EEG Brain Mapping Core, Center for Biomedical Imaging of Lausanne and Geneva, and Department of Fundamental Neurosciences, University Medical School, 1 rue Michel-Servet, Geneva, Switzerland.
Neuroimage. 2012 Jun;61(2):371-85. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.12.039. Epub 2011 Dec 28.
Recent advances in signal analysis have engendered EEG with the status of a true brain mapping and brain imaging method capable of providing spatio-temporal information regarding brain (dys)function. Because of the increasing interest in the temporal dynamics of brain networks, and because of the straightforward compatibility of the EEG with other brain imaging techniques, EEG is increasingly used in the neuroimaging community. However, the full capability of EEG is highly underestimated. Many combined EEG-fMRI studies use the EEG only as a spike-counter or an oscilloscope. Many cognitive and clinical EEG studies use the EEG still in its traditional way and analyze grapho-elements at certain electrodes and latencies. We here show that this way of using the EEG is not only dangerous because it leads to misinterpretations, but it is also largely ignoring the spatial aspects of the signals. In fact, EEG primarily measures the electric potential field at the scalp surface in the same way as MEG measures the magnetic field. By properly sampling and correctly analyzing this electric field, EEG can provide reliable information about the neuronal activity in the brain and the temporal dynamics of this activity in the millisecond range. This review explains some of these analysis methods and illustrates their potential in clinical and experimental applications.
近年来信号分析的进展使得 EEG 成为一种真正的脑映射和脑成像方法，能够提供有关大脑（功能障碍）功能的时空信息。由于人们对脑网络的时间动态越来越感兴趣，并且由于 EEG 与其他脑成像技术具有直接的兼容性，EEG 在神经影像学领域中的应用越来越广泛。然而，EEG 的全部功能被严重低估了。许多结合了 EEG 和 fMRI 的研究仅将 EEG 用作尖峰计数器或示波器。许多认知和临床 EEG 研究仍然以传统的方式使用 EEG，并在特定电极和潜伏期分析图形元素。我们在这里表明，这种使用 EEG 的方式不仅危险，因为它会导致误解，而且还在很大程度上忽略了信号的空间方面。实际上，EEG 主要以与 MEG 测量磁场相同的方式测量头皮表面的电场。通过正确地采样和正确地分析这个电场，EEG 可以提供关于大脑中神经元活动及其在毫秒范围内的时间动态的可靠信息。这篇综述解释了其中一些分析方法，并说明了它们在临床和实验应用中的潜力。
