Submit to Brain Sciences Review for Brain Sciences Propose a Special Issue

Journal Browser

Electroencephalography 3.0: From the Laboratory to the Mass-Market for a Daily-Life Use

Print Special Issue Flyer
Special Issue Editors
Special Issue Information
Keywords
Published Papers

A special issue of Brain Sciences (ISSN 2076-3425). This special issue belongs to the section "Neurotechnology and Neuroimaging".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 August 2023) | Viewed by 9869

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Gianluca Di Flumeri

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Department of Molecular Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Interests: cognitive neuroscience; behavioural neuroscience; neuropsychology, biosignals processing; brain-computer interface; human-machine interaction; human factor; road safety
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Shaibal Barua

E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor

Artificial Intelligence and Intelligent Systems Group, Mälardalens högskola, Vasteras, Sweden
Interests: applied artificial intelligence & machine learning; data analytics; statistical learning theory; signal processing and multi-sensor data fusion; distributed AI and ML for big data

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Electroencephalography (EEG) is a well-established neuroimaging tool to record brain electrophysiological activity. Developed almost one century ago, it has been employed as the main non-invasive tool for investigating brain activity with regard to clinical pathologies, such as epilepsy, post-stroke injuries, sleep disorders and brain damages. Besides the mere medical purposes, EEG has been also one of the main research tools within the neuroscientific field, where brain activity is investigated in relation to human behavior. In the second half of twentieth century, EEG technique lived a sort of revolution when the first

Brain–Computer Interfaces (BCI) were theorized and developed. EEG was no longer just a technique for passively monitoring brain activity, but it was used as a new active channel of communication for controlling external devices and/or prosthetics: new applications were so developed for restoring, replacing and augmenting human capabilities. Anyhow, its use was still confined to medical and research laboratories.

During the last decade the EEG is living its “third revolution”: thanks to the recent technological progress in terms of materials and electronics, as well as the advancements in terms of signal processing, new wearable EEG devices have been developed to be employed outside the traditional research laboratories.

First low-cost EEG devices generated a large debate, since their signal quality and reliability were questionable. However, their potential impact in a huge set of daily-life applications, such as human factor assessment in critical environments, integration into in-vehicles safety systems, gaming, learning, and even e-healthy, appeared immediately clear and ground-braking.

The aim of the present special issue is to collect up to date research and works on new and innovative technologies and methods for EEG-based applications with healthy people and/or patients, with a specific focus on challenges and concerns related to “out-of-the-lab” context.

We are inviting original research work (research articles, narrative reviews, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, case studies) covering novel theories, innovative methods, advanced technologies, and meaningful applications that can potentially lead to significant advances in EEG research for a daily-life deployment

Dr. Gianluca Di Flumeri
Dr. Shaibal Barua
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Brain Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

electroencephalography
neuroimaging
neurotechnology
wearable devices
brain-computer interface
machine learning
neuroscience

Published Papers (6 papers)

Download All Papers

Research

Jump to: Review

19 pages, 4493 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Neurophysiological Assessment of An Innovative Maritime Safety System in Terms of Ship Operators’ Mental Workload, Stress, and Attention in the Full Mission Bridge Simulator

by Vincenzo Ronca, Esma Uflaz, Osman Turan, Hadi Bantan, Scott N. MacKinnon, Andrea Lommi, Simone Pozzi, Rafet Emek Kurt, Ozcan Arslan, Yasin Burak Kurt, Pelin Erdem, Emre Akyuz, Alessia Vozzi, Gianluca Di Flumeri, Pietro Aricò, Andrea Giorgi, Rossella Capotorto, Fabio Babiloni and Gianluca Borghini

Brain Sci. 2023, 13(9), 1319; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci13091319 - 14 Sep 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1393

Abstract

The current industrial environment relies heavily on maritime transportation. Despite the continuous technological advances for the development of innovative safety software and hardware systems, there is a consistent gap in the scientific literature regarding the objective evaluation of the performance of maritime operators. The human factor is profoundly affected by changes in human performance or psychological state. The difficulty lies in the fact that the technology, tools, and protocols for investigating human performance are not fully mature or suitable for experimental investigation. The present research aims to integrate these two concepts by (i) objectively characterizing the psychological state of mariners, i.e., mental workload, stress, and attention, through their electroencephalographic (EEG) signal analysis, and (ii) validating an innovative safety framework countermeasure, defined as Human Risk-Informed Design (HURID), through the aforementioned neurophysiological approach. The proposed study involved 26 mariners within a high-fidelity bridge simulator while encountering collision risk in congested waters with and without the HURID. Subjective, behavioral, and neurophysiological data, i.e., EEG, were collected throughout the experimental activities. The results showed that the participants experienced a statistically significant higher mental workload and stress while performing the maritime activities without the HURID, while their attention level was statistically lower compared to the condition in which they performed the experiments with the HURID (all p < 0.05). Therefore, the presented study confirmed the effectiveness of the HURID during maritime operations in critical scenarios and led the way to extend the neurophysiological evaluation of the HFs of maritime operators during the performance of critical and/or standard shipboard tasks. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electroencephalography 3.0: From the Laboratory to the Mass-Market for a Daily-Life Use)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

17 pages, 3120 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluation of Single-Trial Classification to Control a Visual ERP-BCI under a Situation Awareness Scenario

by Álvaro Fernández-Rodríguez, Ricardo Ron-Angevin, Francisco Velasco-Álvarez, Jaime Diaz-Pineda, Théodore Letouzé and Jean-Marc André

Brain Sci. 2023, 13(6), 886; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci13060886 - 31 May 2023

Viewed by 1051

Abstract

An event-related potential (ERP)-based brain–computer interface (BCI) can be used to monitor a user’s cognitive state during a surveillance task in a situational awareness context. The present study explores the use of an ERP-BCI for detecting new planes in an air traffic controller (ATC). Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the impact of different visual factors on target detection. Experiment 1 validated the type of stimulus used and the effect of not knowing its appearance location in an ERP-BCI scenario. Experiment 2 evaluated the effect of the size of the target stimulus appearance area and the stimulus salience in an ATC scenario. The main results demonstrate that the size of the plane appearance area had a negative impact on the detection performance and on the amplitude of the P300 component. Future studies should address this issue to improve the performance of an ATC in stimulus detection using an ERP-BCI. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electroencephalography 3.0: From the Laboratory to the Mass-Market for a Daily-Life Use)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

19 pages, 2176 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Virtual and Reality: A Neurophysiological Pilot Study of the Sarcophagus of the Spouses

by Andrea Giorgi, Stefano Menicocci, Maurizio Forte, Vincenza Ferrara, Marco Mingione, Pierfrancesco Alaimo Di Loro, Bianca Maria Serena Inguscio, Silvia Ferrara, Fabio Babiloni, Alessia Vozzi, Vincenzo Ronca and Giulia Cartocci

Brain Sci. 2023, 13(4), 635; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci13040635 - 7 Apr 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2131

Abstract

Art experience is not solely the observation of artistic objects, but great relevance is also placed on the environment in which the art experience takes place, often in museums and galleries. Interestingly, in the last few years, the introduction of some forms of virtual reality (VR) in museum contexts has been increasing. This has solicited enormous research interest in investigating any eventual differences between looking at the same artifact either in a real context (e.g. a museum) and in VR. To address such a target, a neuroaesthetic study was performed in which electroencephalography (EEG) and autonomic signals (heart rate and skin conductance) were recorded during the observation of the Etruscan artifact “Sarcophagus of the Spouses”, both in the museum and in a VR reproduction. Results from EEG analysis showed a higher level of the Workload Index during observation in the museum compared to VR (p = 0.04), while the Approach–Withdrawal Index highlighted increased levels during the observation in VR compared to the observation in the museum (p = 0.03). Concerning autonomic indices, the museum elicited a higher Emotional Index response than the VR (p = 0.03). Overall, preliminary results suggest a higher engagement potential of the museum compared to VR, although VR could also favour higher embodiment than the museum. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electroencephalography 3.0: From the Laboratory to the Mass-Market for a Daily-Life Use)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

12 pages, 1568 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Comparison of Electroencephalogram Power Spectrum Characteristics of Left and Right Dragon Boat Athletes after 1 km of Rowing

by Yan Zhang, Hongke Jiang, Wu Zhou, Yingying Cao, Changzhuan Shao, Jing Song and Aiping Chi

Brain Sci. 2022, 12(12), 1621; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12121621 - 25 Nov 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1343

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to detect differences in post-exercise brain activity between the left and right paddlers due to exercise by analyzing the resting-state electroencephalogram (EEG) power spectrum before and after exercise. Methods: Twenty-one right paddlers and twenty-two left paddlers completed a 1 km all-out test on a dragon boat ergometer, and their heart rate and exercise time were recorded. EEG signals were collected from superficial brain layers before and after exercise; then, the EEG power spectrum was extracted and compared in different frequency bands. In addition, the degree of lateralization in each brain region was assessed by the asymmetry index. Results: There was no significant difference in the power spectrum values and asymmetry indices between the left and right paddlers before rowing (p ˃ 0.05). However, after rowing, the left-paddlers group had significantly higher spectral power values in θ and α bands than the right-paddlers group (p < 0.05), and brain lateralization in both groups of athletes occurred mainly in the ipsilateral hemisphere of the frontal and central regions. Conclusion: The 1 km of rowing induced more brain activation in the left paddlers, and both left and right paddlers showed functional aggregation of hemispheric lateralization. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electroencephalography 3.0: From the Laboratory to the Mass-Market for a Daily-Life Use)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

8 pages, 2033 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Omitting Hyperventilation in Electroencephalogram during the COVID-19 Pandemic May Reduce Interictal Epileptiform Discharges in Patients with Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy

by Keisuke Hatano, Ayataka Fujimoto, Keishiro Sato, Takamichi Yamamoto and Hideo Enoki

Brain Sci. 2022, 12(6), 769; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12060769 - 11 Jun 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1847

Abstract

Background: To prevent the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), hyperventilation (HV) activation has been avoided in electroencephalograms (EEGs) since April 2020. The influence of omitting HV in EEG on epilepsy diagnosis remains uncertain for patients with epilepsies other than child absence epilepsy. We hypothesized that EEGs with HV would show more interictal epileptiform discharges (IEDs) than EEGs without HV in patients with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME). Methods: We reviewed the EEGs of seizure-free patients with JME who underwent EEG, both with and without HV, from January 2019 to October 2021, in our institution, and compared IEDs between EEG with and without HV. Results: This study analyzed 23 JME patients. The IED-positive rate was significantly higher in EEG with HV (65.2%) than in EEG without HV (34.8%, p = 0.016). The mean ± standard deviation number of IEDs per minute was significantly larger during HV (1.61 ± 2.25 × 10⁻¹) than during non-activation of both first EEG (0.57 ± 0.93 × 10⁻¹, p = 0.039) and second EEG (0.39 ± 0.76 × 10⁻¹, p = 0.009). Conclusions: In JME patients, performing HV during EEG may increase IEDs and appears to facilitate the accurate diagnosis of epilepsy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electroencephalography 3.0: From the Laboratory to the Mass-Market for a Daily-Life Use)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

Review

Jump to: Research

14 pages, 1057 KiB

Open AccessReview

Sub-Scalp Implantable Telemetric EEG (SITE) for the Management of Neurological and Behavioral Disorders beyond Epilepsy

by Steven V. Pacia

Brain Sci. 2023, 13(8), 1176; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci13081176 - 8 Aug 2023

Viewed by 1165

Abstract

Sub-scalp Implantable Telemetric EEG (SITE) devices are under development for the treatment of epilepsy. However, beyond epilepsy, continuous EEG analysis could revolutionize the management of patients suffering from all types of brain disorders. This article reviews decades of foundational EEG research, collected from short-term routine EEG studies of common neurological and behavioral disorders, that may guide future SITE management and research. Established quantitative EEG methods, like spectral EEG power density calculation combined with state-of-the-art machine learning techniques applied to SITE data, can identify new EEG biomarkers of neurological disease. From distinguishing syncopal events from seizures to predicting the risk of dementia, SITE-derived EEG biomarkers can provide clinicians with real-time information about diagnosis, treatment response, and disease progression. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electroencephalography 3.0: From the Laboratory to the Mass-Market for a Daily-Life Use)

► Show Figures