Time-frequency analysis reveals multiple functional components during oddball P300.

A time-frequency decomposition was applied to rare target and frequent non-target event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited in an oddball condition to assess whether multiple functional components occur in the P300 latency range. The wavelet transform (WT) was used because it allows capture of simultaneous or partly overlapping components in ERPs without loosing their temporal relationships. The application of a four-octave quadratic B-spline wavelet transform at the level of single-sweep data allowed us to obtain new information and revealed the presence of separate events during P300 development. Several delta, theta, and alpha frequency components in the P300 latency range differed between target and non-target processing. These findings indicate that P300 is composed of multiple functional components and that the WT method is of use for the study of P300 functional correlates more precisely.