An EEG-based Real-time Cortical Rhythmic Activity Monitoring System: A Pilot Study

This paper introduces an electroencephalography (EEG)-based, real-time, cortical rhythmic activity monitoring system which can monitor spatiotemporal changes of cortical rhythmic activity on a subject´s cortical surface, with a high temporal resolution. In the monitoring system, a frequency domain inverse operator is preliminarily constructed, based on the subject´s anatomical information and sensor arrangement, and then spectral current power at each cortical vertex is calculated for the Fourier transforms of successive sections of continuous data, when a particular frequency band is given. The first pilot system was applied to two human experiments: (1) cortical alpha rhythm changes induced by opening and closing eyes and (2) cortical mu rhythm changes originated from arm movements, demonstrating the feasibility of the system.