O brother, you are that same thought (of yours); as for the rest (of you), you are (only) bone and fibre.

If your thought is a rose, you are a rose-garden; and if it is a thorn, you are fuel for the bath-stove.


The Masnavi of Jalalu'ddin Rumi: Book 2, translation by Reynold A. Nicholson




What is EEG signal processing?



Electroencephalographic (EEG) signals are the realizations of brain electrical activities recorded from multiple electrodes (aka channels) located on the scalp. Analysis of EEG signals has led to an interdisciplinary field of research called EEG signal processing which utilizes a wide scope of signal analysis techniques including time-frequency analysis, wavelet analysis, nonlinear dynamics, pattern recognition and signal modelling. The possible applications of EEG signal processing range from developing brain-computer interface systems to pure psychological research. Some of the pioneer research topics using EEG signal processing can be listed as:

  • Studies on the brain maturation process from infancy through adulthood
  • Newborn EEG abnormality detection
  • Epileptic seizure detection/prediction in adults
  • Brain-computer interface systems
  • EEG source localization
  • ERP (event-related potential) analysis
  • Diagnosis of brain disorders such as Schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease and epilepsy
  • Brain connectivity analysis
  • Multi-modal integration of EEG with other biosignals such as fMRI, MEG, ECG and EMG
  • Sleep EEG studies
  • Parapsychological studies including telepathy, near-death experiences (NDEs), telekinesis etc

    • EEG recordings provide very high temporal resolution in terms of milliseconds, while their hardware setup is cheap. Also, placing the EEG electrodes is more flexible compared with MEG, fMRI and SPECT equipments. However, low spatial resolution of multichannel EEG recordings may impose limitations on some applications. In such cases, transferring the signals from the scalp level to the source level may solve the problem, though this solution may not work for newborn EEG analysis.