Discrimination between phase-locked and non-phase-locked event-related EEG activity

Differentiation between phase-locked and non-phase-locked event-related EEG activity is an important task in the evaluation of event-related EEG activity. Event-related changes of EEG activity such as event-related desynchronization (ERD) or event-related synchronization (ERS) can be quantified by either instantaneous band power or intertrial variance calculations. In the former case the ERD or ERS can be masked by an event-related potential while in the latter it is not. Examples from sensory stimulation and movement experiments, where the ERD (ERS) is calculated by both methods, are shown and discussed.