Objective This paper presents classif ications of mental tasks based on EEG signals using an adaptive Radial Basis Function (RBF) network with optimal centers and widths for the Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) schemes. Methods Initial centers and widths of the network are selected by a cluster estimation method based on the distribution of the training set. Using a conjugate gradient descent method, they are optimized during training phase according to a regularized error function considering the influence of their changes to output values. Re sults The optimizing process improves the performance of RBF network, and its best cognition rate of three task pairs over four subjects achieves 87.0%. Moreover, this network runs fast due to the fewer hidden layer neurons. Conclusion The adaptive RBF network with optimal centers and widths has high recognition rate and runs fast. It may be a promising classif ier for on-line BCI scheme.