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A validation of Emotiv EPOC Flex saline for EEG and ERP research.

ABSTRACT: Background:Previous work has validated consumer-grade electroencephalography (EEG) systems for use in research. Systems in this class are cost-effective and easy to set up and can facilitate neuroscience outside of the laboratory. The aim of the current study was to determine if a new consumer-grade system, the Emotiv EPOC Saline Flex, was capable of capturing research-quality data. Method:The Emotiv system was used simultaneously with a research-grade EEG system, Neuroscan Synamps2, to collect EEG data across 16 channels during five well-established paradigms: (1) a mismatch negativity (MMN) paradigm that involved a passive listening task in which rare deviant (1,500 Hz) tones were interspersed amongst frequent standard tones (1,000 Hz), with instructions to ignore the tones while watching a silent movie; (2) a P300 paradigm that involved an active listening task in which participants were asked to count rare deviant tones presented amongst frequent standard tones; (3) an N170 paradigm in which participants were shown images of faces and watches and asked to indicate whether the images were upright or inverted; (4) a steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) paradigm in which participants passively viewed a flickering screen (15 Hz) for 2 min; and (5) a resting state paradigm in which participants sat quietly with their eyes open and then closed for 3 min each. Results:The MMN components and P300 peaks were equivalent between the two systems (BF10 = 0.25 and BF10 = 0.26, respectively), with high intraclass correlations (ICCs) between the ERP waveforms (>0.81). Although the N170 peak values recorded by the two systems were different (BF10 = 35.88), ICCs demonstrated that the N170 ERP waveforms were strongly correlated over the right hemisphere (P8; 0.87-0.97), and moderately-to-strongly correlated over the left hemisphere (P7; 0.52-0.84). For the SSVEP, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) was larger for Neuroscan than Emotiv EPOC Flex (19.94 vs. 8.98, BF10 = 51,764), but SNR z-scores indicated a significant brain response at the stimulus frequency for both Neuroscan (z = 12.47) and Flex (z = 11.22). In the resting state task, both systems measured similar alpha power (BF10 = 0.28) and higher alpha power when the eyes were closed than open (BF10 = 32.27). Conclusions:The saline version of the Emotiv EPOC Flex captures data similar to that of a research-grade EEG system. It can be used to measure reliable auditory and visual research-quality ERPs. In addition, it can index SSVEP signatures and is sensitive to changes in alpha oscillations.

SUBMITTER: Williams NS

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7427545 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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A validation of Emotiv EPOC Flex saline for EEG and ERP research.

Williams Nikolas S NS McArthur Genevieve M GM de Wit Bianca B Ibrahim George G Badcock Nicholas A NA

PeerJ 20200811

<h4>Background</h4>Previous work has validated consumer-grade electroencephalography (EEG) systems for use in research. Systems in this class are cost-effective and easy to set up and can facilitate neuroscience outside of the laboratory. The aim of the current study was to determine if a new consumer-grade system, the Emotiv EPOC Saline Flex, was capable of capturing research-quality data.<h4>Method</h4>The Emotiv system was used simultaneously with a research-grade EEG system, Neuroscan Synamp ...[more]

PMID: 32864218

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Project description:Background. Auditory event-related potentials (ERPs) have proved useful in investigating the role of auditory processing in cognitive disorders such as developmental dyslexia, specific language impairment (SLI), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), schizophrenia, and autism. However, laboratory recordings of auditory ERPs can be lengthy, uncomfortable, or threatening for some participants - particularly children. Recently, a commercial gaming electroencephalography (EEG) system has been developed that is portable, inexpensive, and easy to set up. In this study we tested if auditory ERPs measured using a gaming EEG system (Emotiv EPOC(®), www.emotiv.com) were equivalent to those measured by a widely-used, laboratory-based, research EEG system (Neuroscan). Methods. We simultaneously recorded EEGs with the research and gaming EEG systems, whilst presenting 21 adults with 566 standard (1000 Hz) and 100 deviant (1200 Hz) tones under passive (non-attended) and active (attended) conditions. The onset of each tone was marked in the EEGs using a parallel port pulse (Neuroscan) or a stimulus-generated electrical pulse injected into the O1 and O2 channels (Emotiv EPOC(®)). These markers were used to calculate research and gaming EEG system late auditory ERPs (P1, N1, P2, N2, and P3 peaks) and the mismatch negativity (MMN) in active and passive listening conditions for each participant. Results. Analyses were restricted to frontal sites as these are most commonly reported in auditory ERP research. Intra-class correlations (ICCs) indicated that the morphology of the research and gaming EEG system late auditory ERP waveforms were similar across all participants, but that the research and gaming EEG system MMN waveforms were only similar for participants with non-noisy MMN waveforms (N = 11 out of 21). Peak amplitude and latency measures revealed no significant differences between the size or the timing of the auditory P1, N1, P2, N2, P3, and MMN peaks. Conclusions. Our findings suggest that the gaming EEG system may prove a valid alternative to laboratory ERP systems for recording reliable late auditory ERPs (P1, N1, P2, N2, and the P3) over the frontal cortices. In the future, the gaming EEG system may also prove useful for measuring less reliable ERPs, such as the MMN, if the reliability of such ERPs can be boosted to the same level as late auditory ERPs.

Project description:Companies need to ensure that customers perceive their brands as intended, with strong and unique associations, when facing a competitive market. Traditionally, brand associations are measured using conventional techniques such as surveys and questionnaires albeit both conscious and unconscious factors can influence the collected data and the outcome of a campaign. Neuromarketing can shed light on how the customer's brain processes marketing stimuli. We report here on an EEG study aimed at gauging mental associations with brands. We focus on the N400 event-related potential, an EEG component most strongly elicited in response to a concept unrelated to a preceding concept. We considered two video on demand brands, Netflix and Rex&Rio, and selected a set of words grouped in 4 categories that were either related (Television, Relaxation, and Price), in varying degrees, or unrelated (Unrelated) to the said brands. The experiment started with both brands' TV commercials, as a common reference for our participants. We then applied a semantic priming paradigm in which a brand logo ("prime") was followed by a word ("target"), and the strength of the N400 response to the word used as an inverted measure of the association strength with the brand logo. We clustered N400 responses to identify, for each brand, natural groups of associated words. As a result, for Netflix the cluster with the smallest N400 responses (i.e., strongest associations) consisted of words related to Television but for Rex&Rio it consisted of words related to Relaxation. We also evaluated the relationship between the two brands and determined which associations they share or which ones not. It turned out that associations related to Relaxation and Television distinguish the two brands. Interestingly, survey data did not show any difference between the two brands as they were equally associated with Television and Relaxation. These findings show that our N400 technique can reveal brand associations, and natural categories thereof, that would otherwise go unnoticed when using conventional surveys.

Dataset Information

A validation of Emotiv EPOC Flex saline for EEG and ERP research.

Publications

A validation of Emotiv EPOC Flex saline for EEG and ERP research.

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