Complexity Forum

Speaker: Prof Christopher James (WMG)

Title: Cortical Neurodynamics Explored: Challenges in Neural Signal Processing

Abstract:Brain signal dynamics can be explored through a variety of methods, this talk introduces analysis techniques applied to the electromagnetic signals recorded from the brain – mainly through the electroencephalogram (EEG) , and will highlight the information that these signals can yield. From the diagnosis of epilepsy, to the prediction of epileptic seizures, scalp recordings of the electrical activity of the brain can be used to tell much about when and where activity of interest is happening within the brain. Of the many techniques in the literature, Independent Component Analysis (ICA) is generally used when it is required to separate measured multi-channel biomedical signals into their constituent underlying components. Fundamentally ICA in biomedicine involves the extraction and separation of statistically independent sources underlying multiple measurements of biomedical signals. In this talk I will overview the different capabilities of extensions to the basic ICA premise using techniques based on space, time, frequency and joint space/time-frequency decomposition of brain signal recordings. In summary, this presentation will talk about the issues surrounding the analysis of these complex EEG signals and will touch on where brain signal analysis may be going – especially in brain-computer interfacing.

Lunch: Group 5