EEG analysis for images encode and retrieval under white noise stimulation.

Abstract

Utilization of an EEG machine aids researchers in detecting the brain responses and states during provided stimulation. The EEG comes with multiple electrode channels for recording the electrical activity of the brain. This work aims to discover the brain responses under stimulation of white noise during images encoding and retrieving using the EEG machine. The motivation of this research is because limited previous works determine the association between memory encoding and retrieving process based on EEG analysis. Twenty college students participated in this experimental work. They were required to remember the images in two different conditions: control/silent and exposure to white noise with two task difficulties: easy and difficult phases. The EEG was recorded during the remembering and recalling period for data acquisition. The obtained raw EEG dataset was imported to .txt format for further processing. The Butterworth bandpass filter with a frequency range of 4 to 45 Hz was applied to filter the low and high noise components in the EEG signal. Next, the mean of de-noise EEG voltage was obtained to select the most affected channels. It was found that the Fp1, Fp2, F7, and F3 channels achieved the highest mean voltage that higher than 5 μV. Therefore, these channels were selected for extraction of relative rhythm power to investigate the effect of white noise on memory performance. The findings showed that the alpha, gamma, beta, and theta activities were highly found during the encoding and retrieving process when participants were exposed to white noise. These brain rhythms were related to participants' attentional level, information processing and calm state during the assessment. The behavioral data showed that the participants successfully remembered the images more when exposed to white noise compared to the control condition with percentage differences of 21% and 33% for easy and difficult phases due to the stochastic resonance effect and activation of brain rhythms.