Electroencephalography and mild cognitive impairment research: A scoping review and bibliometric analysis (ScoRBA)

Abstract

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is often considered a precursor to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and early diagnosis may help improve treatment effectiveness. To identify accurate MCI biomarkers, researchers have utilized various neuroscience techniques, with electroencephalography (EEG) being a popular choice due to its low cost and better temporal resolution. In this scoping review, we analyzed 2310 peer-reviewed articles on EEG and MCI between 2012 and 2022 to track the research progress in this field. Our data analysis involved co-occurrence analysis using VOSviewer and a Patterns, Advances, Gaps, Evidence of Practice, and Research Recommendations (PAGER) framework. We found that event-related potentials (ERP), EEG, epilepsy, quantitative EEG (QEEG), and EEG-based machine learning were the primary research themes. The study showed that ERP/EEG, QEEG, and EEG-based machine learning frameworks provide high-accuracy detection of seizure and MCI. These findings identify the main research themes in EEG and MCI and suggest promising avenues for future research in this field.