Automatic detection of P300 in single sweep records of auditory event-related potential

In the conventional recording of event-related potentials (ERPs) by the "oddball" paradigm, the subject may employ different strategies for processing one stimulus from the other even within the same session because of variable psychological state. Hence, "averaging" may not necessarily be suitable for recording ERP. We have therefore established a method for single trial recording of auditory ERPs by processing the EEG data through discrete Fourier transform followed by inverse discrete Fourier transform with the low pass filter of 8 Hz (digital filter). Each single sweep response of the processed data was visually evaluated as to whether it contained P300 or not by three investigators who were made completely blind with respect to the category of each response. As the result, a positive peak at a latency of 200-500 ms was recognized in the single sweep responses to target stimuli at a significantly greater frequency (40-60%) than in those to nontarget stimuli (0-18%). Then a new method for the automatic detection of P300 was established based on the data of 11 subjects belonging to the training group, by taking into account, in addition to the correlation coefficient analysis in which the template was computed specifically for each subject, other criteria with respect to the amplitude and waveforms, so that a good agreement with the results of visual inspection as to the presence or absence of P300 could be achieved for both target and nontarget responses. This automatic analysis method was successfully applied to five other subjects of the test group. The peak latency and amplitude of the detected positive peaks significantly varied among single target responses even within the same session. The reaction time significantly correlated positively with the peak latency of the detected positive peaks and negatively with the amplitude of those peaks, supporting the usefulness of the present method.