Bayesian spatio-temporal approach for EEG source reconstruction: conciliating ECD and distributed models

Characterizing the cortical activity sources of electroencephalography (EEG)/magnetoencephalography data is a critical issue since it requires solving an ill-posed inverse problem that does not admit a unique solution. Two main different and complementary source models have emerged: equivalent current dipoles (ECD) and distributed linear (DL) models. While ECD models remain highly popular since they provide an easy way to interpret the solutions, DL models (also referred to as imaging techniques) are known to be more realistic and flexible. In this paper, we show how those two representations of the brain electromagnetic activity can be cast into a common general framework yielding an optimal description and estimation of the EEG sources. From this extended source mixing model, we derive a hybrid approach whose key aspect is the separation between temporal and spatial characteristics of brain activity, which allows to dramatically reduce the number of DL model parameters. Furthermore, the spatial profile of the sources, as a temporal invariant map, is estimated using the entire time window data, allowing to significantly enhance the information available about the spatial aspect of the EEG inverse problem. A Bayesian framework is introduced to incorporate distinct temporal and spatial constraints on the solution and to estimate both parameters and hyperparameters of the model. Using simulated EEG data, the proposed inverse approach is evaluated and compared with standard distributed methods using both classical criteria and ROC curves.