experiments, conducted on both neurocognitive and movement disorders using cross-center corpora, have demonstrated superior performance compared to existing related algorithms. This work not only improves EEG-based diagnostics for cross-center and small-setting brain diseases but also offers insights into extending MACS techniques to other data analyses, tackling data heterogeneity and annotation unreliability in multimedia and multimodal content understanding. We have released our code here: https://github.com/ICI-BCI/EEG-MACS.

The diagnosis of cognitive impairment (CI), here referred to as mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and probable Alzheimer’s disease (AD), is complicated in practice. Early AD diagnosis using electroencephalography (EEG) has attracted attention due to EEG’s advantages in data accessibility. Because of limited, sparse, and ambiguous labels, which are commonly encountered in the EEG-based diagnosis of CI, it is desirable to develop a learning framework to effectively capture CI-related representations beyond fully supervised learning. Therefore, this work explored the possibility of weakly-supervised learning in identifying MCI, AD, and normal aging patterns based on incompletely reliable labels. To address the problem, we proposed a framework containing a dual-contrastive learning structure and a multi-level temporal-spectral EEG encoder, which transformed EEG signals into embeddings and automatically updated the ambiguous labels through intra-subject and cross-subject contrastive learning. We verified the method’s performance based on 54 subjects (18 in each group). Our findings provide new insights into the accurate inference of refractory CI diseases based on non-ideal data sources.

Variations in brain activity patterns reveal impairments of motor and cognitive functions in the human brain. Electroencephalogram (EEG) microstates embody brain activity patterns at a microscopic time scale. However, current microstate analysis method can only recognize less than 90% of EEG signals per subject, which severely limits the characterization of dynamic brain activity. As an application to early Parkinson's disease (PD), we propose an enhanced EEG microstate recognition framework based on deep neural networks, which yields recognition rates from 90% to 99%, as accompanied by a strong anti-artifact property. Additionally, gradient-weighted class activation mapping, as a visualization technique, is employed to locate the activated functional brain regions of each microstate class. We find that each microstate class corresponds to a particular activated brain region. Finally, based on the improved identification of microstate sequences, we explore the EEG microstate characteristics and their clinical associations. We show that the decreased occurrences of a particular microstate class reflect the degree of cognitive decline in early PD, and reduced transitions between certain microstates suggest injury in motor-related brain regions. The novel EEG microstate recognition framework paves the way to revealing more effective biomarkers for early PD.

Accurate identification of Alzheimer's disease (AD) with electroencephalograph (EEG) is crucial in the clinical diagnosis of neurological disorders. However, the effectiveness and accuracy of manually labeling EEG signals are barely satisfactory, due to lacking effective biomarkers. In this paper, we propose a novel machine learning method network-based Takagi-Sugeno-Kang (N-TSK) for AD identification which employs the complex network theory and TSK fuzzy system. With the construction of functional network of AD subjects, the topological features of weighted and unweighted networks are extracted. Taken the network parameters as independent inputs, a fuzzy-system-based TSK model is established and further trained to identify AD EEG signals. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme in AD identification and ability of N-TSK fuzzy classifiers. The highest accuracy can achieve 97.3% for patients with closed eyes and 94.78% with open eyes. In addition, the performance of weighted N-TSK largely exceeds unweighted N-TSK. By further optimizing the network features utilized in the N-TSK fuzzy classifiers, it is found that local efficiency and clustering coefficient are the most effective factors in AD identification. This work provides a potential tool for identifying neurological disorders from the perspective of functional networks with EEG signal, especially contributing to the diagnosis and identification of AD.