Abstract
Direct recording of neural activity from the human brain using implanted electrodes (iEEG, intracranial electroencephalography) is a fast-growing technique in human neuroscience. While the ability to record from the human brain with high spatial and temporal resolution has advanced our understanding, it generates staggering amounts of data: a single patient can be implanted with hundreds of electrodes, each sampled thousands of times a second for hours or days. The difficulty of exploring these vast datasets is the rate-limiting step in discovery. To overcome this obstacle, we created RAVE (“R Analysis and Visualization of iEEG”). All components of RAVE, including the underlying "R" language, are free and open source. User interactions occur through a web browser, making it transparent to the user whether the back-end data storage and computation are occurring locally, on a lab server, or in the cloud. Without writing a single line of computer code, users can create custom analyses, apply them to data from hundreds of iEEG electrodes, and instantly visualize the results on cortical surface models. Multiple types of plots are used to display analysis results, each of which can be downloaded as publication-ready graphics with a single click. RAVE consists of nearly 50,000 lines of code designed to prioritize an interactive user experience, reliability and reproducibility.
Highlights
The importance of high-quality software tools in advancing human neuroscience research is self-evident
Recordings using grids of electrodes that sit on the cortical surface are referred to as electrocorticography (ECoG) while studies using depth electrodes that penetrate into the brain with recording contacts spaced at regular intervals along the shaft are referred to as sterotactic EEG
The development of RAVE was prompted by the limited options for neuroscientists in need of a comprehensive, open-source software package that handles all aspects of intracranial EEG (iEEG) data analysis and visualization
Summary
The importance of high-quality software tools in advancing human neuroscience research is self-evident. Users running RAVE on their local machine could set the data location to the online repository, resulting in local analysis with remote storage. To further the design principle of playing well with others, there are multiple entry and exit points for the processing stream: users are not locked into a sequential analysis that begins with raw iEEG data and ends with an activity plot.
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