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The significance of relative conductivity on thin layers in EEG sensitivity distributions

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Published/Copyright: May 5, 2010
Biomedical Engineering / Biomedizinische Technik
From the journal Volume 55 Issue 3

Abstract

Volume conductor head models contain thin tissue layers, some of which have highly contrasting conductivity values relative to neighboring tissues. We expound the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and the six cortical layers of the gray matter. The dual nature of the CSF competes with the well-known shunting behavior of the skull. The incorporation of the six ultra thin cortical layers demonstrate the significance of the electrical attraction and shunting of lead field currents in multilayered tissues owing to the inherent conductive properties of each tissue. We relate the similar effects of the CSF to the diploë, i.e., the soft bone between the two hard bone layers of the skull. A natural subsequence of this article will allow researchers and clinicians to conceptually understand the measurement sensitivity distribution of a bipolar electroencephalography (EEG) lead. We recommend including the highly conductive thin layers such as the diploë of the skull and the CSF into head models as well as further investigation into the cortical layers I–VI of the gray matter. Comprehensively, when a thin tissue layer differs in relative conductivity from its neighboring layers, it should be included in the model owing to its influence upon the EEG lead fields, i.e., the measurement sensitivity distributions.

Keywords: attracting and shunting sublayers; cerebrospinal fluid (CSF); conductivity; current density; lead fields; thin layers
Corresponding author: Katrina Wendel, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tampere University of Technology, Korkeakoulunkatu 3, P.O. Box 692, 33101 Tampere, Finland Phone: +358-44-5726658 Fax: +358-3-31152162
Received: 2009-3-18
Accepted: 2010-1-25
Published Online: 2010-05-05
Published Online: 2010-05-05
Published in Print: 2010-06-01

©2010 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin New York

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https://doi.org/10.1515/bmt.2010.012
Keywords for this article
attracting and shunting sublayers; cerebrospinal fluid (CSF); conductivity; current density; lead fields; thin layers

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Guest editorial
  2. NeuroMath: advanced methods for the estimation of human brain activity and connectivity
  3. Research articles
  4. The significance of relative conductivity on thin layers in EEG sensitivity distributions
  5. Comparison between realistic and spherical approaches in EEG forward modelling
  6. On the analysis of BIS stage epochs via fuzzy clustering
  7. Spectral features of EEG in depression
  8. On the role of cost-sensitive learning in multi-class brain-computer interfaces
  9. Spatial filters to detect steady-state visual evoked potentials elicited by high frequency stimulation: BCI application
  10. Control and data acquisition software for high-density CMOS-based microprobe arrays implementing electronic depth control
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