Identifying relationships among the activities of multiple areas of the brain has the potential to reveal valuable insights into human behaviour and thought processes.  A new software tool for analyzing electroencephalographic (EEG) data has been developed by researchers at the Universityof Victoria, in conjunction with the Universityof Lethbridge.  It provides neuroscientists with the ability to study how multiple areas of the brain work together to process information.  The tool enables researchers to measure brain activity using equipment that is far less expensive than that normally used for analyzing brain activity.  Currently, the most common tool for analyzing on-going brain activity is functional magnetic resonant imaging (fMRI), which requires millions of dollars to acquire and maintain in a large dedicated facility. In contrast, state-of-the-art EEG equipment costs about 1/10 as much to acquire, requires little maintenance and can be used in an ordinary laboratory or office.

The EEG analysis tool was developed primarily by Philip Michael Zeman, an interdisciplinary scientist at the University of Victoria.  It allows researchers to identify areas of the brain that are active while people are engaged in a variety of mental activities in a lab. Currently, Philip and his associates at the University of Victoria are investigating the brain activity required to navigate a virtual 3D space, such as one would encounter when playing a 1^st-person perspective video game.  Their project employs a virtual maze, designed by Dr. Ron Skelton and Sharon Livingstone (Department of Psychology), to study the cognitive processes of spatial navigation and deficits after traumatic brain injury.  The investigation combines eye-position information obtained using the Universityof Victoria’s CanAssist eye-tracking system with Philip’s EEG analysis tool to study what cognitive strategies and what parts of the brain people use while finding their way and learning the layout of a virtual environment.

The EEG analysis tool is called “Multiple Origin Spatio-Temporal modeling of EEG” (MOST-EEG). It uses the electrical activity obtained from a person’s scalp, recorded while they play a video game, to construct a meaningful representation of the brain activity that took place while the person learned and used the layout of the virtual environment.  Through an automated process of data mining, validation, and source volume estimation the MOST-EEG analysis tool provides a 3D representation of brain activity during different mental states.  Using this new method we hope to better understand the activities of the brain and the cognitive strategies related to successful and unsuccessful completion of the video game.  The tool is also currently being evaluated as a means to identify problems of brain function within individuals and to understand how individuals with brain injury compensate for their injury.  This research represents the next step in the development of a new medical diagnostic procedure.

This new research tool should have broad appeal to researchers and has several potential medical applications.  “Philip developed a new procedure for analyzing EEG data that identifies the location of specific brain activities, like an fMRI, with reasonable accuracy at a small fraction of the cost,” says Ron Skelton.  “I think it will have immediate usefulness in understanding where the damage is most severe in individual cases of traumatic brain injury.  I also think that the procedure will be useful to other brain researchers, and has the potential to be used in medicine to identify areas of the brain that aren’t working properly or aren’t talking to other areas as they should. In addition, it has the potential to track the brain changes underlying the kind of neuroplasticity people are now talking about as being crucial for recovery from stroke and brain injury.”

The research papers that describe the tool and methodology are currently in the review process in several, peer-reviewed journals.  Over the duration of his research at the University of Victoria , Philip has had multiple collaborators including Sunny Mahajan, Dr. Ron Skelton, Sharon Livingstone, Patricia Sorensen, Dr. Peter Driessen, and Dr. Dorothy Paul, and Dr. Gary Birch .

Funding for this research has come from multiple parties, including Dr. Nigel Livingston, Director of CanAssist , and from National Sciences and Engineering Research Council, and the University of Victoria.