An introduction to statistical concepts for the analysis of EEG data and the planning of pharmaco-EEG trials

The use of descriptive statistics and graphics for electroencephalogram (EEG) data after initial data reduction and the application of hypothesis tests to EEG data are described. In planning pharmaco-EEG trials, some notion of statistical power and variability of effect size is necessary as they are used to calculate sample size in parallel-group clinical trials. The need for sensitivity analysis during the study planning phase is demonstrated as well. Because EEG data are highly dimensional data, an outline of methods for reducing dimensionality is provided. These concepts are demonstrated using data from patients with Alzheimer's disease and from healthy controls.