Electroencephalography (EEG) and Event Related Potentials (ERP) offer a combination of precise measurements for the time course of brain processes. These are low cost, non-invasive measurements and are widely available. For these reasons they make a unique contribution to cognitive neuroscience. Scientific interest in EEG and ERP is growing, and results have been increasingly integrated with other neuro-imaging techniques during the last few decades.
Lectures and basic literature provide an introduction for students to the basics of EEG and ERP research, EEG and ERP terminology and the possibilities and limitations of EEG and ERP. For a Midterm paper students study an empirical data article from the literature and answer questions about its EEG and ERP methods and interpretation based on lectures, basic literature and other sources. Students also study practical measurement issues, such as electrode placement and types of artefacts. Finally, students must interpret the resulting data. Successful measurement requires an understanding of the basics of EEG and ERP signal analysis techniques, such as artefact management, spectral analysis, filtering, ERP averaging, time-frequency analysis etc. Students also receive hands-on training in smaller groups in running an ERP experiment, including electrode application, minimising artefacts, and health and safety in the lab. A number of simple experimental paradigms will be used that provide interesting and reliable results. Data processing will include a number of common EEG analyses, e.g. analyses in the time and frequency domain.
basic EEG/ERP paradigms, EEG recording systems, measurement settings, electrode application, data quality verification, analogue-digital conversion, basic EEG / ERP components, interpreting topographical plots, neural origins of EEG, time domain analysis, frequency domain analysis, time-frequency analysis, filtering, ocular artefact control, muscle artefact control, choice of reference, re-referencing.