AbstractDeep neural networks can provide accurate automated classification of human sleep signals into sleep stages that enables more effective diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders. We develop a deep convolutional neural network (CNN) that attains state-of-the-art sleep stage classification performance on input data consisting of human sleep EEG and EOG signals. Nested cross-validation is used for optimal model selection and reliable estimation of out-of-sample classification performance. The resulting network attains a classification accuracy of $$84.50 \pm 0.13\%$$
84.50
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0.13
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; its performance exceeds human expert inter-scorer agreement, even on single-channel EEG input data, therefore providing more objective and consistent labeling than human experts demonstrate as a group. We focus on analyzing the learned internal data representations of our network, with the aim of understanding the development of class differentiation ability across the layers of processing units, as a function of layer depth. We approach this problem visually, using t-Stochastic Neighbor Embedding (t-SNE), and propose a pooling variant of Centered Kernel Alignment (CKA) that provides an objective quantitative measure of the development of sleep stage specialization and differentiation with layer depth. The results reveal a monotonic progression of both of these sleep stage modeling abilities as layer depth increases.
Capturing the Development of Internal Representations in a High-Performing Deep Network for Sleep Stage Classification