Determination of the Appropriate Kernel Structure in Electroencephalography Analysis of Alcoholic Subjects

Abstract

Alcoholism is one of the major health problems in the world. The organ most affected by alcohol is the brain. It has been shown that alcohol causes neuronal loss in the brain and reduces brain blood flow and oxygen use. Electroencephalography is a method that measures the instantaneous electrical activity of the brain. It is known that valuable information can be obtained by observing the biological effects of alcohol through EEG. As their methods of signal processing and analysis have evolved, Electroencephalography signals have attracted the attention of researchers in this field. In this study, methods of the time-frequency analysis were applied to Electroencephalography signals obtained from normal and alcoholic subjects. For this purpose, the Cohen’s class distribution was examined. Ambiguity function analysis, which was in the structure of the distribution, was applied to the signals. Then, from the kernel structure inside the distribution, the Wigner-Ville distribution, which was very common, was reached and this distribution was examined. The inadequacy of the distribution resolution was seen and analysis of the new time-frequency distributions, which were obtained by making convolution with 4 types of kernel functions (nonseparable, separable, Doppler independent, lag independent), was performed. As a result, it was shown that the resolution of time-frequency distributions could be improved with proper kernel functions. Thus, at the end of these analyses, changes that alcohol caused in brain functions were revealed.