EEGLAB is a MATLAB

MATLAB

MATLAB is a numerical computing environment and fourth-generation programming language. Developed by MathWorks, MATLAB allows matrix manipulations, plotting of functions and data, implementation of algorithms, creation of user interfaces, and interfacing with programs written in other languages,...

 toolbox distributed under the free GNU

GNU

GNU is a Unix-like computer operating system developed by the GNU project, ultimately aiming to be a "complete Unix-compatible software system"...

 GPL license for processing data from electroencephalography

Electroencephalography

Electroencephalography is the recording of electrical activity along the scalp. EEG measures voltage fluctuations resulting from ionic current flows within the neurons of the brain...

 (EEG), magnetoencephalography

Magnetoencephalography

Magnetoencephalography is a technique for mapping brain activity by recording magnetic fields produced by electrical currents occurring naturally in the brain, using arrays of SQUIDs...

 (MEG), and other electrophysiological signals. Along with all the basic processing tools, EEGLAB implements independent component analysis

Independent component analysis

Independent component analysis is a computational method for separating a multivariate signal into additive subcomponents supposing the mutual statistical independence of the non-Gaussian source signals...

 (ICA), time/frequency analysis, artifact rejection, and several modes of data visualization. EEGLAB allows users to import their electrophysiological data in about 20 binary file formats, preprocess the data, visualize activity in single trials, and perform ICA. Artifactual ICA components may be subtracted from the data. Alternatively, ICA components representing brain activity may be further processed and analyzed. EEGLAB also allows users to group data from several subjects, and to cluster their independent components. EEGLAB may be downloaded at http://sccn.ucsd.edu/eeglab.

History

In 1997, a set of data processing functions was first released on the Internet by Scott Makeig at the Salk Institute, under the name “the ICA/EEG toolbox”. In 2000, Arnaud Delorme designed a graphical user interface

Graphical user interface

In computing, a graphical user interface is a type of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices with images rather than text commands. GUIs can be used in computers, hand-held devices such as MP3 players, portable media players or gaming devices, household appliances and...

 on top of these functions along with some of his own artifact removal functions, and released the first version of the “EEGLAB software for artifact removal”. In 2003, Delorme and Makeig joined efforts to release the first stable and fully documented version of EEGLAB. In 2004, EEGLAB was awarded funding by the NIH for continued development of research software.

Statistics

EEGLAB has been downloaded about 25,000 times from 73 countries worldwide (2003–2006). EEGLAB comprises about 380 stand-alone MATLAB functions (version 5.03), and a total of about 50,000 lines of code. EEGLAB also contains 22 user-contributed plugins (2006). The most popular plugins include: the DIPFIT plugin for source localization of ICA components of EEG data; a plugin called FMRIB for removal of fMRI artifacts in EEG data; and a plugin called FASTER (a fully automated, unsupervised method for processing high density EEG data). A total of about 200 researchers have contributed directly or indirectly to the software by programming functions or reporting bugs.

Sources

A Delorme & S Makeig. "EEGLAB: an open source toolbox for analysis of single-trial EEG dynamics," Journal of Neuroscience Methods 134:9-21 (2004)

S Makeig, S Debener, J Onton, & A Delorme. Mining event-related brain dynamics, Trends in Cognitive Science, 8(5):204-210 (2004)