Quantitative measure of complexity of the dynamic event-related EEG data

Currently, the quantification of event-related EEG is usually based on power feature with the classical band power method. In this paper, the method quantifying the complexity and irregularity of event-related EEG data in relation to hand motor imagery is presented. Two groups of the complexity indexes: Kolmogorov complexity (Kc) and Fourier spectral entropy (FSE) are discussed. The event-related desynchronization/synchronization (ERD/ERS) time course is analyzed and characterized by two parameters Kc and FSE, respectively. The percentage of EEG complexity during imagination of the unilateral hand movement relative to that during reference period is calculated for quantifying the complexity measure of ERD/ERS time course. The method is applied to two sets of movement-related EEG data recorded over the primary sensorimotor area from two subjects. In addition, the validity of the quantitative measure of complexity of the event-related EEG is testified by evaluating the performance of feature extraction and classification. The results show that both Kc and FSE can effectively describe the dynamic complexity of event-related EEG and also display the consistent and similar behaviors. The relative increase and decrease of event-related EEG complexity could be an indicator of ERD/ERS, which is also independent of the power changes. Thus, the dynamic complexity measure of event-related EEG quantified by Kc and FSE provides another evidence for ERD/ERS and can be meaningful for analyzing the event-related EEG. r 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.