A novel application of dry-electrode EEG Device for knowledge discovery in emotional-behavioral disorder studies

Abstract

As per World Health Organization (WHO), emotional and behavioral disorders affect 10.7% of global population. Studies have shown emotional-behavioral problems having significant positive correlation with obesity and overweight (P<0.01). It has been established in published body of knowledge that obesity and overweight are negatively correlated with psychological comorbidities, emotional and behavioral disorders, and self-esteem. There is an increasing interest in studying the psychological and cognitive neuroscience aspects of obesity. Lately there has been an increase in the number and availability of consumer grade low-cost EEG (electroencephalographic) devices. The objective of this study is two-fold i.e. exploring the research potential of a consumer grade EEG device (Muse) and analyzing the relationship between EEG electrical activity, depression and obesity. The level of depression was quantified through filling the PHQ-9 (patient health questionnaire) and students BMI (body mass index) noted. The EEG experiment consisted of displaying high and low-calorie visual stimuli along with non-food stimuli; with eyes closed in-between. This process was repeated, first in the hunger state and subsequently after taking a high sugar drink. During both experimental states EEG of the 10 student subjects was continuously recorded. On clustering the EEG recordings, sub clusters were discovered among minimally depressed students, but strong clustering was discovered among mildly and moderately depressed obese/overweight students with lower grades. Thus, mood and food-related information was found to be processed differently among subjects requiring monitoring vs. clinical judgment and consumer grade EEG device was found to have the potential to be used for practical research work.