Probing of brain states in real-time: Introducing the ConSole environment
Recent years have seen huge advancements in the methods available and used in neuroscience employing EEG or MEG. However, the standard approach is to average a large number of trials for experimentally defined conditions in order to reduce intertrial-variability, i.e. treating it as a source of &...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2011-03-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00036/full |
| _version_ | 1818111941821857792 |
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| author | Thomas eHartmann Hannah eSchulz Nathan eWeisz Nathan eWeisz |
| author_facet | Thomas eHartmann Hannah eSchulz Nathan eWeisz Nathan eWeisz |
| author_sort | Thomas eHartmann |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Recent years have seen huge advancements in the methods available and used in neuroscience employing EEG or MEG. However, the standard approach is to average a large number of trials for experimentally defined conditions in order to reduce intertrial-variability, i.e. treating it as a source of "noise". Yet it is now more and more accepted that trial-to-trial fluctuations bear functional significance, reflecting fluctuations of "brain states" that predispose perception and action. Such effects are often revealed in a pre-stimulus period, when comparing response variability to an invariant stimulus. However such offline analyses are disadvantageous as they are correlational by drawing conclusions in a posthoc-manner and stimulus presentation is random with respect to the feature of interest. A more direct test is to trigger stimulus presentation when the relevant feature is present. The current paper introduces ConSole (CONstance System for OnLine Eeg), a software package capable of analyzing ongoing EEG / MEG in real-time and presenting auditory and visual stimuli via internal routines. Stimulation via external devices (e.g. TMS) or third-party software (e.g. Psyscope X) is possible by sending TTL-triggers. With ConSole it is thus possible to target the stimulation at specific brain-states. In contrast to many available applications, ConSole is open-source. Its modular design enhances the power of the software as it can be easily adapted to new challenges and writing new experiments is an easy task. ConSole is already pre-equipped with modules performing standard signal processing steps. The software is also independent from the EEG / MEG system, as long as a driver can be written (currently 2 EEG systems are supported). Besides a general introduction, we present benchmark data regarding performance and validity of the calculations used, as well as three example applications of ConSole in different settings. ConSole can be downloaded at: http://console-kn.sf.net. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T03:11:03Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5821438732f04555ae8e7ba3ef5667f9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T03:11:03Z |
| publishDate | 2011-03-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-5821438732f04555ae8e7ba3ef5667f92022-12-22T01:22:52ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782011-03-01210.3389/fpsyg.2011.000369676Probing of brain states in real-time: Introducing the ConSole environmentThomas eHartmann0Hannah eSchulz1Nathan eWeisz2Nathan eWeisz3Universität KonstanzUniversität KonstanzUniversität KonstanzZukunftskolleg Universität KonstanzRecent years have seen huge advancements in the methods available and used in neuroscience employing EEG or MEG. However, the standard approach is to average a large number of trials for experimentally defined conditions in order to reduce intertrial-variability, i.e. treating it as a source of "noise". Yet it is now more and more accepted that trial-to-trial fluctuations bear functional significance, reflecting fluctuations of "brain states" that predispose perception and action. Such effects are often revealed in a pre-stimulus period, when comparing response variability to an invariant stimulus. However such offline analyses are disadvantageous as they are correlational by drawing conclusions in a posthoc-manner and stimulus presentation is random with respect to the feature of interest. A more direct test is to trigger stimulus presentation when the relevant feature is present. The current paper introduces ConSole (CONstance System for OnLine Eeg), a software package capable of analyzing ongoing EEG / MEG in real-time and presenting auditory and visual stimuli via internal routines. Stimulation via external devices (e.g. TMS) or third-party software (e.g. Psyscope X) is possible by sending TTL-triggers. With ConSole it is thus possible to target the stimulation at specific brain-states. In contrast to many available applications, ConSole is open-source. Its modular design enhances the power of the software as it can be easily adapted to new challenges and writing new experiments is an easy task. ConSole is already pre-equipped with modules performing standard signal processing steps. The software is also independent from the EEG / MEG system, as long as a driver can be written (currently 2 EEG systems are supported). Besides a general introduction, we present benchmark data regarding performance and validity of the calculations used, as well as three example applications of ConSole in different settings. ConSole can be downloaded at: http://console-kn.sf.net.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00036/fullNeurofeedbackEEGoscillationreal-time analysisbrain statessingle trial analysis |
| spellingShingle | Thomas eHartmann Hannah eSchulz Nathan eWeisz Nathan eWeisz Probing of brain states in real-time: Introducing the ConSole environment Frontiers in Psychology Neurofeedback EEG oscillation real-time analysis brain states single trial analysis |
| title | Probing of brain states in real-time: Introducing the ConSole environment |
| title_full | Probing of brain states in real-time: Introducing the ConSole environment |
| title_fullStr | Probing of brain states in real-time: Introducing the ConSole environment |
| title_full_unstemmed | Probing of brain states in real-time: Introducing the ConSole environment |
| title_short | Probing of brain states in real-time: Introducing the ConSole environment |
| title_sort | probing of brain states in real time introducing the console environment |
| topic | Neurofeedback EEG oscillation real-time analysis brain states single trial analysis |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00036/full |
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