A modular software real-time brain wave detection system

Abstract

The philosophy behind the modular design and implementation of a computer-driven facility to collect and process EEG records is illustrated. The software modules are stand-alone programs in their own right that can externally be reconfigured into the components to solve a more complex problem. As such, they behave like the "commands" of a command line interpreter (CLI). They are easily invoked by the use of operating system macros without increasing the demands on the system operator. By the use of an experiment parameter and specifications table (a common data base) the specifics of a given series of experiments are prestored well in advance of data collection; specification of a new table filename changes the nature of the experiment. Complete operating system macro "menus" can be predesigned and stored. To change the experiment the operator simply changes the "menu". The system has been used to collect and process single visual evoked responses (unaveraged EEG records) elicited from human subjects for a series of cognitive experiments with relatively good classification error rates.