Fundamentals of Inquiry

in the Biological Sciences II

BIO 207
Spring 2017
Electroencephalogram (EEG) 101

Undergraduate Biology
What is an EEG?

An electroencephalogram (EEG) is the graphical depiction

of the cortical electrical activity recorded from the scalp.

Brain cells communicate with each other through electrical

impulses. An EEG is used to help detect changes in this
activity.
What is an EEG?
The reason you can record electrical activity is because of the
orientation of pyramidal neurons in the cortex, which are all
parallel to one another and perpendicular to the cortical
surface. This creates a dipole in the cell.

The strong signal summed over many neurons is what allows

brain activity to be detected through
the skull. An EEG reflects the
synchronous firing of these cells.
EEG Descriptors: Waveform Morphology

Waveform is used to describe the shape of a wave. The

recorded waveforms reflect the cortical electrical activity.

A rhythmic run of waveforms of similar shape is referred to

as regular/monomorphic. When regular waves are similar
to sine waves they are described as sinusoidal.

Waveforms that do not have a sinusoidal or any other simple

shape are irregular and indicate irregular activity, depicted
in the following slide.
EEG Descriptors: Waveform Morphology
EEG Descriptors: Frequency
Frequency refers to the number of times a repetitive
wave recurs in 1s. The EEG is described in the following
frequency bands/bins:
Alpha waves (8 to 13 Hz, ~30-50 V)
- Deep relaxation and light mediation usually with eyes
closed. Relaxation, visualization, creativity & super
learning.
Beta waves (13 to 30 Hz, <20 V)
- Normal waking state of consciousness. Alertness,
concentration, focus, cognition and the five physical
senses.
Theta waves (4 and 8 Hz, <30 V)
- Usually light sleep, including REM dream state. Deep
meditation, intuition, memory and vivid visual imagery.
Delta waves (0.5 and 4 Hz, ~100200 V)
- Usually deep sleep. Dreamless state. Automatic self -
The top channel in the Data panel shows the
healing, immune System function. Collective raw EEG, while the lower 4 channels display
consciousness. digitally filtered raw data
Before the Experiment

EEG readings are influenced by the state of ones alertness, drugs,

hypoglycemia, etc.

Therefore, it is important to control for or take into consideration:

The amount of sleep your participants receive the night before
The impact of caffeine and other drugs (including food) on your
participants brains within 12 hours of the experiment.

Additionally, if you wash your hair the night before or the day of the
test, don't use any conditioners, hair creams, sprays or styling gels.
Preparation & Setup
Band 1. Draw two small crosses on the subjects forehead, 3 cm
above the eyebrows and 5 cm to the left and right of the
midline.
2. Rub the skin with Nuprep over the crosses. This helps to
decrease electrical resistance of the outer layer of skin and
ensures good electrical contact. Clean with an alcohol
swab.
3. Put conductive gel on the yellow and green electrodes.
4. Place the negative (yellow) electrode over the right
Electrodes crossmark, and the earth (green) electrode over the left
crossmark.
5. Tie the black bandage around the head, over the electrodes.
At the back, it should be at the level of the widest part of
the skull.
6. Part the hair of the exposed scalp and with a ballpoint pen,
draw a mark on skin in the parting. This should be just
above the small bump on the back of the skull, the inion.
7. Rub the skin with Nuprep over the cross. Clean with an
alcohol swab. Put conductive gel on the black electrode.
8. Place the positive (black) electrode over the crossmark on
the scalp and put the band over it.
Conductive Skin Prep
9. It is important the electrode stays in place and doesn't
Gel Gel move. If necessary, carefully tighten the bandage.
Artifacts
Although EEG is designed to record cerebral
activity, it also records electrical activities arising
from sites other than the brain. This activity that
is not of cerebral origin is termed artifact and
can be divided into physiologic (body movement)
and extraphysiologic (electrical equipment,
environment) artifacts.

On Kuracloud, you will need to do an exercise

titled Recognizing Artifacts. You will be able to
determine what an artifact (subjects eye
movements, blinking, or head movements) looks
like in your data. Note that if you see
something in all of your waves, that is likely
to be an artifact.
Data

As the image on the bottom depicts, once you determine the

isolated, irregularities in each of your frequency waves, you
can potentially count the number of irregularities or spindles
that occur, within a given timeframe.
Analysis

You can create a histogram of your frequency bins comparing

the number of spindles during rest over a certain time to the
number of spindles during the stimulus over a certain time,
observing the change over time.

It is also recommended that you

conduct a statistical test when
comparing two groups, like a t-test.
If you compare 3 or more groups,
use a different test, like an ANOVA.
Keep in Mind!
Do not forget to use both the skin prep gel and conductive gel
to collect noise-free data.

Make sure to minimize potential artifacts and try to record,

during the experiment, when your participant is blinking.

If you have your participant looking at some stimuli, try to have

them focus on the center of the screen to minimize eye
movements.

If a spindle is present at the same time in all frequency waves, it

is likely an artifact.
Applications of EEG and DYOE Ideas

EEG is used in the studying/monitoring of sleep,

seizure/epilepsy, altered consciousness, and focal and diffuse
alteration in brain function.

Some simple experiment ideas for the purpose of this lab could
include determining the impact of a stimulus (such as color) on
physiological response. Setting up a slideshow and accounting
for when the stimulus is present in time and having your
participant focus on the middle of the screen could work.

Heres a cool link to explore:

https://imotions.com/blog/top-6-brain-processes-measured-eeg/
 Good luck!
May the waves be with you.