Quantification of EEG Brain Activity in the Self-Paced Regime

Abstract

The processing of motor, sensory and cognitive information by the brain can result in changes of the electroencephalogram (EEG) by Event Related Desynchronization (ERD) or Event Related Synchronization (ERS). The first one concerns a decrease in the amplitude of a rhythmic activity while the second corresponds to its increase. The analysis of these two phenomena in specific frequency bands - alpha (8-13 Hz) and beta (14-30 Hz) - allows the understanding of the cerebral activity. This study focuses on the quantification of cerebral activity by determining the ERD and ERS on the referred band, induced by self-paced movements, by using EEGLAB and MATLAB tools. This was achieved by the creation of a new and automatic quantification algorithm. The results indicate that a greater desynchronization of the signal is accompanied by a decrease in the amplitude of the same. As a conclusion, the cerebral activity varies in terms of synchronization and desynchronization among certain frequency bands in several zones, according to the tasks performed.