Anton Tokariev1, Sampsa Vanhatalo2, J Matias Palva3. 1. Neuroscience Center, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland; Department of Children's Clinical Neurophysiology, HUS Medical Imaging Center and Children's Hospital, Helsinki University Central Hospital and University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. Electronic address: anton.tokariev@helsinki.fi. 2. Department of Children's Clinical Neurophysiology, HUS Medical Imaging Center and Children's Hospital, Helsinki University Central Hospital and University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. 3. Neuroscience Center, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To assess how the recording montage in the neonatal EEG influences the detection of cortical source signals and their phase interactions. METHODS: Scalp EEG was simulated by forward modeling 20-200 simultaneously active sources covering the cortical surface of a realistic neonatal head model. We assessed systematically how the number of scalp electrodes (11-85), analysis montage, or the size of cortical sources affect the detection of cortical phase synchrony. Statistical metrics were developed for quantifying the resolution and reliability of the montages. RESULTS: The findings converge to show that an increase in the number of recording electrodes leads to a systematic improvement in the detection of true cortical phase synchrony. While there is always a ceiling effect with respect to discernible cortical details, we show that the average and Laplacian montages exhibit superior specificity and sensitivity as compared to other conventional montages. CONCLUSIONS: Reliability in assessing true neonatal cortical synchrony is directly related to the choice of EEG recording and analysis configurations. Because of the high conductivity of the neonatal skull, the conventional neonatal EEG recordings are spatially far too sparse for pertinent studies, and this loss of information cannot be recovered by re-montaging during analysis. SIGNIFICANCE: Future neonatal EEG studies will need prospective planning of recording configuration to allow analysis of spatial details required by each study question. Our findings also advice about the level of details in brain synchrony that can be studied with existing datasets or by using conventional EEG recordings.
OBJECTIVE: To assess how the recording montage in the neonatal EEG influences the detection of cortical source signals and their phase interactions. METHODS: Scalp EEG was simulated by forward modeling 20-200 simultaneously active sources covering the cortical surface of a realistic neonatal head model. We assessed systematically how the number of scalp electrodes (11-85), analysis montage, or the size of cortical sources affect the detection of cortical phase synchrony. Statistical metrics were developed for quantifying the resolution and reliability of the montages. RESULTS: The findings converge to show that an increase in the number of recording electrodes leads to a systematic improvement in the detection of true cortical phase synchrony. While there is always a ceiling effect with respect to discernible cortical details, we show that the average and Laplacian montages exhibit superior specificity and sensitivity as compared to other conventional montages. CONCLUSIONS: Reliability in assessing true neonatal cortical synchrony is directly related to the choice of EEG recording and analysis configurations. Because of the high conductivity of the neonatal skull, the conventional neonatal EEG recordings are spatially far too sparse for pertinent studies, and this loss of information cannot be recovered by re-montaging during analysis. SIGNIFICANCE: Future neonatal EEG studies will need prospective planning of recording configuration to allow analysis of spatial details required by each study question. Our findings also advice about the level of details in brain synchrony that can be studied with existing datasets or by using conventional EEG recordings.
Authors: Anton Tokariev; Michael Breakspear; Mari Videman; Susanna Stjerna; Lianne H Scholtens; Martijn P van den Heuvel; Luca Cocchi; Sampsa Vanhatalo Journal: Cereb Cortex Date: 2022-05-31 Impact factor: 4.861
Authors: N Koolen; A Dereymaeker; O Räsänen; K Jansen; J Vervisch; V Matic; G Naulaers; M De Vos; S Van Huffel; S Vanhatalo Journal: Neuroscience Date: 2016-02-11 Impact factor: 3.590