Abstract
Emotion recognition from EEG signals allows the direct assessment of the 'inner' state of the user which is considered an important factor in Human-Machine-Interaction. Given the vast amount of possible features from scalp recordings and the high variance between subjects, a major challenge is to select electrodes and features that separate classes well. In most cases, this decision is made based on neuro-scientific knowledge. We propose a statistically-motivated electrode/feature selection procedure, based on Cohen's effect size f2. We compare inter- and intra-individual selection on a self-recorded database. Classification is evaluated using quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA). We found both feature selection versions based on f2 yield comparable results. While highest accuracies up to 57,5% (5 classes) are reached by applying intra-individual selection, inter-individual analysis successfully finds features that perform with lower variance in recognition rates across subjects than combinations of electrodes/features suggested in literature. © 2013 IEEE.