March 28, 2012 17:8 1250001

International Journal of Neural Systems, Vol. 22, No. 2 (2012) 1250001 (16 pages)

c World Scientific Publishing Company
DOI: 10.1142/S0129065712500013

A NEW PARAMETRIC FEATURE DESCRIPTOR

FOR THE CLASSIFICATION OF EPILEPTIC AND
CONTROL EEG RECORDS IN PEDIATRIC POPULATION

MERCEDES CABRERIZO∗ , MELVIN AYALA

and MOHAMMED GORYAWALA
by UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO RIO GRANDE DO SUL on 01/13/14. For personal use only.

Center for Advanced Technology and Education

College of Engineering and Computing
Florida International University
10555 West Flagler Street, Miami FL 33174, USA
Int. J. Neur. Syst. 2012.22. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com

∗
cabreriz@fiu.edu
PRASANNA JAYAKAR
Brain Institute, Miami Children’s Hospital
3100 SW 62nd Ave, Miami, FL 33155, USA
MALEK ADJOUADI
Center for Advanced Technology and Education
College of Engineering and Computing
Florida International University
10555 West Flagler Street, Miami FL 33174, USA

This study evaluates the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy in associating scalp EEG to either control or
epileptic patients by means of artificial neural networks (ANNs) and support vector machines (SVMs). A
confluence of frequency and temporal parameters are extracted from the EEG to serve as input features
to well-configured ANN and SVM networks. Through these classification results, we thus can infer the
occurrence of high-risk (epileptic) as well as low risk (control) patients for potential follow up procedures.

Keywords: EEG data; temporal and frequency parameters; artificial neural networks; support vector
machines; EEG classification; epileptic versus control EEG.

1. Introduction did not.2 Similarly, another study proposes an imple-

In epilepsy research, the development of algorithms
to automate the detection of epileptiform activity
from EEG has become a common line of investigation
for many scientists due to its potential for improv-
ing disease diagnosis and treatment. Examples of
such efforts are reflected in our earlier work, where
interictal spikes from EEG recordings are detected
using the Walsh transform,1 and where different back
propagation-based artificial neural networks (ANNs)
are compared for extracting and assessing features
that are best for delineating electrodes whose sig-
nals contained a seizure from those with signals that
mentation of nonlinear decision functions and iden-
tification of multidimensional classification domains
to detect seizures.3
Furthermore, recent advances in artificial intelli-
gence have benefited from the problem solving capa-
bilities of ANNs as exemplified by the classification of
sleep apnea syndrome based on wavelet transforms
and ANN4 ; classification of seizures by determin-
ing the features of temporal epilepsy and the func-
tional anatomy of involved brain networks5 ; epileptic
seizure detection using time-frequency analysis and
ANNs6 ; classification of primary generalized epilepsy

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 March 28, 2012 17:8 1250001
M. Cabrerizo et al.
by EEG signals using multilayer perceptron neural
networks7 ; and also analysis of EEG signals by imple-
menting eigenvector methods for the classification of
EEG signals.8
Support vector machine (SVM) is also a powerful
method that has been investigated to classify back-
ground and epileptic EEG,9 where the extrema of the
power density spectrum served as inputs to the clas-
sifier in order to classify different mental tasks from
EEG signals10 ; and to analyze continuous EEG sig-
nals for an asynchronous BCI application, or where
the inputs to the classifier are the fractal feature vec-
by UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO RIO GRANDE DO SUL on 01/13/14. For personal use only.
tors extracted from the input EEG signals.11
Feature extraction has been applied to EEG sig-
nals in order to obtain meaningful patterns related to
Int. J. Neur. Syst. 2012.22. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com
a specific task or a particular biomarker (like spikes).
Some studies such as the classification of EEG from
healthy and Alzheimer’s subjects have used the
phase and nonlinear measurements to distinguish
the two populations12 ; classification of EEG signals
using an extensive parametric analysis from healthy
and epileptic subjects that employed the capabil-
ities of the resilient backpropagation algorithm,13
which is a variation of the standard back propaga-
tion method with a faster convergence, has yielded
a 92.5% accuracy and using a new neural net-
work model (Multi-Spiking)14 with a 90.7% accu-
racy; detection of nonlinear interactions of the alpha
waves by applying the coherence to EEG obtained
from epileptic patients that have been treated with
anti-epileptic drugs15 ; identification of sleep stages
with an accuracy of 88.7% using a Gaussian mix-
ture model (GMM) using higher order spectra
parameters16 ; reflection of the pathological interac-
tion of the epileptic focus (source) with other brain
areas through the application of directionality mea-
sures based on the phase and the space topography.17
By means of visual inspection, EEG experts are
often able to qualitatively distinguish specific EEG
activity contained within long EEG records with
the intent to diagnose a patient with epilepsy. One
such interesting study is in the use of the so-called
recurrence quantification analysis (RQA) parame-
ters in order to classify the EEG signals into con-
trol, ictal, and interictal classes.18 The expressed
need in differentiating the three types of EEG seg-
ments is indeed extremely important. It is this exact
need that is being explored here by introducing the
so-called GDT of parameters that serve as input to
1250001-2
a scaled conjugate gradient (SCG) back-propagation
algorithm in order to delineate epileptic from control
EEG. Such an approach could complement interest-
ing studies that have used in a unique way gamma
activity,19,20 alpha waves by means of a coherence
measure,21 and nonlinear classification methods22,23
to address the critical neurophysiological issues that
could discriminate epileptic EEG from control EEG
signals, whether a seizure is eminent or not and
whether the states are interictal or pre-seizure.
However, abnormalities in the EEG in some
patients are at times too subtle to be detected using
conventional techniques. It is this dilemma that the
proposed classification method is trying to address,
by initially confining the search space to only those
EEG data that have a very high likelihood of being
recorded from epileptic patients. The objective then
was to establish a system for the classification of key
characteristics of EEG signals to differentiate control
EEG from epileptic EEG. Hidden signs (biomarkers)
were considered as key indicators of the epileptic ten-
dency in the EEG. Consequently, this study lays out
the framework in the use of key EEG features that
serve as input to a scaled conjugate gradient back-
propagation neural network algorithm for an opti-
mized solution.
The proposed framework for classifying EEG
data relies on a new methodology to analyze fea-
ture trends in EEG files and compares control sub-
jects and epileptic patients as an attempt to delin-
eate differences between them. The method was
based on establishing a descriptor matrix for each
of the EEG parameters used as means to character-
ize the unique behavior of these parameters, keeping
the process generalized in its application and while
seeking simplicity and robustness in terms of compu-
tational requirement and classification accuracy. The
algorithm for computing the matrix involves sim-
ple statistical operations on parameters across elec-
trodes and across time including signal to noise ratio
(SNR). The advantage of this matrix is that it can
be used to represent and compare EEG files regard-
less of the different recording durations and number
of electrodes.
The parameters investigated in this study com-
bine the Hjorth’s parameters which are activity,
mobility and complexity24,25 with spectral power in
all frequency bands. The matrices were computed
for all EEG files and were then used as inputs of a
 March 28, 2012 17:8 1250001
A New Parametric Feature Descriptor for the Classification of Epileptic and Control EEG Records
specific ANN that was trained to differentiate EEG
recordings from epileptic patients and nonepileptic
controls.
The significance of this study relates directly to
the unique classification process of off-line scalp EEG
recordings to facilitate screening of potential epilep-
tic patients. The classification of EEG signals related
to epilepsy is difficult to ascertain in the absence of
seizures because one can only rely on the existence
of abnormal behaviors in the EEG, such as interictal
spikes, which represent an area of cortical irritabil-
ity that may or may not be predisposed to produce
by UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO RIO GRANDE DO SUL on 01/13/14. For personal use only.
epileptic seizures at some point. The dilemma is that
interictal spikes could be seen in control subjects who
never develop epilepsy, and could be related to other
Int. J. Neur. Syst. 2012.22. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com
neurological disorders that may or may not be associ-
ated with epilepsy at all. In addition, around 10% of
epileptic patients never show any evidence for epilep-
tiform discharges. Other behaviors, such as abnor-
malities of background activity and slow activity in
some regions, are much less evident than epileptiform
activity and cannot be easily appreciated just by
looking at the EEG. That is why long EEG record-
ings require the use of reliable and accurate com-
puter programs that are able to extract the hidden
information, so that a better diagnosis can be pro-
vided. Robust signal processing algorithms become
indispensable, especially when long recordings have
to be evaluated. Visual screening only relies on the
EEG experts that can draw subjective conclusions
at times. In this context, it is useful to automatically
differentiate between the two main categories of EEG
signals: epileptic EEG versus control EEG. This can
be achieved by using short segments of scalp interic-
tal EEG without having to record the patient for a
long time until an event associated with epilepsy hap-
pens. This last assertion is the premise of this study.
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Data acquisition
When a patient has any suspicious signs related to
epilepsy, an EEG test is administered to make an
appropriate diagnosis. An EEG is able to detect
unusual activity in the brain. The test performed
at Miami Children’s Hospital on all the patients
considered in this study was a Routine Electroen-
cephalogram following established guidelines. The
patient is placed in a dark and quiet room and scalp
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EEG is recorded over a short period of time, usu-
ally 20–40 min. Children with parent’s consent were
encouraged to go to bed late or get up early prior
to the test. Therefore, the study could include short
periods of sleep. Electrodes are applied according to
the 10–20 system. The activation procedure or action
steps such as: Hyperventilation (over-breathing for 3
to 5 min.) and Photic Stimulation (flashing lights)
are performed during the recording. Hyperventi-
lation is performed on patients who are 4 years
or older, while photic stimulation is performed on
patients older than 4 weeks. This is the basic EEG
test that is used to diagnose epilepsy and other neu-
rological conditions. Such a test can confirm suspi-
cion of epilepsy, but other types of tests might be
needed to obtain a more accurate diagnosis. In this
study, all the patients were not taking medications
prior to the test. The same number of electrodes (19)
following the standard 10–20 system was used for all
patients. The EEG segments selected were extracted
from the portions of the EEG where the patient was
relaxed and with the eyes closed (may or may not be
asleep).
Two EEG expert reviewers at Miami Children’s
Hospital visually selected the EEG segments that
were processed. Only EEG segments that were free
of artifacts were chosen for the analysis, thus the dif-
ferent sizes of the EEG segments where selected.
Scalp EEG recordings from eight control subjects
and nine epileptic patients were used. The data was
collected from routine EEG recordings from patients
and controls, without the imposition of long record-
ing sessions. For an unbiased comparison of files, the
segments from the epileptic patients were extracted
from sections that do not include the seizure event,
which may or may not contain abnormal discharges.
Recordings were performed at Miami Children’s Hos-
pital, using XLTEK Neuroworks Ver. 3.0.5 equip-
ment and sampled at 512 Hz and 500 Hz for both
control subjects and epileptic patients, indistinctly.
A total of 19 electrodes were used for the analysis
following the 10–20 system using a referential mon-
tage. In total, 5 to 30 random segments per patient
were extracted from all EEG recordings; to prevent
biasing, all segments were free of artifacts. The DC
offset was removed from all segments. The file seg-
ments from epileptic patients were only interictal (i.e.
without seizure activity). All files were 4 to 45 s long.
The patients’ information is given in Table 1.
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M. Cabrerizo et al.

Table 1. Patients’ information and number of files used in the study (E: epileptic, C: control).

Patient # Epileptic (E) Age Gender Diagnosis Number of files

control (C)

1 C 15 F Control EEG 10
2 C 10 M Control EEG 15
3 C 17 M Control EEG 20
4 C 18 F Control EEG 5
5 C 8 M Control EEG 5
6 C 12 M Control EEG 12
7 C 15 F Control EEG 14
8 C 12 M Control EEG 14
9 E 7 M Focal area of epileptogenesis within left frontal 20
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region involving frontal pole and posterior frontal

lobe near the midline region primarily
10 E 4 F Intractable seizures over the right 30
frontocentro-temporal epileptogenicity
Int. J. Neur. Syst. 2012.22. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com

11 E 15 F Medically intractable seizures with epileptogenicity 10

involving both frontal regions
12 E 2 M Diffuse cerebral dysfunction and a region of epileptic 5
activity over the left posterior temporal area. An
area of potential epileptogenicity in the left
frontocentral region as well
13 E 10 F Syndrome: Symptomatic partial epilepsy; Etiology: 5
Left temporal lobe dysplasia
14 E 8 M Occasional right parietal temporal discharges. An 11
indication of potential epileptogenic focus in the
right parietal temporal region
15 E 14 M Generalized 3–3.5 Hz spike wave discharges not 6
associated with altered responsiveness. Generalized
potential epileptic dysfunction
16 E 1 M Discharges in the left frontal temporal region. These 17
results indicate a potential epileptogenic focal
dysfunction
17 E 15 M Generalized epileptiform activity suggestive of 14
primary generalized epilepsy; however a few
fragmented discharges were predominant over the
left frontocentral region

Two hundred and thirteen scalp EEG files from
17 patients were evaluated by calculating tempo-
ral and frequency parameters using nonoverlapping
1-second windows.
2.2. Research method
The research method focused on investigating the
merits of nine EEG parameters, namely activity,
mobility, complexity, and spectral power in the
frequency bands delta (< 4 Hz), theta (4 to less
than 8 Hz), alpha (8 to less than 13 Hz), beta I
(13 to less than 20 Hz), beta II (20 to less than
36 Hz), and low gamma (36 to less than 44 Hz).
Frequency parameters were added to the inves-
tigation because frequency analysis in scalp and
intracranial EEG has proven to be quite useful for
pre-surgical evaluation.26–30 The span in the fre-
quency domain stopped at the 44 Hz because dur-
ing the preliminary evaluation, spectral power in the
EEG file segments was found to be very low for
frequencies above 44 Hz.
2.3. Organizational structure of the
classification process
Figure 1 illustrates the flowchart describing the oper-
ational structure of the algorithm, which consists of

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A New Parametric Feature Descriptor for the Classification of Epileptic and Control EEG Records
by UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO RIO GRANDE DO SUL on 01/13/14. For personal use only.
Int. J. Neur. Syst. 2012.22. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com
Fig. 1. Flowchart of the working steps of the proposed
classification strategy.
the following steps:
(1) Collection of Data: A descriptor for each param-
eter is extracted from all EEG segments for each
subject;
(2) Organization of Data: Descriptors from all EEG
segments and for all nine parameters are stored
in a parametric table referred to as the global
descriptor table (GDT) — this GDT table is
1250001-5
then split into training and testing data using
the 50/25/25 partitioning rule;
(3) Running the Classification Analysis: In the train-
ing phase, an ANN with distinct weights is estab-
lished, and in the testing phase, the classifier is
tested on the dataset previously selected, and the
results are contrasted with those obtained using
the SVM methods.
Once these steps are accomplished, the classi-
fier performance is then evaluated. The classifier is
defined as the one that yielded the highest accuracy
as well as the highest sensitivity (i.e. smallest number
of false negatives).
2.4. Mathematical model for generating
the global parametric features
The extraction of parameters from EEG has been a
common practice in epilepsy research with applica-
tions ranging from interictal spike detection, seizure
detection, and up to prediction. What this study pro-
poses is to consolidate the contribution of each of
these parameters in a unique way not found previ-
ously in the literature.
An appendix is provided to show the formulas
with brief descriptions of the nine parameters that
were used in this study. Figures 2 and 3 illustrate
in detail the computational steps that were taken in
order to extract the different features that quantify
these parameters, in terms of what we refer to as the
global parametric features (GPF). These features are
structured into a 3 × 3 matrix, and are sought for
each of the nine parameters considered, thus the 81
features that are used as input to the ANN/SVM
networks, which along with the N segments of the
EEG make up the N × 81 GDT.
The 3 × 3 structure as shown in Table 2 is the
result of determining for each EEG segment through
1-second windows, the average, standard deviation
and SNR across time along each EEG record (time
series or temporal features) in one dimension and
across all electrodes (inter-electrode features) in the
other dimension. The temporal features are denoted
through small case acronyms (avg, std, snr) and
inter-electrode features are denoted through upper
case acronyms (AVG, STD and SNR). Consequently
notation avg (AVG) denotes the temporal average
(avg) of the inter-electrode average (AVG), and
likewise std (SNR) is the temporal standard (std)
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M. Cabrerizo et al.
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Fig. 2. (a) Extraction of a parameter Xn from 1-second

windows; (b) Extraction of inter-electrode average and
(c) Extraction of grand average over time of the inter-
electrode average.

deviation of the inter-electrode signal to noise ratio Fig. 3. Feature extraction from EEG data segments
(SNR), and so on. After such a process, the origi- using common statistical parameters AVG, STD and
nal input EEG data is transformed into this feature SNR.
space (81 features in total), which is used as input
to the ANN and SVM systems. A unique attribute Table 2. Segment descriptor matrix for a
of this GPF configuration is that the computed ele- particular parameter.
ments that constitute it do not depend on duration
avg std snr
of the EEG recordings or on location or number of
electrodes that were used, an attribute that could AVG avg(AVG) std(AVG) snr(AVG)
extend its use to other applications. STD avg(STD) std(STD) snr(STD)
The detailed parametric extraction process is SNR avg(SNR) std(SNR) snr(SNR)
illustrated in Fig. 2 for one given parameter, denoted
as Xn (n = 1, 2, . . . , 9). This process is performed for
all nine parameters. In this illustrated example of window, as depicted in Fig. 2(b), where the grand
Fig. 2, parameter Xn is computed for each electrode average across all electrodes is then used as a repre-
using windows for 1 s. As can be seen from Fig. 2(a), sentative feature. However, since the purpose was to
extracting electrode parameters has the disadvan- analyze and compare EEG recordings regardless of
tage of generating a set of values which depend on their duration, further statistical feature extraction
the number of electrodes. To cope with this issue, was performed along the time axis to provide a single
this study used statistical features such as average, feature descriptor for the whole EEG file. Figure 2(c)
standard deviation, and signal-to-noise ratio, which illustrates this last step using the grand average of
were computed across all electrodes for each time the so-called inter-electrode average.

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 March 28, 2012 17:8 1250001
A New Parametric Feature Descriptor for the Classification of Epileptic and Control EEG Records
The statistical features chosen for extracting the
global features from the EEG segments were the
average (AVG), standard deviation (STD) and signal
to noise ratio (SNR). All steps of the global parame-
ter extraction procedure for the AVG, STD and SNR
features of any particular parameter are illustrated in
Fig. 3, where it can be observed how an entire EEG
segment can be described by a single global value for
a particular parameter. Following this feature extrac-
tion process whose steps are described in Figs. 2
and 3, a 3×3 GPF matrix for each of the nine param-
eters were computed to serve as 81 inputs for the
by UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO RIO GRANDE DO SUL on 01/13/14. For personal use only.
ANN and SVM networks in the classification process.
2.5. Neural network configuration and
Int. J. Neur. Syst. 2012.22. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com
generation of the training and
testing tables
The network used for this classification study, as
depicted in Fig. 4, was a feed-forward multilayer
perceptron (3-layers) built using commercial soft-
ware (Neural Network Toolbox of The MathWorks
Inc.). This network architecture consisted of an
input layer one hidden layer and the output layer.
There were 81 units in the input layer, each unit
corresponding to one of the statistical features
Fig. 4. ANN configuration showing the 81-100-1 topol-
ogy used in the classification process.
1250001-7
corresponding to the nine parameters mentioned ear-
lier. The number of processing elements in the hid-
den layers was 100. The choice of 100 hidden units is
arbitrary, with the intention that enough number of
hidden units (more than the input units) is chosen
to achieve accurate results. The output layer, con-
sisting of one neuron with a sigmoid transfer func-
tion, provided the network’s output: epileptic (1) or
control (−1).
The scaled conjugate gradient (SCG) back-
propagation algorithm was first introduced by
Moller.31 This algorithm is an improvement over
the back propagation algorithm. The added value in
using the SCG is based on the fact that this algo-
rithm is based upon a class of optimization tech-
niques known as conjugate gradient methods, which
rely on the use of second-order information to train
the neural network. SCG algorithms are not depen-
dent on user inputs such as the learning rate and
the momentum constant which make them more
robust. Another important feature of the SCG algo-
rithm is in the ability to avoid the time consuming
line search which is used by standard back propa-
gation algorithms. The standard back propagation
algorithm adjusts the weights depending on the neg-
ativity of the gradient and this does not necessar-
ily produce the fastest convergence all the times; on
the other hand, in the SCG algorithm, a search is
performed along the conjugate directions, which in
turns produces faster convergence than the direc-
tion used for the back propagation algorithm. This
circumvention makes the SCG algorithms orders of
magnitude faster that the standard back propagation
algorithms.
In order to generate the training and testing
tables, 50% of the files were used for training, 25%
for cross-validation and 25% for testing. A cross-
validation strategy was implemented in the training
so as to create early stopping conditions to avoid
network memorization and to prevent over-fitting of
data. In this setup, distribution was done such that
each patient had approximately the same balance of
files for training, cross-validation and testing. From
all 214 files that were extracted from the 17 patients,
a total of 106 files were used for training, 54 were
reserved for cross-validation and 54 were used for
testing.
The network is trained 15 times starting with
random initial weight assignments and a random
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M. Cabrerizo et al.

distribution of the 214 files into the three sets 1

namely training, validation and testing according to 0.9

the ratios listed above. Training and testing tables 0.8

True Positive Rate

0.7
for each parameter were structured into a matrix.
0.6
The rows corresponding to each subject reflect the
0.5
number of files for that particular subject and the
0.4
columns are formed by the nine statistical features
0.3
extracted from each parameter. The last column of Lower Bound Trial
0.2
the table corresponds to the target (1 or −1). All the 0.1
Average Trial
Upper Bound Trial
subjects were concatenated into a big matrix that
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
corresponds either to the training or testing tables.
False Positive Rate
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Fig. 5. ROC curve for the 15 classifiers.

2.6. Training and testing of the ANNs
Since the network creates its initial set of weights requirements especially when using large datasets,
Int. J. Neur. Syst. 2012.22. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com

randomly, and therefore, each new set can be bet-
ter or worse for the training than the previous one,
regardless of the number of hidden units, 15 training
trials were performed on the ANN in order to pre-
vent training from trapping the network into a local
minima or leading it to overflow. The intention of
repeating the training was to rule out the possibil-
ity that any differences in the results were obtained
just by chance. All training repetitions were stopped
by different stop criteria conditions such as: (1) the
network is trained for a maximum of 1000 epochs
after which the process is terminated; (2) the net-
work is trained until the performance function (mean
squared error) reduces below 0.000001; (3) the train-
ing is terminated when the training gradient falls
below 0.000001 and (4) the validation error increases
over six iterations.
The performance function is calculated during
training only. In this case, the mean square error
was used, and the square difference of the desired
which is the case of this study. Conjugate gradient
methods considerably reduce the learning time since
they avoid the consuming line search where the net-
work response in the training phase must be com-
puted several times for each search. Figure 5 shows
the ROC curves for the 15 trials. It is seen that for
all the trials the curves hug the left top corner of the
chart and hence shows a very high accuracy for the
classification algorithm. The overlap of all the curves
on top of one another is clearly an indication of the
low standard deviation seen in the clustering, which
proves consistency in the results.
The validation error curves plotted as a func-
tion of the training epochs are shown in Fig. 6.
The validation error curves show the trend in the
100
Trial 1
Trial 2
Trial 3
10-1 Trial 4
Mean Squared Error (MSE)

network output to the actual value is calculated in Trial 5

Trial 6
each iteration. As a consequence, the training gradi- Trial 7

ent will also reach its minimum value. The error on 10-2 Trial 8
Trial 9
the validation set is also monitored during training. Trial 10
Trial 11
The training will be terminated when the validation 10-3 Trial 12
Trial 13
error increases over six iterations in order to assure Trial 14
that a true incremental trend is been followed and Trial 15
AVG Trial
10-4
the network needs to be terminated at that point.
This procedure was applied consistently across
all the 15 training trials. The scaled conjugate 10-5
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
gradient back-propagation algorithm is a combina-
tion of model-trust region approach and the con- Epochs

jugate gradient method. The conjugate gradient Fig. 6. Trend of MSE as a function of epochs for train-
method is used since it is less expensive on memory ing the ANN.

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A New Parametric Feature Descriptor for the Classification of Epileptic and Control EEG Records

reduction of the mean square error (MSE) for the val-
idation data set. It is observed that the MSE reduces
rapidly at the beginning of the training process and
reaches a minimum value as demonstrated by the
results depicted in Fig. 6. The training process is
terminated when the validation error rises for a con-
secutive 6 epochs. Such a termination condition does
not allow the training to end abruptly in case the
network deviates from the correct training direction.
An average of 42 epochs were required to train the
neural network with some trials needing as many as
73 epochs to train and some needing as few as 19
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or −1 is the value associated to either epileptic or
control, respectively.
It is noted that the choice of the kernel for this
study was selected by trial and error, and the best
results were obtained using a polynomial kernel of
degree 1. During this process, we do not know the
suitability of the kernel until the testing with real
data has been tried. This polynomial kernel as simple
as it is proved to be superior to other kernels.
3. Results

epochs. It should be noted that the average of these The proposed ANN algorithm on the basis of the
error curves shown in bolded black could not extend newly developed global descriptor table has shown
beyond the shortest error curve. a fast convergence rate along with a smaller vari-
Int. J. Neur. Syst. 2012.22. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com

ance among runs when compared with the sole use

2.7. Training and testing of the SVM of the back-propagation algorithm. The suitability of
algorithm the EEG descriptors is assessed based on the results
obtained in the testing phase. After training the net-
The SVM method can best be described as a method
work 15 times, the final results correspond to the
that makes use of generalized linear classifiers which
mean of all the 15 results. The accuracy, specificity
map input vectors to a higher dimensional space (fea-
and sensitivity values are displayed in Table 3. Dur-
ture space), where a maximal separating hyperplane
ing the testing phase, the neural network yielded
is sought to separate any two different classes. The
an accuracy of 96.28% with a sensitivity and speci-
main idea is to minimize the classification risk by
ficity of 96.42% and 95.50%, respectively. The total
maximizing the inter-class margins. Optimal hyper-
amount of false detections (FN and FP) is small
planes are known to maximize the Euclidean distance
and the TP value is rather high. Based on the inter-
between each point and the hyperplane. The margins
patient nature of this procedure, the results can be
of the classifiers refer only to the support vectors.
considered highly significant.
SVM rely on a set of prescribed kernels as means to
The accuracy results as a function of the number
resolve data with complex mapping.
of trials are displayed in Fig. 7 for both the train-
For the EEG data at hand, we used a polynomial
ing and testing phases. The training phase during
of first order together with the so-called Soft Margin
the 15 trials showed a more steady behavior than
algorithm, which is a modification of the maximum
the testing phase. The fluctuations of the accuracy
margin idea that accounts for overlapping. If there
values during the training of 50% of the data using
is a sufficient amount of overlap, the Soft Margin
25% cross-validation as the stopping condition are
method will still select an optimum hyperplane that
minimal.
separates the EEG data, while still maximizing to
A high accuracy value is maintained during 15
the greatest extent the margin distances within that
trials of the network. In retrospect, the input data
context. As shown in Eq. (1), the method incorpo-
successfully adjusted to the network’s weights and
rates the slack variables (ξi ) that measure the degree
thresholds and the error was minimized on the train-
of misclassification of the input data.
ing set. At this stage, the classifier is deemed reliable
C = Yi (αi K(xi , x) + b) ≥ 1 − ξi , ξi ≥ 0 and ready to be tested on new data.
  During the 15 trials of the neural network in the
Where K(x, x ) = (x • x + 1) d
(1)
testing phase, the accuracy, sensitivity and speci-
Polynomial Kernel order d = 1,
ficity fluctuate between 90% and 100%. The min-
where b is the bias, αi (i = 1, 2, . . . , k) are the weights imum value reached by two of these measures is
corresponding to the support vectors (SV) since only 90%, which is an acceptable outcome given the com-
the SV have an influence on the equation, and C = 1 plexity of EEG data. The accuracy is the measure

1250001-9
 March 28, 2012 17:8 1250001

M. Cabrerizo et al.

Table 3. Testing results for the accuracy, sensitivity and specificity comparing SVM and ANN.

Trial # NN Accuracy SVM Accuracy NN Sensitivity SVM Sensitivity NN Specificity SVM Specificity

1 92.60 98.15 94.12 96.55 90.00 100.00

2 98.10 96.30 100.00 97.06 95.65 95.00
3 92.6 94.44 92.59 93.33 92.59 95.83
4 92.60 94.44 90.00 94.12 95.83 95.00
5 96.30 96.30 100.00 100.00 92.00 92.59
6 96.30 98.15 93.33 100.00 100.00 94.12
7 92.60 96.30 90.00 100.00 95.83 92.00
8 94.40 98.15 92.59 97.14 96.30 100.00
9 98.10 98.15 100.00 96.97 95.65 100.00
10 98.10 100.00 100.00 100.00 95.00 100.00
by UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO RIO GRANDE DO SUL on 01/13/14. For personal use only.

11 96.30 96.30 100.00 94.12 91.67 100.00

12 98.10 96.30 97.22 96.88 100.00 95.45
13 98.10 96.30 96.43 100.00 100.00 93.33
14 100.00 96.30 100.00 96.43 100.00 96.15
Int. J. Neur. Syst. 2012.22. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com

15 96.30 96.30 100.00 93.33 92.00 100.00

AVG 96.03 96.79 96.42 97.06 95.50 96.63
STD 2.49 1.48 3.94 2.52 3.38 3.05

100 kernel that was used for this classification was a

90 polynomial with degree 1, other degrees were also
80 implemented and the results as shown in Fig. 8
70
indicate that degree 1 polynomial is most effective
in this case.
Accuraccy

60
The testing results show the superiority of SVM
50
over ANN for the classification of EEG signals.
40
Figure 9 shows the accuracy and sensitivity over
30
15 trials. The SVM yielded AVG/STD values of
20 97.1/2.52 and the ANN with 96.4/3.94 for the accu-
Training
10 Testing racy plots. The behavior of the performance of the
0 two different classifiers shows less fluctuation; indeed
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Trial Number
it is more stable when using SVM over ANN.
Overall, within the 15 runs, it is observed that
Fig. 7. Accuracy during training (solid line) and testing some of the EEG files belonging to controls 1 and 7
(dotted line) of the ANN. were misclassified as epileptic. For example, for con-
trol subject 1, depending on the run, 2–4 files out of
that has shown fewer variations with a calculated 10 were classified incorrectly, and for control subject
standard deviation of 2.39, and the sensitivity is 7, 4 to 7 out of the 14 files were misclassified. Clini-
the measure with more variations with a standard cal reports indicate that control subject 1 was having
deviation of 3.94. Thus, a scaled conjugate gradi- some episodes of dizziness, fatigue and shortness of
ent back-propagation neural network designed on the breath, and control subject 7 was having some abnor-
basis of the descriptor matrices was able to accu- mal movements including some shivering. In terms of
rately classify scalp EEG data into epileptic and false negatives, for patient 9, as an overall, 3–5 EEG
control. segments out of 20 were misclassified as nonepileptic.
The SVM outperformed the ANN, but the differ- This patient had a very focal area of epileptogenesis
ence according to the t-test (p = 0.50 for accuracy and in some segments, abnormal behavior was not so
and p = 0.60 for sensitivity) suggests that this dif- evident. Patient 14 had some occasional right pari-
ference is not statistically significant. Although the etal temporal discharges that were not present in all

1250001-10
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A New Parametric Feature Descriptor for the Classification of Epileptic and Control EEG Records
by UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO RIO GRANDE DO SUL on 01/13/14. For personal use only.
Int. J. Neur. Syst. 2012.22. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com
Fig. 8. Performance of the SVM using different degree polynomials.
11 EEG segments, and 2–5 segments, depending on
the run, were misclassified.
4. Discussion
This study reveals that using the combination of 81
features is a more reliable approach as it consoli-
dates key behaviors of all these features as input to
a scaled conjugate gradient back-propagation ANN
or SVM. More importantly, SVM is shown to yield
the highest accuracy while keeping both the number
of false positives and false negatives to a minimum.
The uniqueness of the proposed method is that it
brought together different features in both time and
frequency domains as global descriptors that are best
suited for both ANN and SVM implementations. The
resulting classifiers were able to delineate successfully
EEG data as either belonging to a control subject or
to an epileptic patient, even in the absence of inter-
ictal spikes and the seizure event itself.
In order to make an assessment of any EEG
record collected, neurophysiologists have to monitor
1250001-11
the entire EEG record, which is tedious and is often
limited to the subjective nature of visual inspection.
Instead, we are proposing an automated and quan-
tifiable method that can classify short segments of
EEG into control EEG behavior or epileptic EEG
without including the seizure itself in the case of
epileptic EEG. Based on standard frequency and
time domain features, one can extract hidden infor-
mation in the form of time series statistics that
are most suitable for an ANN, but extremely sub-
tle for visual inspection. The results of this study
demonstrate that short EEG segments are suffi-
cient for the parameters that were used to extract
the needed information to delineate the two types
of EEGs (epileptic and control) as considered in
this study. Ultimately, it is all about the means
by which the information was extracted and in the
way it is structured before it is fed as input into a
well-configured ANN or SVM network. The results
obtained serve to reinforce the merit of the proposed
approach.
 March 28, 2012 17:8 1250001

M. Cabrerizo et al.

100 features all at once to an ANN or SVM network

90 to sift through all these dimensions together and to
80 combine the 81 statistical features through different
70 weights in seeking an optimal classification process.
Accuraccy

60 The principal component analysis (PCA) was also

50 investigated in order to use in the classification pro-
40 cess for only those dimensions associated with the
30 highest eigenvalues. Then the reduced GPF matrix
20 ANN was used as an input to both the ANN and SVM
10 SVM networks with two discrete outputs: epileptic or con-
0 trol EEG. The accuracy of the various classifiers
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
was assessed and cross-compared. The results showed
by UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO RIO GRANDE DO SUL on 01/13/14. For personal use only.

Trial Number
that SVM and ANN with the reduced GPFs using
100 PCA did not perform better. As the processing time
90 was not an issue to begin with, the various empirical
Int. J. Neur. Syst. 2012.22. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com

80 evaluations showed that the best performance was

70 still achieved when using all the features.
Sensitivity

60 Furthermore, in order to determine if the dif-

50 ference in the metrics obtained between the nine
40 parameters is not just by chance, ANOVA (analy-
30
sis of variance) test was applied.
20
In this case, the test showed that the descriptors
ANN
10
are different with a certainty degree of almost 100%
SVM
(1−1.42 ∗ 10−19 ) as depicted in Table 4. These results
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 of the ANOVA test are not surprising considering the
Trial Number clear variation in the mean of the nine descriptors.
The ANOVA test results prove that the variance of
Fig. 9. Accuracy and sensitivity of SVM versus ANN.
nine parameters between the descriptors is not dif-
ferent by chance.
It should be noted that our first attempt at deal- It is reassuring that the means of the nine param-
ing with the data for this study was to question eters used are different by looking at the box plots
whether all nine features extracted for any one given in Fig. 10. The nine notches display the variability
parameter were all-at-once necessary, with the poten-
tial to reduce data dimensionality, and still resolve Table 4. ANOVA (analysis of variance) test on the nine
the problem at hand. As an example we consid- parameters: F-Statistic is used for testing the equality of the
ered the gamma frequency range parameter. The parameter means, and F-crit. is the tabular critical value of
reason why the gamma parameter was considered the F distribution, based on the 0.05 level of confidence.
here is because of the suitability of this frequency Groups Sum Average Variance
range for seizure detection purposes.19,20 When we
investigated all 36 possible 2D plot combinations Activity 7.3999 0.924988 0.002333
Mobility 6.2847 0.785588 0.002442
for the nine features that were considered (C29 ), we
Complexity 5.5151 0.689388 0.00327
observed that some of the plots showed in general Delta 6.7181 0.839763 0.001604
a wider spread of clusters, with the potential of Theta 5.3 0.6625 0.001726
using nonlinear decision functions to separate the Alpha 5.7001 0.712513 0.000448
two classes (control EEG and epileptic EEG), but Beta I 6.3879 0.798488 0.001046
Beta II 6.5666 0.820825 0.000932
overlap existed in all of these 2D plots. Consequently, Gamma 6.2485 0.781063 0.000918
as most of these data clusters are somewhat orga-
F -Statistic P -value F -crit.
nized and separated from each other in different
32.53271 1.42E-19 2.089185
ways, our research premise led us at inputting such

1250001-12
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A New Parametric Feature Descriptor for the Classification of Epileptic and Control EEG Records
by UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO RIO GRANDE DO SUL on 01/13/14. For personal use only.
Int. J. Neur. Syst. 2012.22. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com
Fig. 10. Means of the nine parameters.
of the median between the different parameters. The
width of a notch is computed so that box plots whose
notches do not overlap (as in this case) have differ-
ent medians at the 5% significance level. Compar-
ing box-plot medians is like a visual hypothesis test,
analogous to the t test used for means. The box plot
suggests the size of the F -statistic and the p-value.
Large differences in the center lines of the boxes cor-
respond to large values of F and correspondingly
to small values of p. In other words, the F statis-
tic (32.53271) and the low p-value (1.42E-19) calcu-
lated, corroborate the statistical significance of the
observed differences among the means of the nine
parameters.
5. Conclusion
This study proposed a new EEG classification
method based on the aggregation of key frequency
and temporal parameters commonly used in the lit-
erature, but seeking what we believe is an optimal
input to the ANN/SVM classifiers. Different types
of machine learning classifiers would yield different
results depending uniquely on the choice of inputs
that are fed into them. A mathematical model for
generating the GPF was designed specifically to show
how a combination of 81 features (9 parameters ×
(3 × 3) features/per parameter) using both the fre-
quency and temporal domains are consolidated into
1250001-13
the so-called GPF matrices which capture statistics
of EEG along each record (time series) and across all
electrodes (inter-electrode). The uniqueness of this
approach is in the way 81 features are configured
using statistical analysis across electrodes and across
time into an optimal input to a scaled conjugate
gradient back-propagation ANN. Another important
point to make is that such input features are inde-
pendent of the EEG segment length as well of the
number of electrodes used, which could lead to their
use on other applications that rely on statistical anal-
ysis of signals. An SVM implementation is also pro-
vided for comparative purposes, and to comfort the
generalized concept of this classification approach.
These statistical features, which include SNR, proved
through the excellent classification results that were
obtained, that they must embed within them key
characteristics that are most suitable for delineat-
ing control EEG data from epileptogenic data, and
more forcefully so when all the standard param-
eters are used in a consortium. Our earlier work
on using any one particular parameter may have
its unique benefits in the classification process, but
through empirical evaluations it was determined that
informed decisions can be better made when these
parameters are brought together.
These GPF matrices can be regarded as the sim-
plest way of comparing EEG recordings. While one
can assume that the grand AVG of the activity across
all electrodes and time windows can be compared
between EEG files, this method expanded this rea-
soning to include the standard deviation and signal
to noise ratio across time and across electrodes. The
results obtained lead us to conclude that the unique
way in which important parameters and related mea-
sures were brought together could make up for a gen-
eralized mathematical framework that could extend
to other classification problems.
Both classifiers yielded promising results, mini-
mizing to a great extent the number of false neg-
ative instances. Empirical evaluations of these two
classifiers using the ANOVA test yielded accuracy
and sensitivity measures higher than 96%. Through
these classification results, we observe that given the
15 trials that were used to ensure consistency in the
results, in the worst case scenario 5% of the EEG
segments from controls were misclassified as epilep-
tic EEG segments, and 4% of the EEG segments
from patients were misclassified as nonepileptic. We
 March 28, 2012 17:8 1250001
M. Cabrerizo et al.
thus can infer the occurrence of high-risk (epilep-
tic) as well as low-risk (control) patients which
can be planned accordingly for potential follow up
procedures.
An extension of this research endeavor could
include other interesting parameters, such as
coherence32,33 even if it is to assess or classify other
types of dysfunctions such as Alzheimer and may
use different models of ANNs. Window sizes greater
than 1 s could also be explored to see how they could
affect the results in terms of balancing processing
requirements with the resulting accuracy obtained in
by UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO RIO GRANDE DO SUL on 01/13/14. For personal use only.
the classification process. It would be also extremely
interesting to look into the third generation of neural
network models, named spiking neural networks,34
Int. J. Neur. Syst. 2012.22. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com
in terms of developing new ways at looking at the
dynamics of the human brain by including the con-
cept of time as input to the operational mode of the
ANN, where the 1 s windows which are averaged in
this study could now be fed into the ANN as a func-
tion of time. Another issue of clinical importance is
the integration of key recording modalities where an
immediate challenge will be to integrate this EEG-
based approach with fMRI studies which attempt at
determining typical and atypical activation patterns
in epilepsy patients and control subjects in a pedi-
atric population.35,36
From a clinical point of view, it is also important
to look into sampling frequencies higher than 512 Hz
to see if the spectrum reveals high frequency powers
which could be of value to the classification process.
In retrospect, the complex interactions of the differ-
ent parameters considered and modeled through the
proposed ANN configuration, proved that the right
confluence of key EEG parameters may eventually be
applied for individualized diagnosis of epilepsy and
could serve as an effective tool for EEG monitoring.
Appendix
Activity, Ax , is simply the variance of the signal seg-
ment x and is defined as:

N
(xi − µ)2
Ax = i=1 . (A.1)
N
The activity corresponds with the total power of the
signal and is thus a measure of the extent of the
amplitude of the EEG measurement.
Mobility, Mx , is computed as the square root of
the ratio of the activity of the first derivative of the
1250001-14
signal to the activity of the (original) signal:

Ax
Mx = (A.2)
Ax
where x represents the first derivative of the signal x.
Mobility gives a measure of deviation of the voltage
changes with respect to deviation of the EEG voltage
amplitude.
Complexity, C, is defined as the ratio of the
mobility of the first derivative of the signal to the
mobility of the signal itself:

Mx Ax /Ax
c= = , (A.3)
Mx Ax /Ax
where x stands for the second derivative of the
signal.
Once the spectral analysis is estimated for all
EEG channels, the power on the five recognized fre-
quency bands of EEG activity (delta, theta, alpha,
beta, and gamma) is analyzed. The power spectrum
is a measure of the signal variation in a specific fre-
quency range. The power on each band is computed
by squaring all Fourier coefficients that fall in a spe-
cific frequency range (f1 , f2 ), and adding them. Since
the Fourier coefficients are complex numbers, squar-
ing is substituted by the norm as follows:

f2
P (f1 , f2 ) = |S(f )|2 , (A.4)
f =f1
where f1 and f2 are the lower and upper bounds of
the desired frequency range and S(f ) is the power
spectrum at frequency bin f .
In this EEG study analysis, the following estab-
lished frequency ranges have been investigated:
Delta (<4 Hz): These waves are normal in adults
during sleep, although are the dominant rhythms in
infants up to 1 year of age.
Theta (4–8 Hz): Theta waves are strong during alert-
ness and meditation and reflect the transition from
sleep to wakefulness. They are normal in children up
to 13 years old.
Alpha (8–13 Hz): These waves are observed by clos-
ing the eyes and by relaxation.
Beta (13–36 Hz): Beta waves reflect active concen-
tration and are dominant in adults who are alert
and have their eyes open. This band has a rela-
tive large band and it has been subdivided in sev-
eral sub-bands: low beta (13–15 Hz), midrange beta
 March 28, 2012 17:8 1250001
A New Parametric Feature Descriptor for the Classification of Epileptic and Control EEG Records
(15–18 Hz) and high beta (>18 Hz). A subdivision
into beta I (13–20 Hz) and beta II (20–36 Hz) is also
found in the literature.
Gamma (36–44 Hz): These waves are present in
almost all areas of the brain and it is associated with
perception and consciousness. It is also sometimes
defined as the frequencies above 36 Hz.
The nine parameters will be extracted across elec-
trodes as well as over time. To differentiate, upper-
case is used for the inter-electrode parameters, and
by UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO RIO GRANDE DO SUL on 01/13/14. For personal use only.
lower case is used for time series parameters. Since
there are three features across electrodes and another
three for each resulting time series, there are in total
Int. J. Neur. Syst. 2012.22. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com
nine features per parameter, as shown in the table
below, starting with the avg (AVG), i.e. the average
over time (avg) of the inter-electrode average (AVG),
and ending with snr (SNR).
The signal to noise ratio (SNR) is the ratio of the
mean to standard deviation of a given EEG channel
segment x.
µx
SNR x = . (A.5)
σx
Acknowledgements
The authors appreciate greatly the support provided
by the National Science Foundation under grants
CNS-0959985, CNS-1042341, and HRD-0833093. We
also acknowledge the support provided by the Uni-
versity Graduate School through the Dissertation
Year Fellowship for Mr. Mohammed Goryawala. The
authors give special thanks to Miami Children’s Hos-
pital for their valuable clinical support and to the
Ware Foundation for the generous philanthropic sup-
port they continue to provide.
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