Constrained Independent Component Analysis Based Extraction and Mapping of the Brain Alpha Activity in EEG

In order to extract only the alpha activity related signals from EEG recordings, we have applied Constrained Independent Component Analysis (cICA), a new extension of ICA in which some a priori knowledge of the alpha activity is utilized to extract only desired components. Its extraction (or filtering) performance has been compared to that of the conventional band-pass filtering via the scalp alpha power maps and cortical source maps of the alpha activity. Our results demonstrate that the alpha power maps and cortical source maps from the cICA-extracted alpha signals reveal more focalized alpha generating regions of the brain than those from the band-pass filtered alpha EEG signals. Furthermore they match more closely the activated regions of the brain mapped using fMRI, validating our results. We believe that the cICA-based filtering approach of EEG signals is a more effective means of extracting a specific brain activity reflected in EEG signals that will result in more accurate source localization or imaging maps.