Electroencephalograph with Switching Voltage Divider and its Application to Measurement of Event-Related Potentials

Event-related potentials (ERPs)̶in particular, the P300 component̶have come under increasing scrutiny as a means of clarifying brain functions, as they are considered to reflect higher brain activity. Although much research has been devoted to the P300 signal, its source within the human brain remains unclear. Electroencephalogram (EEG) is often used in ERP studies because it directly reflects neurological responses to external stimulus. However, owing to the low spatial resolution of EEG, many surface or intracranial electrodes are required to estimate the signal source. We have attempted to develop a new signal source estimation method using only one signal electrode, which utilizes the switching voltage divider technology for simultaneous measurement of the potential and location of the signal source ; i. e., whether the signal source is far from or near the signal electrode. This signal source estimation method may improve the low spatial resolution of EEG. Using our proposed method, we measured the ERPs of subjects participating in an oddball paradigm using auditory stimuli. The results suggest that the P300 component of an ERP is generated in a region deep within the brain.

[1]  J. Rohrbaugh,et al.  Endogenous potentials generated in the human hippocampal formation and amygdala by infrequent events. , 1980, Science.

[2]  Yusuke Sakaue,et al.  Signal Source Estimation Inside Brain Using Switching Voltage Divider , 2014 .

[3]  Brain blood flow changes measured by positron emission tomography during an auditory cognitive task in healthy volunteers and in schizophrenic patients , 2006, Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry.

[4]  Andreas Otte,et al.  Brain imaging tools in neurosciences , 2006, Journal of Physiology-Paris.

[5]  Baxter P. Rogers,et al.  Measuring relative timings of brain activities using fMRI , 2013, NeuroImage.

[6]  B. N. Cuffin,et al.  Accuracy of EEG dipole source localization using implanted sources in the human brain , 1999, Clinical Neurophysiology.

[7]  R. Kawashima,et al.  A positron emission tomography study of self-paced finger movements at different frequencies , 1999, Neuroscience.

[8]  V Menon,et al.  Combined EEG and fMRI studies of human brain function. , 2005, International review of neurobiology.

[9]  A. Papanicolaou,et al.  Assessing normal brain function with magnetoencephalography , 2002 .

[10]  Helmut Laufs,et al.  A personalized history of EEG–fMRI integration , 2012, NeuroImage.

[11]  Ian C. Atkinson,et al.  Investigating the consistency of brain activation using individual trial analysis of high-resolution fMRI in the human primary visual cortex , 2009, NeuroImage.

[12]  Do optimal Dipoles obtained by the Dipole Tracing Method slways suggest true source locations? , 2005, Brain Topography.

[13]  J. Cohen,et al.  On the number of trials needed for P300. , 1997, International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology.

[14]  E. Donchin,et al.  Is the P300 component a manifestation of context updating? , 1988, Behavioral and Brain Sciences.

[15]  H. Lüders,et al.  Recording of event-related potentials (P300) from human cortex. , 1992, Journal of clinical neurophysiology : official publication of the American Electroencephalographic Society.

[16]  Masaaki Makikawa,et al.  Tomographical ECG Measurement Using Capacitance Type Multi Electrodes , 2007 .

[17]  U Moström,et al.  Location of electric current sources in the human brain estimated by the dipole tracing method of the scalp-skull-brain (SSB) head model. , 1994, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[18]  Tomohiro Ishizu,et al.  Motor activity and imagery modulate the body-selective region in the occipital–temporal area: A near-infrared spectroscopy study , 2009, Neuroscience Letters.

[19]  J. Polich,et al.  Short communication P300 and blink instructions , 2000 .

[20]  E. Watanabe,et al.  Spatial and temporal analysis of human motor activity using noninvasive NIR topography. , 1995, Medical physics.

[21]  F. Wallois,et al.  Usefulness of simultaneous EEG–NIRS recording in language studies , 2012, Brain and Language.

[22]  N. Oishi,et al.  Neural correlates of regional EEG power change , 2007, NeuroImage.

[23]  C. Svarer,et al.  Rate Dependence of Regional Cerebral Activation during Performance of a Repetitive Motor Task: A PET Study , 1996, Journal of cerebral blood flow and metabolism : official journal of the International Society of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism.

[24]  E. Halgren,et al.  The intracranial topography of the P3 event-related potential elicited during auditory oddball. , 1990, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[25]  H. Fukuyama,et al.  Brain functional activity during gait in normal subjects: a SPECT study , 1997, Neuroscience Letters.

[26]  S. Galderisi,et al.  The cortical generators of P3a and P3b: A LORETA study , 2007, Brain Research Bulletin.