Electroencephalography: Current Trends and Future Directions

Abstract

Since Hans Berger, a German psychiatrist, discovered in 1929 at Jena that brain activity can be recorded from the human scalp noninvasively, the electroencephalogram (EEG) has fascinated generations of neuroscientists. How complex mental functions such as attention, memory, language, or decision-making are implemented in the brain are fundamental questions in cognitive neuroscience, and the EEG technology provides information, which may be crucial in answering those questions. Indeed, understanding the neural underpinnings of cognitive functions would help developing effective treatments for patients suffering from various brain dysfunctions. We argue here that, among maybe a dozen or so technologies, the scalp-recorded EEG among the most informative ones when it comes to understanding the mind-brain relationship. Moreover, next generation EEG technology is unobtrusive, smartphone operated, and useable outside of the laboratory environment. This helps to advance applied fields such as brain-computer interfaces, neuroergonomics, and neurorehabilitation.