Abstract
The auditory steady state evoked response (ASSR) is a robust and frequently utilized phenomenon in psychophysiological research. It reflects the auditory cortical response to an amplitude-modulated constant carrier frequency signal. The present report provides a concrete example of a group analysis of the EEG data from 29 healthy human participants, recorded during an ASSR paradigm, using the FieldTrip toolbox. First, we demonstrate sensor-level analysis in the time domain, allowing for a description of the event-related potentials (ERPs), as well as their statistical evaluation. Second, frequency analysis is applied to describe the spectral characteristics of the ASSR, followed by group level statistical analysis in the frequency domain. Third, we show how time- and frequency-domain analysis approaches can be combined in order to describe the temporal and spectral development of the ASSR. Finally, we demonstrate source reconstruction techniques to characterize the primary neural generators of the ASSR. Throughout, we pay special attention to explaining the design of the analysis pipeline for single subjects and for the group level analysis. The pipeline presented here can be adjusted to accommodate other experimental paradigms and may serve as a template for similar analyses.
Highlights
Multi-subject clinical or cognitive studies that require the group analysis of large amounts of electrophysiological data may be challenging for the researcher involved, for several reasons
Many EEG system specific software packages (e.g., BrainVision Analyzer and Neuroscan Scan), as well as many commercially available generic packages (e.g., ASA, BESA, and Curry), require the user to interact with the data through a graphical user interface (GUI)
By nature of the graphical user interface, the researcher’s documentation of the analysis pipeline is often inadequate for robust reproducibility; in the best case the pipeline documentation comprises a descriptive recipe of which buttons to press, but often it only outlines the general idea of the analysis without sufficient details required to reproduce it
Summary
Multi-subject clinical or cognitive studies that require the group analysis of large amounts of electrophysiological data may be challenging for the researcher involved, for several reasons. Many software packages for electrophysiological analysis have well documented functionality for individual subject analysis, the possibilities for group analysis are limited, requiring the researcher to export single subject values into a generic statistical package such as SPSS. Many EEG system specific software packages (e.g., BrainVision Analyzer and Neuroscan Scan), as well as many commercially available generic packages (e.g., ASA, BESA, and Curry), require the user to interact with the data through a graphical user interface (GUI). Group Analysis in FieldTrip free, consistent (across subjects), and reproducible analysis protocols requires the researcher to be meticulous during the interaction with the GUI. By nature of the graphical user interface, the researcher’s documentation of the analysis pipeline is often inadequate for robust reproducibility; in the best case the pipeline documentation comprises a descriptive recipe of which buttons to press, but often it only outlines the general idea of the analysis without sufficient details required to reproduce it
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